The River Colne runs through my garden, and it’s a very pleasant place to exist. On New Years Day 2023 I decided to try and find the source of the river, which I have always understood to be somewhere near Saffron Walden
As you can see from the main photo above, it is fairly wide by the time it gets to my garden, around halfway along its 39 mile length from source to sea.
Along with the rise and fall of tides, and the concept of a wider universe, rivers are one of the things that make my brain hurt, when I start thinking too deeply. You see, they start as a trickle somewhere, before gathering momentum, and then reaching the sea as a much bigger entity. The Colne is 39 miles in length, hitting the sea at Brightlingsea, after going through Halstead, my garden, and Colchester along the way.
What gets me is how it can begin life on the surface of our planet, as modest little thing, and then be added to along the way, with field run off, and rain, making it far greater. This is where it drops in my garden, over a sluice gate with incredible force, into a mill pond, and then off at a more sedate pace towards Colchester;
Upon further Google activity to find the source, it seemed to be in the middle of a field between Steeple Bumpstead and Cornish Hall End. Upon reaching the site I believed it to be, it was clearly in the middle of private land that I couldn’t get to.
For some reason I switched to the Maps app on my phone, to find that it seemingly wasn’t there, but just the other side of the B1057.
According to my Maps app it looked like it started in the middle of a field down Eggshell Lane. It was down here, adjacent to where it looked to be, that I met Chrissie and Paul.
Two innocent people out for a walk, when they were stopped by a bloke who said “This may sound like a daft question, but do you know where the source of the River Colne is”. Long story short, they didn’t know, but did suggest there may be a pot of gold there! Just as we were saying our goodbyes I promised to bring them half the gold if there was any, to which Paul said “We won’t be here, we’re travelling the world in a Landrover Defender!”. After realising he wasn’t making it up, we then had a long chat about their adventures. You can read all about them on their website HERE, and follow them on Youtube.
Anyway, not quite with the trepid explorer status that they have, the search for the river continued.
And then I struck gold! Well, water at least! I had actually found the source of the River Colne according to the map and the water at my feet coming from the ground! Here it is!
Unfortunately there was no pot of gold, and there wasn’t even a commemorative plaque or sign, celebrating the site. Just water coming out of the verge by the side of the B1057 opposite a lay-by! If you want to hunt it down, it’s between Eggshell Lane and Old Hall Road!
At first it appeared as though it was coming from the middle of the field as I said, but the picture below shows it heading off at the top of the photo into the field. It was actually running into the field though, not out of the field. So the actual source is about 5 metres to the right of this photo!
I was triumphant. I had found my own holy grail. Aaaaaaand relax.