River Nidd

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River in North Yorkshire, England

title: "River Nidd" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["nidderdale", "rivers-of-north-yorkshire", "ouse-catchment"] description: "River in North Yorkshire, England" topic_path: "general/nidderdale" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Nidd" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary River in North Yorkshire, England ::

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

Field	Value
name	River Nidd
image	Knaresborough Viaduct from River Nidd.jpg
name_etymology	Probably a Celtic word meaning "bright, brilliant, shining"
image_caption	Railway Viaduct over the River Nidd in Knaresborough

| name = River Nidd | image = Knaresborough Viaduct from River Nidd.jpg | name_etymology = Probably a Celtic word meaning "bright, brilliant, shining" | image_caption = Railway Viaduct over the River Nidd in Knaresborough

| source1_location = Nidd Head Spring, 1.3 km north of the summit of Great Whernside | mouth_location = River Ouse, Nun Monkton | mouth_coordinates = | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = England | length = 94.45 km | source1_elevation = 595 m | discharge1_avg = | basin_size = 516 km2 | pushpin_map = Yorkshire and the Humber#England | mouth_elevation = 13 m |river_system=Swale–Ouse The River Nidd is a tributary of the River Ouse in the English county of North Yorkshire. It rises in Nidderdale at Nidd Head Spring on the slopes of Great Whernside. In its first few miles it has been dammed three times, creating Angram Reservoir, Scar House Reservoir and Gouthwaite Reservoir, which attract a total of around 150,000 visitors a year. It joins the River Ouse at Nun Monkton.

The upper river valley, Nidderdale, was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1994.

The Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust has a remit to conserve the ecological condition of the River Nidd from its headwaters to the Humber estuary.

Course

The Nidd rises in Nidderdale at Nidd Head Spring on the slopes of Great Whernside in the Yorkshire Dales. It flows east into Angram and Scar House reservoirs before turning south just downstream of Newhouses. In normal conditions the river disappears underground into the sinkhole known as Manchester Hole. If Scar House reservoir overflows, water flows past Manchester Hole to Goyden Pot, another sinkhole. In severe floods, the river flows past Goyden Pot down the valley. The water sinking into the Nidderdale caves reappears at the rising Nidd Head to the south of the village of Lofthouse.

Below Lofthouse the river is joined by How Stean Beck, and turns south-south-east towards Ramsgill before flowing into Gouthwaite Reservoir. Continuing on the same heading, the first major settlement is reached at Pateley Bridge. Turning more south-easterly, it flows past Glasshouses and Summerbridge, where it turns south again past Dacre Banks. Passing by Darley, the river turns east before reaching Birstwith, where it flows south-east to Hampsthwaite. A series of large bends in the river take the flow north, east and then south, and east again, to enter Nidd Gorge.

Below the gorge, the river meanders south-east through the town of Knaresborough, heading north and looping south again as it enters flatter terrain. Near Little Ribston it meanders south-easterly and easterly, crossing underneath the A1 and the A1(M) near the small village of Cowthorpe. The river continues meandering past Cattal north-easterly towards Moor Monkton, towards its junction with the River Ouse at Nun Monkton.

Water levels

::data[format=table]

Monitoring Station	Station Elevation	Low water level	High water level	Record high level
Gouthwaite Reservoir	122.53 m	0.08 m	1.10 m	3.40 m
Pateley Bridge	113.06 m	0.14 m	2.5 m	3.73 m
Birstwith	70.9 m	0.11 m	1.5 m	3.66 m
Knaresborough	36.86 m	0.42 m	1.3 m	2.16 m
Hunsingore	18.14 m	0.08 m	0.85 m	2.92 m
Skip Bridge	7.58 m	0.22 m	2.36 m	5.06 m
::

Low and high water levels are an average figure.

Reservoirs

The two most northerly reservoirs on the course of the river were built to provide water to the Bradford area in the early 1900s by way of the Nidd Aqueduct. As of 2017, they are maintained by Yorkshire Water.

