Difference between revisions of "Pickering Beck"

Latest revision as of 23:11, 12 January 2024

Fly Fishing in Pickering Beck

Pickering Beck is a river that runs for over eighteen miles through the North Riding of Yorkshire, from its source on the North York Moors through the town of Pickering and on to its confluence with Costa Beck at Kirby Misperton. It is a meandering river that is fed by numerous named and unnamed becks and streams which flow over sandstone and limestone beds and an alluvia of sand, clay silt and gravel. The beck is known for flooding and in recent times has been a beneficiary of funding and experimental flood protection schemes.

Geology

The valley that Pickering Beck inhabits was carved by glacial melt water before the late Devensian period of history. It was initially thought to be a drainage channel for a glacial lake,^[1] either by two ice sheets abutting and the waters reaching the same height as the surrounding ice sheets (about 200 feet above sea level), or as a simple drainage channel for the meltwater when the temperatures rose. Either way, the deep meandering channel has been estimated to have been carved by water flowing at 10,000 cubic feet per second (ten times the amount of water discharged by the Thames when it is in flood).^[2]

The beck's source (Fen Bog) is at the watershed of two becks; this means that water coming off the moors flows either north (Eller Beck) or south (Pickering Beck).^[1] The source of the beck is also only two and a half miles west of the source of the River Derwent (Derwent Head), the river into which the beck feeds (by way of the Costa Beck).

The beck has been subject to flooding (particularly flash flooding in summer) since modern times.^[3] This is due to the steep sided valley that the waters run off of and into the beck.^[4] Because of the above average flooding suffered by Pickering (and elsewhere) in 2007, the town became a pilot in a government project known as Slowing the Flow.^[5]

Course

The beck begins at Fen Bog (just west of the A169 road) but quite low in the narrow valley where the North Yorkshire Moors railway runs.^[6] It largely drains the southern part of Goathland Moor and the Saltersgate areas through Newtondale.^[7] It travels south westwards at first being fed by Thack Sike and numerous smaller watercourses spilling off the moorland before turning south at Carter House/North Dale and follows the same route as the railway in the narrow sided valley.

It splits into two streams by Pifelhead Wood and goes westwards past Newton Dale Halt on the railway before turning south again at Kidstyke Farm and meanders south in varying degrees past Levisham and Farwath before heading west again into Newbridge and south into Pickering town.^[8] The beck flows under Bridge Street (a Grade II listed bridge), The Ropery and Hungate in the town centre^[9] before it heads mainly in a southerly direction and flowing into the Costa Beck east of Kirby Misperton.

In the majority of the upper reaches (above Pickering),^[10] the beck takes a very meandering course through tracts of dense woodland. This is being remedied in some places to allow sunlight onto the beck.^[8] The lower reaches of the beck (south of Pickering) flow through a more arable and farmed landscape with crop growing and cattle rearing.^[11]

Industrial history

The builders of the Whitby and Pickering Railway, used the narrow valley at Newtondale that the beck inhabits to run their railway through. At Fen Bog, they had to float the railway on timber and sheep fleeces.^[12] Between the source of the Beck and Pickering, the beck flows under the railway six times and the railway shadows the beck all the way into Pickering.

The beck was used to power several watermills in the town of Pickering,^[13] of which three are still standing; High Mill, Vivers Mill and Low Mill. The weir attached to Low Mill has a 6.6 ft (2.0 m) drop which is still a barrier to fish migration.^[14] Low Mill is now a private residence and has a Grade II listing attached to the building.^[15] High Mill was adjacent to the first railway station in Pickering and like Low Mill is now a private residence.^[16] The Bone Mill was adjacent to the right hand side of the beck by Southgate.^[17] It was demolished and a coal depot was used on the land, which became derelict.^[18] A supermarket now occupies the site.^[19]

Vivers Mill has also been converted into a dwelling and remains Grade II listed. All mills, apart from the Bone Mill, were for corn milling.^[20]

A trout farm was established beside the beck in 1971 as the cold, clean water was ideal for raising trout.^[21] The business built a lake between the two divided sections of the beck just north of Pickering railway station. Due to the owners retirement and a downturn in business, the lake will be tarmaced over to provide a 158 car park as an overflow for the railway business by the end of 2017.^[22][23]

Ecology

The upper reaches of the beck (above Pickering) are part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest.^[1] Additionally, it flows through the North York Moors National Park. Fen Bog is a Special Area of Conservation.^[24]

Siltation prevention was undertaken on the beck in its lower reaches in 2014. The siltation near to Lendales Farm was due to cattle drinking and crossing the beck which allowed erosion to occur. Remediation works were undertaken to create a crossing point for the cattle without polluting the water.^[25]

The bedrock of the beck flows mainly over the sandstone and limestone calcareous rocks (of the southern hills of the North York Moors)^[26] with loose accumulations of clay, silt, gravel and sand.^[27] The very upper reaches (source to Levisham Beck) are sandstone, the Middle portion is Corallian limestone (confluence of Levisham and Pickering Becks to Pickering) and the last section (the mainly agricultural reach south of Pickering) is on Kimmeridge Clay.^[28] The beck has wild trout and Grayling and whilst it is maintained and cared for by the Pickering Fisheries Association, there is no supplementary stocking of fish.^[27] Dace, chub, pike, minnows and brook lamprey have all been noted in its lower reaches.^[29]

Access

Pickering Fishery Association have the rights to fish on almost all of Pickering Beck. Above the town of Pickering, fly fishing is preferred where the beck is described as an infant stream. Below the town, the beck widens and has pools and riffles and is wider with improved accessibility.^[30]

Newtondale has many access points, Newton Dale Halt railway station and Fen Bog^[31] being notable examples in the very upper reaches of the beck. A two-mile stretch of the Tabular Hills Walk runs alongside Levisham Beck (a feeder of Pickering Beck) and crosses Pickering Beck at Farwath.

Outside links

• Seven and Pickering Beck catchment area map
• Aerial imagery of Pickering in flood from Pickering beck (2002 & 2007)

References