River Loddon

The River Loddon is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises at Basingstoke in Hampshire and flows northwards for to meet the Thames at Wargrave in Berkshire. Together, the Loddon and its tributaries drain an area of . in Basingstoke, and in its first mile flows under the Festival Place shopping centre of the town centre. The main bus station takes up where the wharf stood by what is no longer the Basingstoke Canal, its westernmost three miles having been filled in. The river emerges again in Eastrop Park, where it runs alongside Eastrop Way which supersedes the disused canal reach, on the park stood Basingstoke Corn Mill in 1873, but by 1932 it was called Vince's Farm, mill buildings still spanning the river. The river then passes through water-meadows where it is joined by small streams from the springs and reduced ponds of the north of Black Dam. These had to drain under a wide bend of canal embankment. Basingstoke Upper Mill stood south, 14 metres west of Redbridge Lane, still a corn mill in 1873, fields by 1932, now woodland by a multi-lane roundabout. The Basingstoke Union Workhouse and added workhouse infirmary, stood where the Hampshire Clinic stands, a private hospital.

A brick railway viaduct of four arches crosses – the South West Main Line. The house that was Old Basing Mill, a corn mill in 1932, disused by 1932. Two-arch, thick-buttressed, Stanfordend Bridge – under which the Loddon enters its second and last county, Berkshire – marks the northern end of the park, against a skirting of woodland and is likewise listed. It bears the date 1787. Its namesake flour mill lay north, disused by 1961. Two fields north, the flow is more than doubled by the Blackwater.

After many fields and a little woodland the A327 takes Arborfield Bridge on which sits that house that served as Arborfield Paper Mill, out of production by 1899. To left are meadows and woodland, to right fields. The M4 bridge follows. After of meadows (and the main outlet of Barkham Brook having meandered north from Barkham), Mill Lane crosses by Sindlesham Mill, extended to north to make a many-roomed hotel – in centuries past milling grain into flour.

The largest bridge carries the A3290, and has a construction defect, of 1972, see A329(M) motorway and Loddon Bridge disaster.

The course is then in the west part of Dinton Pastures Country Park. To east are vast lakes, from gravel and sand extraction, started modestly in the 19th century, ramped up in the 1960s and 70s. The near, long resultant lake is White Swan Lake. By the late 1970s, these were exhausted and left stopped up to flood, so Wokingham Borough Council could take ownership and create the country park.

Shortly after Dinton Pastures is Sandford Mill, a corn mill in 1873 In fields west of Hurst:

the river is joined by the Emm Brook.
the river splits into two, the west channel being labelled "Old River" on most maps since 1894, Silk worms thrive on mulberry trees. Queen Elizabeth I encouraged planting of them in her reign.

The Wokingham area was known for its production of silk stockings, and the turn-of-the 19th century brothers, Thomas and George Billing from Macclesfield sought out a profitable business of processing. The spun silk was woven on looms set up in cottages, and for a while they were reasonably successful with labour costs kept down, employing children who should have been at Polehampton School. The law liberalised to allow silk to be imported more freely from France, and only mills equipped with up-to-date equipment could compete. Thomas died in 1824. The mill was sold to become a flour mill soon after. The wooden building was burnt down in a fire in 1891. A new mill was built, and in 1927 was bought by Berks, Bucks and Oxon Farmers Ltd, a farmers' co-operative, milling animal feed. The mill was powered by water wheels bolstered by diesel (and from the 1960s, electric) motors. A distribution warehouse was added in 1969, but a fire destroyed the mill in 1976, and construction of a new mill was completed in 1979. The owners became bankrupt in the 1990s, and in 2001 the site was redeveloped for housing.

Sandford Mill was used for milling feed for animals until the 1950s, and was powered by two waterwheels. It is known to have existed during the English Civil War, as it was mentioned in reports. Following a period of disuse, it has been converted into a residence. The main structure of Sindlesham Mill dates from the late 1800s, but it may incorporate part of an earlier structure, as some of the timbers are much older than that. It used a turbine rather than a water wheel to generate its power, and was owned by the Reading-based Simmonds family, who were involved in banking and brewing. Later, it was acquired by Garfield Weston, and produced flour for the biscuit manufacturer Huntley & Palmers until the 1960s. It is now part of a hotel.

thumb|left|The weir and sluice at Longbridge Mill were refurbished in 2006.

Records show that milling was taking place near Sherfield on Loddon in 1274, when the miller was called John. There is also reference to a water mill in 1316, and a document recording holdings passed to the Manor in 1601 listed two water mills, a fulling mill and another mill. By 1819, there were two water wheels at the Longbridge mill, which powered four pairs of grinding wheels. By the end of the Second World War, the mill was producing animal feed, and continued to use water power until 1961. Commercial operation of the mill ceased in 1977, and it was damaged by fire in 1991. Restoration of the damaged building began soon afterwards, and was completed in 1997. Since then the mill has been operated on a monthly basis by the Hampshire Mills Group, and is used to grind flour on open days. The building dates from the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, and is a listed building.

