River Windrush

The River Windrush rises in the Cotswold Hills near Snowshill in Gloucestershire. It flows south-east for about 56 kilometres through villages and towns such as Bourton-on-the-Water, Windrush, Burford and Witney. The river meets the River Thames at Newbridge in Oxfordshire after passing through Ducklington and Standlake. The Windrush has been known by different names since Anglo-Saxon times. In a charter from 779 it appears as Uuenrisc, and later as Wenris, Wænric and Wenríc. The name means ‘white fen’, a reference to the pale colour of its waters. The river once supported trout, grayling, perch, chub, roach and dace, and native crayfish were still present in the 1980s. Its waters powered Witney’s cloth and woollen blanket industry from the mid-17th century. In 2007 the Windrush flooded parts of Witney, submerging the town’s only bridge. Recent pollution from sewage plants has reduced water quality, causing algae to form after dry spells. The ship HMT Empire Windrush, which carried West Indian immigrants to Britain after the Second World War, took its name from the river.