River Swale

The River Swale rises in the high Pennines of North Yorkshire where Birkdale Beck and Great Sleddale Beck meet. It flows north-east past old lead mines and then east through a series of waterfalls in the headwaters. After passing Keld the river turns south towards Muker and Gunnerside before swinging east again near Feetham. The Swale passes the market town of Richmond, where it is spanned by a Norman castle built on a bluff above the water. Beyond Richmond the river follows long meanders past Brompton-on-Swale and under the A1 at Catterick Bridge. The Swale is England’s fastest-flowing river and can rise three metres in twenty minutes after heavy rain. Its headwaters receive 1,800 millimetres of rain a year while lower reaches average 1,300 millimetres. The valley shows classic Dales geology with alternating limestone and gritstone beds and mineral veins of galena and fluorite. During the last Ice Age a glacier widened the valley and cut the Kisdon gorge near Keld. Evidence of Bronze Age stone circles and Iron Age earthworks can still be seen around Harkerside. Visitors walk the Pennine Way through the upper valley from Buttertubs Pass to Muker. The Yorkshire Dales Cycle Way follows the river between Fremington and Gunnerside, while the Coast to Coast Walk passes through Richmond and Reeth. Along the banks grow ash, birch and rowan with alder and willow in wetter places. Hay meadows fill with buttercups and wood cranesbill in summer, and the river’s many waterfalls include Wain Wath Force and Kisdon Force.