River Wear

The River Wear winds 97 kilometres east from the Pennines to the North Sea. It passes through County Durham, carving a steep valley through the cathedral city of Durham. The river gives its name to Weardale in the uplands and Wearside near its mouth in Sunderland. The Wear’s geology shaped the land around it. High moorland in the east Pennines sits above Weardale Granite, a rock first guessed by early geologists and later confirmed by boreholes. Ice Age glaciers pushed the river’s course south, leaving glacial deposits and reshaping its valley. Near Durham, the river paused as ice retreated, leaving clear signs in the soil. The river cut a gorge through Permian Magnesian Limestone, best seen at Ford Quarry. The river’s history is tied to industry and minerals. Lead mining began in Roman times and continued into the 19th century, leaving spoil heaps still visible today. Fluorite from the granite helped steelmaking flourish in the 19th and 20th centuries. Limestone, coal and ironstone were dug along its banks, feeding ironworks at Consett and Teesside. Today, traces of these industries remain in the landscape and the river’s water.