Welton Beck

The beck has long been the site of traditional well dressing ceremonies, which involved decorating the local spring to act as a "thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessing of a bountiful supply of pure water to Welton". The last known ceremony on a beck in Lincolnshire was in 1924.[6]

The custom took place annually on Ascension Day, where five wells were dressed in the village, starting with one in the churchyard, then one on the property of the vicarage, two at West Carr, and one at Spring Cottage on Sudbeck Lane. Welton's well dressing was in a notably different style to those of adjacent counties, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire; in Welton, the area surrounding each well was given an arch made from a branch and decorated with laburnum and lilac. White calico cloth decorated with a passage from the bible was placed on each arch by the men of the village in the early morning on Ascension Day. The ceremony started with a service at St Mary's Church, then a parade to a decorated portion of the beck at the east end of the churchyard. Each well around the village was then dressed, each with a prayer said and a hymn sung, all joined by the children of the local Sunday school who took part by laying wild flowers by each well.[5]

The spring at the source of the river is called Old Man's Head, and emerges around a large concrete culvert, appearing to bubble up around through the stones to the side of the channel. The stream quickly forms a relatively large pool, before flowing downwards towards the town.[5]

About 1.5 km (0.93 mi) downstream from the river's source at Old Man's Head, the pond near Norbeck Farm, located directly south of the beck, upstream from Welton town, first appears on the 1966 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map, inferring an approximate date of construction to be between 1956 and 1966. It is situated over two springs, both marked on the earlier 1956 1:10560 OS map. LiDAR maps of the vicinity show some lower-lying areas that indicate the former course of the beck was more meandering, since fixed to a straighter path bordering the agricultural land. This is a potential area for a renaturalisation project such as re-meandering its course or reconnecting the northern floodplains, providing benefits both for local wildlife, as well as potential flood protection in extreme incidences, by slowing the water's conveyance through the village and providing the area with floodwater storage.

From the bridge on Vicarage Lane, past the St Mary's Church to the playing field in the town, the beck is straight and steeper, bordered by private residences, with a poor aquatic habitat, being uniformly shallow and completely devoid of deeper pools. Habitat around this area could be improved by the construction of pools using low weirs. At the playing field, the beck widens and remains shallow, with equally poor aquatic habitat. The right bank is lined by residential gardens or fences, while the left has been partially reinforced with paving slabs, leading into an earthen bank further downstream. The channel here would benefit from narrowing, removing the slabs and re-profiling the left bank at a shallower angle, creating a two-stage channel and retaining capacity for flood flows whilst improving habitat for the newly narrower channel for summer flow.

Beck in Welton

Downstream from the playing field the beck is confined between gardens oncemore, pefore passing under a road culvert under The Grove. The flow conveyance capacity is small, as with other bridges across the beck, though this does allow a deeper scour pool to be created downstream by the natural funnelling effect of the water through the culvert. About 500 m of the beck from The Grove to Ryland Bridge is inaccessible to the public, flowing through private residences. The bridge has especially limited conveyance capacity due to the culvert underneath.

The beck is generally confined by the straight walls of gardens past Ryland Bridge, before reaching the naturally more meandering section as it enters into a wooded area, straddling Welton and Dunholme parishes alongside a pond off the left bank, which is used by the Scunthorpe Pisces Angling Club. The aquatic habitat in the beck improves through this short and more meandering section, containing deeper scour pools on the exterior of bends neighbouring mature trees.

Further downstream, the channel has evidently been deepened and widened, until returning to a very shallow state with poor aquatic habitat, with a lower gradient. Along some parts of this section of the beck, the depositing of sediment on the inside of bends has begun to restore its natural, serpentine dimensions, as vegetated berms form. The channel's maintenance has retained these berms, trimming only taller vegetation like rushes. In the more shaded areas, berms have not developed, likely due to the lack of sunlight preventing the growth of aquatic vegetation.

From the ford at Watery Lane, downstream through Dunholme and past St Chad's Church, the beck has almost exclusively walled banks constructed to be uniformly shallow and wide to provide greater conveyance in the rare event of higher flows, protecting nearby properties from flooding. Downstream of the ford at Beck Lane, there is a short section of steeper channel, with a much coarser riverbed substrate than elsewhere, then an approximately 200 m section to the A46 with a lower gradient, that has been artificially widened and deepened. The brook here is uniformly very shallow, as with further upstream. The aquatic habitat is very poor for much of this section, though some natural berms have been aided in developing thanks to the cutting of taller vegetation, similar to previous areas.

The brook then runs through another concrete culvert under the A46, with a large lip on the upstream side which causes the pooling of very shallow water, which becomes an impediment to fish when the water level is sufficiently low. The beck then briefly passes through agricultural land, going on to join the Barlings Eau around 2 km (1.2 mi) further downstream. This part of the channel is maintained for its land drainage function, causing generally poor aquatic habitat brought on by straightening. Monks Wood lines the south bank for much of this section.[7] The Barlings Eau has a larger fish population, including wild trout, so it is considered important to ensure a free pathway for migration upstream. The route is generally free of obstructions, except occasionally for a culvert under a farm track.[1]