River Ouzel
The River Ouzel, anciently called the River Lovat, is a modest river runs through Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It is a tributary of the Great Ouse.
The Ouzel rises in the Chiltern Hills and flows 20 miles north to join the Great Ouse at Newport Pagnell.
Name
These days the river is known as the River Ouzel, except near Newport Pagnell where both Ouzel and Lovat are used. The name Lovat was recorded (in the form "Lovente") in the thirteenth century,[1] a map of 1724 marks the river as "Lowsel R",[2] and a map surveyed in 1765 shows it as "Ouzel River".[3] The modern Ordnance Survey uses only the name Ouzel, except north of Willen Lake where it is marked as "River Ouzel or Lovat".[4]
Course
From springs just north of Dagnall, the river initially forms the boundary between Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It is joined by the Ouzel Brook from Houghton Regis, and by Whistle Brook (also known at Ivinghoe as Whizzle Brook[5]) from Pitstone. Near Grove Lock, just south of Leighton Buzzard, it was joined by Ledburn Brook, but that was diverted into the Grand Junction Canal (now the Grand Union Canal) when the canal was built. At Leighton Buzzard, the river is joined by Clipstone Brook from Milton Bryan by way of Hockliffe and Clipstone, and to the north of the town the excess water from the canal is released into the river at the Twelve Arches. The river then flows through Milton Keynes, where it is joined by Water Eaton Brook, and as it exits the town it is joined by Crawley Brook from Husborne Crawley. Finally, the river runs through Newport Pagnell to its junction with the Great Ouse.
References
- ↑ Eilert Ekwall, English River Names, Oxford University Press, 1928, p. 263.
- ↑ Herman Moll, Bedfordshire, reprinted in M. F. Hopkinson, Old County Maps of Bedfordshire, Luton Museum & Art Gallery, 1976, p. 21.
- ↑ Thomas Jefferys, The County of Bedford, reprinted by Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, 1983.
- ↑ Ordnance Survey, Explorer 192, edition A, 1998.
- ↑ F. G. Gurney, Yttingaford and the tenth-century bounds of Chalgrave and Linslade, Bedfordshire Historical Record Society 5, 1920, p. 175, note 25.