River Irt facts for kids
The River Irt is a river in Cumbria, a county in northern England. It flows for about 22 kilometers (14 miles). The river starts at the south-western end of Wast Water, which is the deepest lake in England. It leaves the lake near a hill called Whin Rigg. People think the name "Irt" might come from old words meaning "mud" or "flowing" and "clean."
Where the River Flows
The River Irt actually forms where two smaller streams, Lingmell Beck and Mosedale Beck, meet. This spot is near Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain. As the river travels towards the sea, it goes under the Cumbria Coastal Way, a long walking path. This path crosses the Irt at a special old bridge called Drigg Holme packhorse bridge.
The Irt then flows through a protected area called the Drigg Dunes and Irt Estuary Nature Reserve. Finally, it joins two other rivers, the River Esk and the River Mite, at a place called Ravenglass. The river's water is affected by the ocean's tides up to the railway bridge near Drigg railway station.
Special Pearls of the Irt
In the 1800s, the River Irt was famous for something very rare: black pearls! These pearls grew inside freshwater mussels that lived in the river. Sadly, people collected too many of these pearls. This was called poaching, and it almost made the mussels disappear from the River Irt completely.
Luckily, a very small number of these mussels survived. Between 2015 and 2018, a group called the West Cumbria Rivers Trust worked hard to protect the river. They wanted to help the freshwater mussels and make sure they didn't vanish forever. Their work helped to protect the places where these special mussels live.