Angram Reservoir

The reservoir takes its name from Angram, a settlement in the township of Stonebeck Up, submerged when the reservoir was built. Completed in 1919 with a dam height of 61 m covering 34 hectares with a volume of 1,041 million gallons and a depth of 33.4 m.

Scar House Reservoir

A temporary village was built at Scar House to house the workers building the reservoirs and some remains can still be seen. The old Village Hall was moved to Darley, where it now serves as the local Village Hall. The dam at Scar House was completed in 1936. The dam height is 71 m (233 ft) with the reservoir covering area 70 hectares and a depth of36.3 m giving a volume of 2,200 million gallons. The reservoir is fed almost exclusively from the Angram dam.

Gouthwaite Reservoir

Gouthwaite reservoir is designated a Site for Special Scientific Interest. It provides a compensation release for the river. It covers an area of 312 acre.

The Nidd can overflow the reservoirs, flooding the caves in the valley. In such cases the river overflows into the normally dry river bed past Lofthouse through to Gouthwaite Reservoir.

Geology

The head of the river is located on moorland and the river character is affected by the run-off levels from the three reservoirs. The upper valley is primarily millstone grit with fluvioglacial deposits. The overlying soil is prone to water-logging due to its slow permeability, being composed of loamy soils on top of clay with peat on the top layer. Around Lofthouse there are outcrops of Upper Yoredale limestone, which is more permeable than millstone grit and has created the Nidderdale Caves, where the river flows underground.

Lower down on the flood plain, the nature of the underlying ground is Magnesian Limestone over alluvium and terrace drift deposits. On top of this is a combination of slowly permeable and well drained fine loam over clay.

Where the river passes through the Nidd Gorge, Carboniferous (Namurian) and Upper Permian rock is exposed.

Etymology

The etymology of the name remains unknown but the name is either Celtic or Pre-Celtic (as with most rivers in Western Europe). A derivation from Celtic meaning brilliant or shining has been suggested (as in Old Irish níamda), as has a link to the older Indo-European root *-nedi, simply meaning river.

The Nidd likely shares this etymology with the river and town of Neath (Welsh Nedd) in South Wales and the town of Stratton in Cornwall (originally named Strat-Neth), and with many other rivers across Europe, such as the Nete in Belgium, the Nied in France, Neda in Galicia (NW Spain), the Nethe, Nidda and Nidder in Germany, and the Nida in Poland.

Leisure

Along the river valley can be found the Nidderdale Museum, which is located in Pateley Bridge, and features sections about the traditional agriculture, industries, religion, transport and costume of Nidderdale.

Lower down the river is the town of Knaresborough, which is home to Knaresborough Castle and Knaresborough Museum.

There are many way-marked walking routes throughout the river valley, including the Nidderdale Way, a 55-mile circular walk whose usual starting point is Ripley.

Lists

Tributaries

Above Angram Reservoir

Straight Dike
Craven Sike
Long Hill Sike
Crook Dike

Flowing into Angram Reservoir

Stone Beck
Maiden Gill Beck
Haw Gill Sike
Wising Gill Sike

Flowing into Scar House Reservoir

Wench Gill
Shaw Gill Sike
Stand Sike
Tops Gill
Scar House Gill

Between Scar House and Gouthwaite Reservoirs

Woo Gill
Thornet Gill
Maddering Gill
Turnacar Gill
Foggyshaw Gill
Rough Close Gill
Limley Gill
How Gill
How Stean Beck
Blayshaw Gill
Blackstone Gill
Boggle Dike
Ramsgill Beck
Lul Beck

Flowing into Gouthwaite Reservoir

Byerbeck Gill
Knott's Gill
Colt House Gill
Riddings Gill
Stubnooks Gill
Burn Gill

