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River Lugg

Geographic coordinate listsLists of coordinatesRiver navigations in the United KingdomRivers of HerefordshireRivers of Powys
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in HerefordshireSites of Special Scientific Interest in RadnorUse British English from October 2017Wye catchment
The River Lugg at Hampton Bishop geograph.org.uk 156982
The River Lugg at Hampton Bishop geograph.org.uk 156982

The River Lugg (Welsh: Afon Llugwy) rises near Llangynllo in Radnorshire, Wales. It flows through the border town of Presteigne and then through Herefordshire, England, where it meets its main tributary, the River Arrow, to the south of Leominster. It flows into the River Wye downstream of Hereford at Mordiford, around 63 miles (101 km) from its source. Its name comes from a Welsh root, and means "bright stream".As it passes through the countryside, it is crossed by a number of bridges, many of which are listed structures. Lugg Bridge at Lugwardine and the bridge at Mordiford with its associated causeway both date from the 14th century. The river at Leominster was altered significantly in the 1960s, when it was diverted to the south and then along the course of the Leominster and Kington Railway around the northern edge of the town, as part of a flood defence scheme. In the past, it was important for milling, supplying power to nearly one third of the mills in Herefordshire at the time of the Domesday Book. There are a few mills left, and some obvious mill sites, but many of the mills below Leominster were bought up and their weirs demolished as part of a scheme to make the river navigable in the 1690s. This was not a success, as the water levels dropped creating shoals, and in the 1720s, some of the weirs were reinstated, with pound locks to enable boats to bypass them. Navigation up to Leominster was for a time possible, although it was never hugely successful, and ceased in the 1860s, once railways had been built in the area. The river was a free navigation as a result of powers obtained in an Act of Parliament of 1695, but in 2002, the Environment Agency became the navigation authority following the passing of the Wye Navigation Order. This reaffirmed the right of navigation on the river, but prohibited the building of locks and weirs, and so most boating is by canoes and kayaks. The river is also used for fishing, as it has good populations of wild brown trout and grayling. Water quality of the river system is moderate, although some of its tributaries have poor water quality, and some bad. In common with many rivers, the chemical quality changed from good to fail in 2019, following the introduction of testing for chemicals not previously included in the quality assessment. The whole of the river is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and since 2003, a policy of building fish passes where there are weirs has led to significant improvements to the presence of migratory fish in the river.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article River Lugg (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.031111111111 ° E -2.6361111111111 °
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Address

B4224
HR1 4LF
England, United Kingdom
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The River Lugg at Hampton Bishop geograph.org.uk 156982
The River Lugg at Hampton Bishop geograph.org.uk 156982
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Nearby Places

River Frome, Herefordshire
River Frome, Herefordshire

The River Frome is a river in Herefordshire, England. It flows through Bromyard, and Bishops Frome. Immediately below the depopulated village of Stretton Grandison its tributary, the river or brook named the Lodon, joins it. It then flows west, past Yarkhill and the farmstead or locality of Prior's Frome before its confluence with the Lugg (which skirts the north side of Hereford here) at Hampton Bishop about 2 miles (3.2 km) before the latter joins the Wye. The valley lies in the Old Red Sandstone formations of this part of Herefordshire, revealing much evidence of the region's geological past. It has left many exposures of Devonian and late Silurian sandstones and mudstones, and has created a landscape that demonstrates the effects of successive phases of glaciofluvial erosion. The river source is on the Bromyard plateau where it cuts through rocks of the St. Maughan's Formation. At the village of Bishop's Frome, the Bishop's Frome Limestone marks the transition to the older, Silurian Raglan Mudstone Formation and enters a broad, low-lying area, where the effects of both the Anglian and Devensian glacial stages can be seen in the rocks and landscape.The river gives its name to hamlets on the high ground to the east: Halmond's Frome, Fromes Hill and Castle Frome. In 2007, like many other rivers in England, the Frome burst its banks. This occurred at places including lower parts of Bromyard, causing homes to be evacuated. A smaller scale recurrence occurred in April and July 2012.