The mill at Stanfordend, to the north of Stratfield Saye Park, has been disused since the 1930s. Power was generated by the use of three turbines, rather than a water wheel. It is owned by the Duke of Wellington's estate, who had plans in 2000 to restore it to working condition.

Hartley Mill, on the Lyde just above its junction with the Loddon, is now a residence, but the water wheel has been retained, and can be seen from the dining room.

Old Basing mill is another four-storey building, which still contained much of the original machinery in 2000, although it was not operational.

The basin has large, quite dense population centres in Basingstoke and eastern Reading, plus the Farnborough/Aldershot Built-up Area so the Loddon takes treated sewage effluent from nine main plants, Basingstoke's (see above), seven of the Blackwater and one at Wargrave.

The water quality of the Loddon was as follows in 2019.

{| class="wikitable"

! Section !! Ecological Status !! Chemical Status !! Length !! Catchment !! Channel

| heavily modified

Water quality improved after 2009, when the ecological status of the middle two sections was poor, and the chemical status of the lower Loddon to the Thames was fail. From 2015–16 the upper section improved to moderate, but the lower section was worse, moving from moderate to poor. Reasons for the water quality being less than good include the discharge of sewage effluent, physical barriers to the movement of fish caused by modifications to the channel, and dominant, disease-carrier North American signal crayfish. Like most rivers in the UK, the chemical status changed from good to fail in 2019, due to the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) and perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS), neither of which had previously been included in the assessment.

Flora and fauna

The Loddon lily

thumb|A large clump of Loddon lilies (Leucojum aestivum L.) in bloom on the banks of the Loddon, not far from its [[confluence with the Thames at Wargrave ]]

Named for the river Loddon is the Loddon lily, Leucojum aestivum, a member, not of the lily family, but of the daffodil family Amaryllidaceae and known also as summer snowflake. A bulbous plant, which increases well on heavy clay soils, it is somewhat similar in appearance to a large snowdrop and thrives in wet meadows and willow thickets, being also prolific along the river banks and islands. Although less abundant than they used to be, Loddon lilies can still be found along the river Loddon, mainly in the vicinity of Sandford Mill.

SSSI

thumb|Fritillaria meleagris

thumb|Potamogeton nodosus

A stretch of the Loddon near Stanford End Mill, together with the adjacent hay meadows, which are periodically waterlogged, is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The Loddon has been part of the SSSI since 1986. The meadows are cut for hay in July then grazed by cattle until the end of the year. This cycle has resulted in an increase in numbers of the snake's head fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris), another flowering bulb, which thrives in damp meadows when not regularly cut short by cutting. The river is included for its mainstay population of Loddon pondweed (Potamogeton nodosus).

Fish

The River Loddon has an identifiable array of fish, differing from the mainstream Thames locally including shoals of bream, chub, roach, rudd and large barbel. The record for the largest barbel caught on the river stands at , caught in 2008. Other records include a pike caught in 1995 and same-weight carp caught in 2002.

thumb|upright|left|Angler holding a large barbel

To facilitate migrating fish, £485,000 was spent creating a bypass around weirs at Arborfield in 2010 – a project of the Environment Agency, Thames Water, the University of Reading, Farley Estate and Arborfield Angling Society, meeting the public spending commitment directed by the Water Framework Directive. This provided:

new habitats, including suitable for fish to spawn, expected to be of benefit to salmon, sea trout, eels and barbel.
repairs to four of the five weirs at Arborfield, to lower water on the section above, to reduce the flood profile.

Cain Bio-Engineering carried out the construction work and have claimed that the project constitutes a benchmark for such schemes.

In 2018, the first phase of a scheme to improve the river near Sandford Mill for fish was completed. Over the years, dredging of the river led to water flowing slowly through the enlarged channel, particularly in summer so the bed silted. Thames Water, Twyford and District Fishing Club, the Angling Trust, the Environment Agency and Wokingham Council thus felled trees to improve light, used the wood as flow deflectors as meanders, 80 tonnes of gravel were added and the faster flow prevent silting. Fast-flowing shallow riffles make spawning grounds for dace, chub and barbel. Means to prevent young fish from being washed downstream, in flood, exists in the dug-out Redlands backwater.

The lower Loddon was used for at least recreational navigation. On many reaches of the river, boat houses are marked on old maps, including two on the Arborfield estate, one of which still exists, one near Mill Lane at Sindlesham, and another at Woodley, near to Colmansmoor Lane. Other evidence includes postcards in the collection at Reading Local Studies Library, which show a punt at Twyford and rowing boats at Sindlesham Mill and Arborfield Hall. Old postcards also show that The George public house at Winnersh used to have rowing boats on the river available for hire. There was a boathouse on the opposite bank to the public house, one of eleven on the river around the 1900s.

