26 Facts About River Trent

Name "River Trent" is possibly from a Romano-British word meaning "strongly flooding".

River Trent then continues south through the market town of Stone, and after passing the village of Salt, it reaches Great Haywood, where it is spanned by the 16th-century Essex Bridge near Shugborough Hall.

Downstream of Nottingham it passes Radcliffe on River Trent, Stoke Bardolph and Burton Joyce before reaching Gunthorpe with its bridge, lock and weir.

River Trent basin covers a large part of the Midlands, and includes the majority of the counties of Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and the West Midlands; but includes parts of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Warwickshire and Rutland.

River Trent's flow is measured at several points along its course, at a number of gauging stations.

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River Trent is widely known for its tendency to cause significant flooding along its course, and there is a well documented flood history extending back for some 900 years.

One of the earliest recorded floods along the River Trent was in 1141, and like many other large historical events was caused by the melting of snow following heavy rainfall, it caused a breach in the outer floodbank at Spalford.

Flooding on the River Trent can be caused by the effects of storm surges independently of fluvial flows, a series of which occurred during October and November 1954, resulting in the worse tidal flooding experienced along the lower reaches.

River Trent suggested that dredging, deepening, and restricting the width of the channel could make significant improvements to the navigable depth, although cuts would be required at Wilford, Nottingham bridge and Holme.

At the beginning of the 1790s, the Navigation faced calls for a bypass of the river at Nottingham, where the passage past Trent Bridge was dangerous, and the threat of a canal running parallel to the river, which was proposed by the Erewash and the Trent and Mersey Canal companies.

The major proposals included a cut and lock at Cranfleet, where the River Soar joins the Trent, a cut, locks and weirs at Beeston, which would connect with the Nottingham Canal at Lenton, and a cut and lock at Holme Pierrepont.

River Trent considered a plan to reopen the river to Burton, which would have involved the rebuilding of Kings Mills lock, and the construction of four new locks.

Between River Trent Falls and Keadby, coastal vessels that have navigated through the Humber still deliver cargoes to the wharves of Grove Port, Neap House, Keadby, Gunness and Flixborough.

The use of a maritime pilot on the Trent is not compulsory for commercial craft, but is suggested for those without any experience of the river.

River Trent historically marked the boundary between Northern England and Southern England.

River Trent took out an injunction against the council to prevent the ongoing contamination causing a "most foul and offensive stench", the river not even being suitable to water grazing cattle on the estate.

Pollution of the "River Trent catchment was probably at its worst in the late 1950s", this being the result of the ongoing industrialisation of the urban areas, combined with the interruption and under investment caused by two world wars, which lead to only piecemeal improvements of the sewerage treatment infrastructure taking place.

In 1970, Mr Jennings again raised the issue of pollution through Burton, the River Trent Tame continuing to be a source of the problem, and further improvements were promised.

Improvements in water quality along the Trent were recorded through the chemical monitoring of the river from the 1950s.

Improvements in water quality and subsequent fish stocks, in combination with the ban on the use of certain persistent pesticides have meant that otters have now returned to the River Trent system, having been absent as recently as the 1980s.

Evidence of fishing along the Trent can be traced back to the Neolithic period, with the possible remnants of a fish weir discovered in the abandoned river channels at Hemington.

River Trent reported that they could be treacherous to the unwary, since there were few gauges to show if the river had become too deep to cross, and that they were rarely used except by locals who knew them well.

The ferry boats used along the River Trent ranged in size from small rowing boats, to flat decked craft that could carry livestock, horses, and in some case their associated carts or wagons.

The only toll bridge that remains across the River Trent is at Dunham, although it is free to cross on Christmas and Boxing Day.

Primary reason for locating so many generating stations beside the Trent was the availability of sufficient amounts of cooling water from the river.

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The first person to swim the entire swimmable length of the River Trent was Tom Milner, who swam 139 miles over nine days in July 2015.