River Team
The River Team is a river of County Durham, which enters the River Tyne at Gateshead.
The source of the Team is near Annfield Plain, where it is known as Kyo Burn. Then changing its name again to Causey Burn as it flows underneath the famous Causey Arch.
Below the Causey Arch, the river then flows past the Beamish Museum at Beamish near Stanley, County Durham (where it is known as Beamish Burn). It then approaches Gateshead flowing through Lamesley.
The Team Valley broadens but then the river is forced into a culvert passing beneath the middle of the roundabout underneath the A1 road, nd then on through the Team Valley Trading Estate through a covered culvert, before emerging to the surface half way along.
The Team emerges from dark captivity to flow through the site of the 1990 National Garden Festival, before finally discharging into the River Tyne in Dunston. This area is known as Teams, after the river.
Historical interest
The River Team was long regarded as one of the most polluted rivers in the area due to the discharges from Sewage works near Lamesley and heavy industry in the Team Valley. It is called "The Gut" by the residents of Dunston. However considerable improvements have now been made and the river is relatively clean.
Before the last Ice Age, it is reckoned that the lower part of the River Team actually formed the lower part of the River Wear, with a combined Tyne-Wear river continuing to the coast from Dunston. The ice diverted the River Wear to its current course towards the coast at Sunderland, with the smaller River Team flowing along its former course towards the River Tyne.
Outside links
- The River Team Corridor Project
- Reviving the River Team - Community Forest