River Mimram

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 51°47′35.4″N 0°5′16.5″W / 51.793167°N 0.087917°W

Mimram
River
The river near Tewin
Country	United Kingdom


Source
- location	Nr. Stevenage, Hertfordshire
- elevation	90 m (295 ft)
Mouth
- location	Hertford, Hertfordshire into River Lea
- coordinates	51°47′35.4″N 0°5′16.5″W / 51.793167°N 0.087917°W / 51.793167; -0.087917

Length	20 km (12 mi)

The Mimram Valley is named after the River Mimram, which rises from a spring to the north-west of Whitwell, in North Hertfordshire, England, and makes its confluence with the River Lea near Horn's Mill in Hertford. At Whitwell there are cress beds which have existed since Roman times and these are fed by the same springs. The valley extends northwards where it becomes known as Lilley Bottom. Other sections of the valley are known as Kimpton Bottom and Codicote Bottom.

Although a dry valley to the north, it has been known in particularly wet years for the River Mimram to be extended for several miles by springs in the upper valley. In 2001, in a neighbouring valley to the west a village was flooded.^[1] The Valley is the furthest east of all the Chiltern Hills valleys.

The river is the subject (and speaker) of a Stevie Smith poem, The River God.

The name "Mimram" is widely believed to be of Celtic origin, probably named after a Celtic river god. However, there is very little etymological research into the name. Historically, the river has also been known by the name "Maran" and many maps from the 19th and early 20th centuries mark the river's name as "Mimram or Maran". Downstream in Digswell there is a homestead property dating from the 16th century that has the name "Maran House". It has been speculated^[2] that "Maran" may hark back to the homelands of the Catuvellauni tribe, the Celts who came to Hertfordshire from a region of modern-day Belgium and Northern France where the main river is the Marne, after which a whole department of France is named. The prefecture of Marne is Châlons-en-Champagne, formerly called Châlons-sur-Marne - with the name "Châlons" being etymologically derived from the local Catalauni Belgic tribe. However, the link between the French Catalauni and the British Catuvellauni is not categorically proven: some texts assume they are connected (including, most recently, Graham Robb's "The Ancient Paths"), while others infer a lack of connection from the lack of proof.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to River Mimram.

References

v t e River Lea / Lee, England

Counties	Bedfordshire Essex Hertfordshire Greater London

Mouth	River Thames

Settlements	Luton Harpenden Wheathampstead Welwyn Garden City Hertford Ware Stanstead Abbotts Hoddesdon Broxbourne Cheshunt Waltham Abbey Ponders End Edmonton Tottenham Upper Clapton Hackney Wick Stratford Bromley-by-Bow Canning Town Leamouth

Major tributaries	River Ash River Beane River Ching River Mimram River Moselle River Rib River Stort

Minor tributaries	Bayford Brook Broxbourne Mill Stream Cobbins Brook Coppermill Stream Cornmill Stream Cuffley Brook Dagenham Brook Hackney Brook Millhead Stream Pymmes Brook Rags Brook River Lynch Salmons Brook Small River Lea Spital Brook Theobalds Brook Turkey Brook Turnford Brook Woollens Brook Wormleybury Brook

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.