The New River rises from chalk springs on the edge of Newmarket Heath in the areas known as the Seven Springs, St Wendred’s Well and Favin’s Head. From its emergence in wet woodland the New River flows through a culvert under the A14 and then northerly through the village of Exning.
Apart from its winding journey through the heart of the village the course is generally straight and uniform and in an artificial channel probably historically created to power a water and corn mills. It is not known where the name New River originated.
The river is classified as an Ordinary Watercourse (not a Main River) and its jurisdiction falls to Suffolk County Council as the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA). The River is 9.5 km in length and becomes a Main River downstream of Landwade. After leaving Landwade the river flows onto Monks Lode, past Wicken Fen where it joins the Burwell and Reach Lodes to Upware, the River Cam and the Great Ouse.
The New River is part of the 1990s Lodes-Granta Groundwater Scheme which was set-up by the National Rivers Authority (now the Environment Agency) and water is pumped from a borehole near Snailwell during dry periods. The amount of water extracted is governed by a finite licence and is usually required from July to January.
Generations of local children have played and fed ducks in what’s has become known as the ‘pond’ in Ducks Lane.
Nature
The river is home to many species, including water voles, kingfishers, little egrets, moorhens, mallard ducks and fish (now mostly sticklebacks).
History
This is clearly entwined with that of the village of Exning, undoubtedly a very early settlement, probably because of its location in a sheltered valley near a clean chalk water source, needed to help sustain peoples and their armies. Although confirmatory archaeological evidence is lacking, remarkable high status Saxon burials and Roman remains have been found in and around Exning.
Legend has it that St Wendreada, also known as Wendreth, an Anglo-Saxon nun, healer and saint of the 7th Century, who used the water to treat ailments. It is believed that she was one of the four daughters of King Anna. Her sister St Ethelreda was born in Exning and founded Ely Cathedral.
Folk tales have St Wendred’s Well as a temple or shrine and a place of pilgrimage for those seeking cures for their skin and eye problems. Its prominence diminished when Walsingham in Norfolk became the centre of religious attention.
In the 1970s and 1980s Exning Parish Priests conducted christenings using water drawn from the St Wendred’s Well and local racehorse trainers walked their horses through the New River believing the water enhanced their race performance.
