River Great Ouse
The River Great Ouse after Brownshill Staunch, near Over in Cambridgeshire
Great Ouse catchment
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Counties	Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Syresham, West Northamptonshire, Northamptonshire, England
• coordinates	52°05′33″N 01°05′35″W / 52.09250°N 1.09306°W / 52.09250; -1.09306
• elevation	150 m (490 ft)
Mouth	The Wash
• location	King's Lynn, United Kingdom
• coordinates	52°48′36″N 00°21′18″E / 52.81000°N 0.35500°E / 52.81000; 0.35500
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	230 km (143 mi)
Basin size	8,380 km2 (3,240 sq mi)
Discharge
• location	Denver Sluice[1] Catchment area 3430 km2
• average	15.8 m3/s (560 cu ft/s)Catchment area 3430 km2

The River Great Ouse (/uːz/ ooz) is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wash and the North Sea near Kings Lynn. Authorities disagree both on the river's source and its length with one quoting 160 mi (260 km)^[2] and another 143 mi (230 km).^[3] Mostly flowing north and east, it is the fifth longest river in the United Kingdom. The Great Ouse has been historically important for commercial navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows; its best-known tributary is the Cam, which runs through Cambridge. Its lower course passes through drained wetlands and fens and has been extensively modified, or channelised, to relieve flooding and provide a better route for barge traffic. The unmodified river would have changed course regularly after floods.

The name Ouse is from the Celtic or pre-Celtic *Udso-s,^[4] and probably means simply "water" or slow flowing river.^[5] Thus the name is a pleonasm. The lower reaches of the Great Ouse are also known as "Old West River" and "the Ely Ouse", but all the river is often referred to simply as the Ouse in informal usage (the word "Great" – which originally meant simply big or, in the case of a river, long – is used to distinguish this river from several others called the Ouse).

Course

The river has several sources close to the villages of Syresham and Wappenham in South Northamptonshire. It flows through Brackley, provides the Oxfordshire/Northamptonshire border, then into Buckinghamshire where it flows through Buckingham, the Milton Keynes urban area (at Stony Stratford and Newport Pagnell) and Olney, then Kempston in Bedfordshire, which is the current head of navigation.

Passing through Bedford, it flows on into Cambridgeshire through St Neots, Godmanchester, Huntingdon, Hemingford Grey and St Ives, reaching Earith. Here, the river enters a short tidal section before branching in two. The artificial, very straight Old Bedford River and New Bedford River, which remain tidal, provide a direct link north-east towards the lower river at Denver in Norfolk.

The river previously ran through Hermitage Lock into the Old West River, then joined the Cam near Little Thetford before passing Ely and Littleport to reach the Denver sluice. Below this point, the river is tidal and continues past Downham Market to enter The Wash at King's Lynn. It is navigable from the Wash to Kempston Mill near Bedford, a distance of 72 mi (116 km) which contains 17 locks.^[6] It has a catchment area of 3,240 sq mi (8,380 km²)^[7] and a mean flow of 15.5 m³/s (550 cu ft/s) as measured at Denver Sluice.^[8]

Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in 1236, as a result of flooding. During the 1600s, the Old Bedford and New Bedford Rivers were built to provide a quicker route for the water to reach the sea. In the 20th century, construction of the Cut-Off Channel and the Great Ouse Relief Channel have further altered water flows in the region, and helped to reduce flooding.

Improvements to assist navigation began in 1618, with the construction of sluices and locks. Bedford could be reached by river from 1689. A major feature was the sluice at Denver, which failed in 1713, but was rebuilt by 1750 after the problem of flooding returned. Kings Lynn, at the mouth of the river, developed as a port, with civil engineering input from many of the great engineers of the time. With the coming of the railways the state of the river declined so that it was unsuitable either for navigation or for drainage. The navigation was declared to be derelict in the 1870s.

