River Slea

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

::summary River in Lincolnshire, England ::

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

Field	Value
name	River Slea
image	Weir below bridge in Sleaford town centre-Geograph-1876760-by-Mick-Lobb.jpg
image_caption	Slea in Sleaford
pushpin_map	Lincolnshire
pushpin_map_caption	Location of the mouth within Lincolnshire
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	England
subdivision_type2	County
subdivision_name2	Lincolnshire
length	36.4 km
discharge1_location	Leasingham Mill
discharge1_avg	0.55 m3/s
source1_location	West Willoughby
mouth_location	River Witham at Chapel Hill
mouth_coordinates
::

| name = River Slea | name_native = | name_native_lang = | name_other = | name_etymology = | image = Weir below bridge in Sleaford town centre-Geograph-1876760-by-Mick-Lobb.jpg | image_size = | image_caption = Slea in Sleaford | map = | map_size = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Lincolnshire | pushpin_map_size = | pushpin_map_caption= Location of the mouth within Lincolnshire | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = England | subdivision_type2 = County | subdivision_name2 = Lincolnshire | subdivision_type3 = | subdivision_name3 = | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | subdivision_type5 = | subdivision_name5 = | length = 36.4 km | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location= Leasingham Mill | discharge1_min = | discharge1_avg = 0.55 m3/s | discharge1_max = | source1 = | source1_location = West Willoughby | source1_coordinates= | source1_elevation = | mouth = | mouth_location = River Witham at Chapel Hill | mouth_coordinates = | mouth_elevation = | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = | tributaries_left = | tributaries_right = | custom_label = | custom_data = | extra = The River Slea is a 36.4 km tributary of the River Witham, in Lincolnshire, England. In 1872 the river was described as "a never-ending source of pure water", and was a trout river renowned throughout the East coast of England. But in the late 1960s, the Anglian Water Authority took control of the river, and thereafter it became rapidly degraded, due mostly to over-abstraction of water for use in farming.

Course

The Slea rises near West Willoughby, two miles south-west of Ancaster, at an altitude of 70 metres. The river descends 30 metres in the first 3 km of its course through Ancaster before flowing past a Site of Special Scientific Interest (alongside Sleaford Golf Club) into Sleaford.

Through Sleaford it flows above ground in two separate courses, and then curves around the foot of The Hub where a new riverside sculpture walk follows it. Leaving Sleaford, it passes Haverholme and runs down through South Kyme where it is known as the Kyme Eau to join the River Witham at Chapel Hill.

Slea Navigation

Main article: Sleaford Navigation

The River Slea was made navigable from the Witham up to Sleaford in 1794, although these navigations were closed in 1878, having been made uneconomic by the arrival of the railway in 1857. There is now an active Sleaford Navigation Trust that aims to reopen to navigations again as far as Sleaford.

References

References

1. Combined lengths of Slea and Kyme Eau
2. Johnson, Lou. "Riverside walk at Spalding - print walk - Walking Britain".
3. "Slea". Environment Agency.
4. "Kyme Eau". Environment Agency.

::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. ::