Pix Brook

---

title: "Pix Brook" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-hertfordshire", "letchworth", "rivers-of-bedfordshire"] description: "Stream in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, England" topic_path: "general/rivers-of-hertfordshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pix_Brook" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Stream in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, England ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/GOC_Letchworth_to_Ickleford_&Arlesey_126_Pix_Brook(51277505825).jpg" caption="Fairfield"] ::

Pix Brook is a chalk stream in England that flows in a northerly and westerly direction through Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire and Stotfold in Bedfordshire to the River Ivel north of Arlesey. It is both urban and rural in character.

Pix Brook is 7.931 km in length. When measured in 2022, the brook had a moderate ecological status. Its hydromorphological designation is 'heavily modified', meaning it fails to achieve good ecological status owing to significant man-made alterations to its natural physical character. Environment Agency data gives the Pix Brook a catchment area of 15.505 km2. It is one of twenty water bodies making up the Ivel Operational Catchment. A study published in the mid-1990s described Pix Brook as a shallow stream over a bed of coarse-grained calcareous gravel and sand, noting its 'relatively steep' gradient fall of 2.8 m per km in comparison to the less than 1 m per km fall of the River Ivel.

The Letchworth Sewage Treatment Works operated by Anglian Water discharges treated waste water into Pix Brook.

In Letchworth the brook is culverted through Howard Park, and the roadway of Rushby Mead bordering the eastern edge of the park follows the curves of the brook. At Norton Common local nature reserve mineral-rich springs supply the brook. Pix brook is a part of the great Ouse catchment as well in the [river Ivel] catchment it is in Hertfordshire and ends in Bedfordshire

Colloquially known as 'Dudleys Ditch' the river is the reason why local school Etonbury Academy got the prefix 'eton' (meaning stream). A school named Pix Brook Academy was initially based at Etonbury Academy from 2019 but a year later moved to newly constructed facilities in Stotfold.

Incidents

Pix Brook flooded on 4 July 2015 with five properties in Stotfold affected. A formal investigation by Central Bedfordshire Council determined the flooding was likely caused by torrential rain over stretching the drainage system, compounded by wood and watercress debris clogging up a culvert trash screen installed earlier that year by The Bedfordshire and River Ivel Internal Drainage Board.

References

References

1. "History".
2. "Glossary {{!}} Catchment Data Explorer".
3. "Pix Brook {{!}} Catchment Data Explorer".
4. Bubb, I. M.. (1996-05-01). "Factors controlling the accumulation of metals within fluvial systems". Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.
5. Miller, Mervyn. (1992). "Raymond Unwin: Garden Cities and Town Planning". Leicester University Press.
6. Hamilton-Thompson, Abigail. (2024-09-15). "50 Gems of Hertfordshire: The History & Heritage of the Most Iconic Places". Amberley Publishing Limited.
7. Wootton, Doug. (2024-03-14). "Pix Brook Academy receives 'good' rating on first Ofsted report".
8. (2 October 2015). "Flood Investigation Report - Pix Brook, Stotfold".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::