River Balder

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title: "River Balder" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-county-durham"] description: "River in County Durham, England" topic_path: "general/rivers-of-county-durham" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Balder" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary River in County Durham, England ::

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

Field	Value
name	River Balder
image	Footbridge over river Balder - geograph.org.uk - 397049.jpg
image_caption	The Balder and Black Beck meet
source1_location	Stainmore Common
mouth_location	River Tees
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	England
length_km	23.4
source1_elevation	480 m
::

| name = River Balder | image = Footbridge over river Balder - geograph.org.uk - 397049.jpg | image_caption = The Balder and Black Beck meet | source1_location = Stainmore Common | mouth_location = River Tees | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = England |length_km=23.4 | source1_elevation = 480 m | discharge1_avg = | basin_size =

The River Balder is in County Durham, but until 1974, it was in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The head of the valley is a bleak moorland, with hills around it exceeding 500 ft. the name is first recorded in the 13th century, and is thought to derive from an Old English personal name (B(e)aldhere), with possibly the river valley being named Baldersdale first, and the river being named later.

For the first 4 km, the watercourse runs as Balder Beck, before meeting Black Beck and forming the River Balder proper at . The River Balder enters Balderhead Reservoir about 7 km from the source, at 336 m above sea level. It spills into two more reservoirs further down Baldersdale: Blackton Reservoir and Hury Reservoir.

The scenery becomes gentler as it descends past Baldersdale Youth Hostel. The distinctive flat peak of Goldsborough to the south is passed before the valley begins to open out as the river enters Blackton Reservoir at 285 m.

The course of the valley carries on at a virtually exactly east direction as the River Balder enters Hury Reservoir at about 260 m (850 ft), passing the village of Hury which lies to the north.

The river now begins to twist and turn and is crossed by the grade II listed, nine-arched Balder Railway Viaduct, which was used by the Barnard Castle to Middleton-in-Teesdale railway line before it was closed.

It finally joins the River Tees at Cotherstone, at a height of about 162 m.

References

References

1. "River Balder, Baldersdale".
2. "Balder Catchment (trib of Tees) {{!}} Catchment Data Explorer {{!}} Catchment Data Explorer".
3. (2 February 2018). "Hannah Hauxwell Obituary". The Daily Telegraph.
4. (2016). "Howgill Fells and Upper Eden Valley". Ordnance Survey.
5. (1960). "The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names". Oxford University Press.
6. "Baldersdale :: Survey of English Place-Names".
7. (1947). "Teesdale". Museum Press.
8. "Balderhead Reservoir Water body ID 29025".
9. "River Tees Fact File". Environment Agency.
10. "Blackton Reservoir Water body ID 29027".
11. {{NHLE
12. "A countryside gateway walk through Cotherstone".
13. (2015). "North Pennines". Ordnance Survey.

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