River Chess

The River Chess is a chalk stream in the Chiltern Hills that begins near Chesham and flows for 18 kilometres through Buckinghamshire to meet the River Colne at Rickmansworth. Its waters rise from three springs and pass through parkland landscaped by Capability Brown at Latimer House. Near Latimer village lies the site of a 1st-century Roman villa, while downstream the river runs through meadows at Frogmore and watercress beds at Sarratt Bottom. It flows beneath the M25 motorway at Solesbridge Lane before reaching the former mill sites used for paper making in the 18th and 19th centuries. The river supports wildlife typical of chalk streams, including water vole, kingfisher and brown trout. Councillor Justine Fulford campaigned in 2005 against over-extraction by Nestlé’s Powwow Water, which contributed to drought conditions. A water vole recovery project restored part of the population after a 97 per cent decline caused by American mink. The Chess also once held native white-clawed crayfish, now extinct here since the mid-1990s due to signal crayfish and crayfish plague. The Chess Valley Walk offers a 16-kilometre route linking stations at Chesham, Chorleywood and Rickmansworth. The path is way-marked and mostly follows public footpaths, with short road sections. Near Sarratt the only working watercress beds remain at Moor Lane, though they now rely on well water after sewage overflows disrupted operations. The valley’s history includes medieval vineyards marked by strip lynchets and Roman villas along its banks.