On the banks of the Derwent in Winter (Forge Valley)

The River *Derwent in North Yorkshire flows for 72 ml/115 km from it’s source at Lilla Rig on Fylingdales Moor, approximately 6 ml/9.6 km from the North Sea. The picture was taken 15 ml/21 km downstream of Lilla Rig. The river go on until it meets with the River Ouse at Barmby Barrage at Barmby on the Marsh.

Before the ice age the Derwent entered the sea at Scalby, near Scarborough. But a tongue of ice and then glacial deposits blocked its outflow and, together with the Rye, the two rivers formed a lake in the Vale of Pickering. After time an outlet formed at Kirkham gorge and the water flowed south to join the Ouse.

The river flows through the five hundred and fifty four square mile of North Yorkshire Moors National Park, the low lying Forge Valley, Vale of Pickering and Vale of York and through the hills of Kirkham Gorge and the Yorkshire Wold.

The river passes through several Yorkshire villages, including East and West Ayton, Stamford Bridge, which is the historical site of the 1066 Battle of Stamford Bridge (Saxons v Vikings), and market towns of Malton and Pickering.

The name Derwent was recorded by Bede in the 8th century as Deruuentionis fluvii, from the Celtic “river where oak trees grow abundantly.”

*Note: The Yorkshire river Derwent is one of four rivers in England with the name Derwent. The others are:

Cumbria - 60 ml/96 km
Derbyshire - 60 ml/96 km
Northumbria - 35 ml/56 km

All distances approximate