River Glen
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There are two rivers Glen in Britain, both small and both in England. One is in Kesteven and Holland in the County of Lincolnshire. The second is in Northumberland. In reality, this second is a segment of a river, having other names upstream and down.
The name appears to derive from a Celtic language but in each case, there is a strong early English connection.
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The Lincolnshire River Glen
The Lincolnshire river has two sources, both in the low ridge of Jurassic rocks in the west of the county. Its upper reaches go under the names of East and West Glen but sometimes, the East Glen is called the Eden. This is a back-formation from its passing through the parish of Edenham. The two streams flow onto the sand and gravel of the bed of a former periglacial lake of the Devensian glacial. Here, TF095133, Template:Getamap, before entering The Fens where the Glen has been embanked and partially straightened. It is navigable for its last 12 miles (19km), from TF156188, its junction with Bourne Eau at Tongue End Template:Getamap, via Pinchbeck and Surfleet to the tidal entrance sluice on the River Welland at TF280293, navigable only when the tidal level is the same as the river level Template:Getamap.
- Template:Mmuknr map and Template:Mmuknr photo of River Glen from Multimap.com
RIGHT click the aerial photo option and select Open in New Window . Adjust the window sizes to get the photograph and text together.
This is the position of the mouth of the Lincolnshire River Glen of the late Roman period. The Glen is just to the west of centre. It crosses the edge of an 'island' of early Flandrian sand and gravel which lies between the red field and outside the northern and western eges of the photograph. To the east of it is post-glacial marine silt. to the West of it was humic, black soil of the former fen. Around the year 200, the silt-land was the site of numerous salt works.
Pull down the 1:50,000 scale of the aerial photograph. This appears to be the mouth of the River Glen, where the Nennius text tells us that Arthur, the war leader of the Britons fought his first battle against the Anglo-Saxons. The Roman road across the fen lies hidden, buried in the botom right. (The straight line across the bottom of the photograph is the course of the old Bourne to Spalding railway.) The north-flowing section of the Glen entered tidal flats at the top centre. The line of the river to the east of centre appears to have originated as a sea bank but when the sea no longer reached it, the river was led away along it so that the sea bank became one of river's banks instead. The section of the A151 road on the 'seaward' side of it was not built until 1822.
- Other Template:Mmukscaled for the Lincolnshire Glen. RIGHT click the arrow and select Open in New Window.
The Northumberland River Glen
At NT909305, Template:Getamap, which flows on past the Anglian settlement and palace site at Old Yeavering. The Glen then continues to NT930300, Template:Getamap the River Till. The area around Yeavering, on the Glen, is rich in British and Anglian archaeological interest. Template:Gbmapping RIGHT click the grid number and select Open in New Window, then Great Britain, then aerial photo.
- Other Template:Mmukscaled for the Northumbrland Glen. RIGHT click the arrow and select Open in New Window.
See also
Reference
Phillips, C.W. The Fenland in Roman Times, (1970) Map 3. and the corresponding part of the gazetteer. British Geological Survey, (S & D) 1:50,000 Series, Sheet 144.