Below Gouthwaite Reservoir

Dauber Gill
Foster Beck
Rash Dike
Fosse Dike
Byril Beck
Fell Beck
Loftshaw Gill
Smelt Maria Dike
Clough Gill
Darley Beck
Fringill Dike
Old Mill Race
Tang Beck
Cockhill Beck
Ripley Beck/Old Nidd
Newton Beck
Oak Beck
Bilton Beck
Frogmire Dike
The Rampart
Gundrifs Beck
Crimple Beck/River Crimple
Broad Wath
Fleet Beck
Kirk Hammerton Beck
Pool Beck

Settlements

Crossings

Angram Reservoir dam (private road)
Scar House Reservoir dam
Woodale Bridge (private road to Low and Middle Woodale)
Newhouses Bridge (unclassified road to Newhouses, Newhouses Edge and Summerstone Estate)
Thrope Farm road (private)
Unclassified road at Lofthouse
West House Farm road (private)
Nidd Bridge, Ramsgill
Wath Bridge, Wath
Pateley Bridge at Pateley Bridge
Unnamed road near Glasshouses (private)
Glasshouses Bridge, Glasshouses
B6451, Summer Bridge, Summerbridge
Ross Bridge (Toll), near Birstwith
New Bridge (packhorse bridge), near Birstwith
Wreaks Bridge, Birstwith
Hampsthwaite Bridge, Hampsthwaite
A61, near Killinghall
Killinghall Bridge, Killinghall
Nidd Viaduct (Nidderdale Greenway), Bilton
A59, High Bridge, Knaresborough
Knaresborough Viaduct (railway), Knaresborough
B6163, Low Bridge, Knaresborough
B6164, Grimbald Bridge, Knaresborough
A658, Knaresborough
Goldsbrough Mill Farm Road
A168, Walshford Bridge, Walshford
A1M near Walshford
Cattal Bridge, Cattal
Skip Bridge, York to Harrogate/Leeds Railway Line near Kirk Hammerton
A59, New Skip Bridge near Kirk Hammerton

Gallery

File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 650675.jpg| River Nidd less than 1 km from the source File:River Nidd at Lofthouse. - geograph.org.uk - 97847.jpg| River Nidd at Lofthouse File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 225547.jpg| River Nidd near West House Farm File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 974655.jpg| River Nidd near Pateley Bridge File:River Nidd at Glasshouses - geograph.org.uk - 289861.jpg| River Nidd at Glasshouses File:River Nidd below Dacre - geograph.org.uk - 652008.jpg| River Nidd below Dacre File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 1264857.jpg| River Nidd between Birstwith and Hampsthwaite File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 667173.jpg| River Nidd from Killinghall Bridge File:The River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 986426.jpg| The River Nidd at Knaresborough File:River Nidd - geograph.org.uk - 290949.jpg| River Nidd near Tockwith Road

Sources

Ordnance Survey Maps

Lower Wharfedale & Upper Washburn Valley (297)
Nidderdale (298)
Yorkshire Dales – Northern & Central Areas (OL 30)

References

"Scar House Reservoir".
(27 October 2009). "York & North Yorkshire – Wading birds need landowners' help". BBC News.
"River levels".
(20 April 2017). "Walk this way to shed the pounds".
"Gouthwaite Reservoir".
(9 May 2017). "Multi-million pound plan to improve safety at Gouthwaite reservoir". Harrogate Advertiser.
"Gouthwaite Reservoir".
(16 November 2005). "Pupil, 14, dies in pothole accident during school caving trip". The Guardian.
"River Nidd – Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust".
"Geology Upper Valley".
"Geology Lower Valley".
"Knaresborough Gorge Geology".
"eDIL – Irish Language Dictionary".
"Etymology".
Owen, Hywel Wyn. (2008). "Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales". Gomer Press.
(2008). "The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales". University of Wales Press.
"celtpn".
Society, Yorkshire Dialect. (7 December 1958). "Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society".
[[Weatherhill, Craig]] (2009) ''A Concise Dictionary of Cornish Place-names''. Westport, Co. Mayo: Evertype; p. 65
Fergusson, Robert. (1868). "The River Names of Europe".

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