River Brue

The River Brue rises in the hills near Brewham in Somerset and flows 50 kilometres west to Burnham-on-Sea. Its course once wound from Glastonbury to the sea, but in the twelfth century Glastonbury Abbey dug a new channel to keep the abbey dry. The river drains low-lying land that floods often, so for centuries people have built rhynes, canals and sluices to control the water. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a conservation project on the Somerset Levels and Moors run by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. It covers sites such as Westhay Moor, Shapwick Heath and Shapwick Moor, all designated for their wildlife. The project began in 2009 to restore habitats and help wildlife cope with climate change while farmers still use the land. Visitors walk beside the river’s wide, flat valley between Castle Cary and Alhampton. At Baltonsborough the river is only ten metres above sea level and many rhynes feed water into it. Near Bruton the fifteenth-century Bow Bridge still carries old packhorse tracks. Further on, the river passes Glastonbury where it once formed a lake said to be the home of the Lady of the Lake in Arthurian legend.