Lady Constance Russell, writing in 1901 recorded that Sir Henry Russell, who owned Swallowfield Park and died in 1852, spent his latter years "improving" that, which included filling in the canal which "ran from the Lock Pool near the church to the Bow Bridge". The canal is clearly shown on a map produced in 1790 by Thomas Pride, and on an Enclosure Map for Swallowfield, produced in 1817 and held at the Berkshire Record Office. Further evidence for the use of the river was the death of John Alfred Dymott in 1917, who drowned after falling out of a punt, moving materials. He often performed such duties, here assisting the estate carpenter to erect fencing near the river and remove timber from it.

Points of interest

Cultural influence

Characterised generally as slow, swampy and tree-girt, the Loddon has inspired more than one work in verse.

In his lengthy and politically charged poem Windsor Forest Alexander Pope invents a nymph of the Loddon named Lodona, giving her a form of the name of the river Ládōn in Arcadia where the nymph Syrinx was transformed into a reed, as recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses - from which work he also draws the familiar plot device of the chaste female delivered from the unwelcome attentions of a lustful god by her prayed-for transformation into a plant or watercourse. He chose a variant of the name of this mythological river for its obvious similarity to that of the Loddon, which ran for part of its course through Windsor Forest (the much-reduced remnant of which is now known as Windsor Great Park).

He makes a further connection between the then royal protectress of Windsor, Queen Anne, and the goddess Diana, protectress of the Arcadian woods and the nymphs who dwelt in them. The personal, yet classically inspired mythology that Pope creates for his poem fables that Diana and her attendant nymphs once roamed the 'Windsor shade':

Here, as old Bards have sung, Diana stray'd

Bath'd in the Springs, or sought the cooling Shade;

Here arm'd with Silver Bows, in early Dawn,

Her buskin'd Virgins trac'd the Dewy Lawn.

Above the rest a rural nymph was fam'd,

Thy Offspring, Thames! the fair Lodona nam'd...

Pan saw and lov'd, and furious with Desire

Pursu'd her Flight; her Flight increas'd his Fire...

Let me, O let me, to the Shades repair,

"My native Shades — there weep, and murmur there.

She said, and melting as in Tears she lay,

In a soft, silver Stream dissolv'd away.

The silver Stream her Virgin Coldness keeps,

For ever murmurs, and for ever weeps;

Still bears the Name the hapless Virgin bore,

And bathes the Forest where she rang'd before...

The watry Landskip of the pendant Woods,

And absent Trees that tremble in the Floods...

The Loddon slow, with verdant alders crown'd...

Extracts from Windsor Forest by Alexander Pope</blockquote>

The amiable and erudite Thomas Warton, negligent clergyman but diligent poet, spent much of his childhood beside the Loddon, near its sources in Basingstoke, for the infant Loddon then flowed through the grounds of the Parsonage House that belonged the living of the Vicar of Basingstoke, an incumbency filled by his father, Thomas Warton the elder from 1723 until his death in 1745. The 300-line poem The Pleasures of Melancholy, written by the precocious younger Warton at the age of just seventeen, contains the following lines concerning a poet lost in reverie by a shady, wooded stream at eventide that convey the strong impression of inspiration by the slow and drowsy Loddon:

...in embowering woods

By darksome brook to muse, and there forget

The solemn dulness of the tedious world,

While Fancy grasps the visionary fair:

And now no more th' abstracted ear attends

The water's murmuring lapse, th' entranced eye

Pierces no longer through th' extended rows

Of thick-ranged trees; till haply from the depth

The woodman's stroke, or distant tinkling team

Or heifers rustling through the brake, alarms

Th' illuded sense, and mars the golden dream.

</blockquote>

To the River Lodon (1777)

Ah! what a weary race my feet have run

Since first I trod thy banks with alders crowned,

And thought my way was all thro' fairy ground,

Beneath thy azure sky and golden sun;

Where first my muse to lisp her notes begun!

While pensive Memory traces back the round,

Which fills the varied interval between;

Much pleasure, more of sorrow, marks the scene.

Sweet native stream! those skies and suns so pure

No more return, to cheer my evening road!

Yet still one joy remains, that, not obscure,

Nor useless, all my vacant days have flowed,

From youth's gay dawn to manhood's prime mature;

Nor with the muse's laurel unbestowed.

the ninth sonnet of Thomas Warton

(8th Poet laureate, 20 April 1785 – 21 May 1790)

</blockquote>

Flora and fauna

The Loddon lily

SSSI

Fish

Navigation

Points of interest

Cultural influence

See also

Bibliography

References

External links