A repeated problem was the number of authorities responsible for different aspects of the river. The Drainage Board created in 1918 had no powers to address navigation issues, and there were six bodies responsible for the river below Denver in 1913. When the Great Ouse Catchment Board was created under the powers of the Land Drainage Act in 1930, effective action could at last be taken. There was significant sugar beet cargo traffic on the river between 1925 and 1959, with the last known commercial traffic sailing in 1974. Leisure boating had been popular since 1904, and the post-war period saw the creation of the Great Ouse Restoration Society in 1951, who campaigned for complete renovation of the river navigation. Until 1989, the river was in the care of the Anglian Water Authority until water privatisation, when the Environment Agency became the drainage and ecology authority as well as being the navigation authority.

The Ouse Washes are an internationally important area for wildlife. Sandwiched between the Old Bedford and New Bedford rivers, they consist of washland which is used as pasture during the summer but which floods in the winter, and are the largest area of such land in the United Kingdom. They act as breeding grounds for lapwings, redshanks and snipe in spring, and are home to varieties of ducks and swans during the winter months.^[9]

History: drainage and navigation

v t e River Great Ouse
Legend
The Wash River Babingley Gaywood River River Nar sluice  A47  Kings Lynn River Nar Relief Channel sluice Middle Level Navigations main drain  A1122  Downham Market Salters Lode Lock Old Bedford Sluice A G Wright Sluice Denver Sluice (lock) Relief Channel Lock River Great Ouse Cut off channel Old Bedford River New Bedford River River Wissey Rly bridge River Little Ouse Welney Gate  A10  Littleport Bridge River Lark March to Ely Rly bridge Welches Dam pumping station Welches Dam lock  B1382  Adelaide Road bridge Ely to Norwich Rly bridge  A142  Ely High Bridge Newmarket Rail bridge Mepal pumping station Soham Lode River Cam Ely to Cambridge Rly bridge  A1123  Road Bridge  A10  Road bridges (2) Cottenham Lode Hermitage Lock  A1123  Road Bridge Westview Marina, Earith Brownshill Staunch Cambridgeshire Guided Busway St Ives Lock  A1096  St Ives bypass Holt Island Hemingford Lock Houghton Lock  B1044  Old Huntingdon Bridge  A1307  Road bridge Godmanchester Lock Godmanchester Chinese Bridge East Coast Main Line Brampton Lock  A14  Road Viaduct Offord Lock Little Paxton Wharf & Weir  B1041  Mill Lane Paper Mill Lock & St Neots Flood Gates Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=River_Great_Ouse Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia.  Navigácia: Veda > Analytika Antropológia Aplikované vedy Bibliometria Dejiny vedy Encyklopédie Filozofia vedy Forenzné vedy Humanitné vedy Knižničná veda Kryogenika Kryptológia Kulturológia Literárna veda Medzidisciplinárne oblasti Metódy kvantitatívnej analýzy Metavedy Metodika Metodológia vedy Náboženstvo a veda Náučná literatúra Podvody vo vede Popularizácia vedy Potravinárstvo Prírodné vedy Pseudoveda Scientometria Spoločenské vedy Teórie Teatrológia Technické vedy Technika Terminológia Umenie Výskum Veda Veda a technika podľa štátu Veda a technika podľa kontinentu Veda a technika podľa roka Veda v kozme Vedci Vedecká literatúra Vedecké databázy Vedecké experimenty Vedecké konferencie Vedecké metódy Vedecké ocenenia Vedecké organizácie Vedecké parky Vedeckí spisovatelia Vzdelávanie Záhady Príbuzné výrazy: Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia. www.astronomia.sk | www.biologia.sk | www.botanika.sk | www.dejiny.sk | www.economy.sk | www.elektrotechnika.sk | www.estetika.sk | www.farmakologia.sk | www.filozofia.sk | Fyzika | www.futurologia.sk | www.genetika.sk | www.chemia.sk | www.lingvistika.sk | www.politologia.sk | www.psychologia.sk | www.sexuologia.sk | www.sociologia.sk | www.veda.sk I www.zoologia.sk