Mells River

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title: "Mells River" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-somerset", "bristol-avon-catchment", "mells,-somerset"] description: "River in Somerset, England" topic_path: "general/rivers-of-somerset" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mells_River" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary River in Somerset, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox river"]

Field	Value
name	Mells River
image	Bridge over Mells River, Great Elm - geograph.org.uk - 836663.jpg
image_caption	Bridge over the Mells River at Great Elm
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	England
subdivision_type2	County
subdivision_type3	County
subdivision_name3	Somerset
subdivision_type5	Cities
subdivision_name5	Gurney Slade, Mells, Great Elm, Frome
source1_location	Somerset, England
source1_elevation	2 m
mouth	River Frome
mouth_location	Frome, Somerset, England
mouth_coordinates
tributaries_right	Finger Stream, Whatley Brook, Nunney Brook
::

| name = Mells River | name_native = | name_native_lang = | name_other = | name_etymology = | image = Bridge over Mells River, Great Elm - geograph.org.uk - 836663.jpg | image_size = | image_caption = Bridge over the Mells River at Great Elm | map = | map_size = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = | pushpin_map_size = | pushpin_map_caption= | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = England | subdivision_type2 = County | subdivision_name2 = | subdivision_type3 = County | subdivision_name3 = Somerset | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | subdivision_type5 = Cities | subdivision_name5 = Gurney Slade, Mells, Great Elm, Frome | length = | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location= | discharge1_min = | discharge1_avg = | discharge1_max = | source1 = | source1_location = Somerset, England | source1_coordinates= | source1_elevation = 2 m | mouth = River Frome | mouth_location = Frome, Somerset, England | mouth_coordinates = | mouth_elevation = | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = | tributaries_left = | tributaries_right = Finger Stream, Whatley Brook, Nunney Brook | custom_label = | custom_data = | extra = The Mells River flows through the eastern Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. It rises at Gurney Slade and flows east joining the River Frome at Frome.

The river forms one of the boundaries of Mells Park, a country house estate in Mells. A few kilometres downstream it flows between the pre-Roman fortifications of Wadbury Camp to the north and Tedbury Camp to the south. The river flows through the western part of the Harridge Woods nature reserve.

Mells River also powered the Old Ironstone Works and several other mills set up by James Fussell III in 1744. It is now a 0.25 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, as it is used by both Greater and Lesser Horseshoe Bats.

Vobster Inn Bridge, which carries the lane over the Mells River, is dated 1764 and is Grade II listed. At Great Elm the Murtry Aqueduct, built around 1795, carried the Dorset and Somerset Canal over the river.

The river takes the outfall from Whatley Quarry. Downstream of the outfall is the Mells River Sink. This acts as a spring when the water table is high and as a sink into underground aquifers, through the Limestone, when the water table is low. Water tracing showed this to be part of an underground part of the river 2.5 km long. Archaeological investigations found the remains of woolly rhinoceros bones and a 1st-century bronze brooch.

References

References

1. "Park, Mells". Somerset County Council.
2. Phelps, William. (1836). "The History and Antiquities of Somersetshire: Being a General and Parochial Survey of that Interesting County. To which is Prefixed an Historical Introduction, with a Brief View of Ecclesiastical History; and an Account of the Druidical, Belgic-British, Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman Antiquities, Now Extant". J.B. Nichols and son.
3. "Harridge Woods Leafet". [[Somerset Wildlife Trust]].
4. (2005). "The Case for Extending the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". Mendip Hills Society.
5. Atthill, Robin. (1971). "Old Mendip". David and Charles.
6. (2006). "English Nature citation sheet".
7. Thornes, Robin. (2010). "Men of iron. The Fussells of Mells". Frome Society for Local Study.
8. "Vobster Inn Bridge". historicengland.org.uk.
9. "Murtry Aqueduct". English Heritage.
10. "Quarry control helps maintain river levels". ABB.
11. "Mells and the Wadbury Valley". British Geological Survey.
12. Stanton, W.I.. (1982). "Mells River Sink: A spelaeological curiosity in east mendip Somerset". Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelæological Society.

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