River Windrush

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title: "River Windrush" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-gloucestershire", "rivers-of-oxfordshire", "west-oxfordshire-district", "cotswolds", "thames-drainage-basin", "tributaries-of-the-river-thames"] topic_path: "general/rivers-of-gloucestershire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Windrush" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

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

Field	Value
name	Windrush
image	Bourton on the Water 5.JPG
image_caption	The Windrush at Bourton-on-the-Water
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	England
subdivision_type3	Counties
subdivision_name3	Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire
subdivision_type4	Districts / Boroughs
subdivision_type5	Towns
subdivision_name5	Bourton-on-the-Water, Burford, Witney
length_km	65
discharge1_location	Newbridge
discharge1_min	0.11 m3/s26 August 1976
discharge1_avg	3.27 m3/s
discharge1_max	21.6 m3/s6 December 1960
discharge2_location	Worsham
discharge2_avg	2.40 m3/s
discharge3_location	Bourton-on-the-Water
discharge3_avg	1.20 m3/s
source1_location	Gloucestershire, Cotswold Hills
source1_coordinates
mouth	River Thames
mouth_location	Newbridge
mouth_coordinates
mapframe-zoom	9
mapframe-height	250
::

| name = Windrush | name_native = | name_native_lang = | name_other = | name_etymology = | image = Bourton on the Water 5.JPG | image_size = | image_caption = The Windrush at Bourton-on-the-Water | map = | map_size = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = | pushpin_map_size = | pushpin_map_caption= | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = England | subdivision_type2 = | subdivision_name2 = | subdivision_type3 = Counties | subdivision_name3 = Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire | subdivision_type4 = Districts / Boroughs | subdivision_name4 = | subdivision_type5 = Towns | subdivision_name5 = Bourton-on-the-Water, Burford, Witney | length_km = 65 | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location= Newbridge | discharge1_min = 0.11 m3/s26 August 1976 | discharge1_avg = 3.27 m3/s | discharge1_max = 21.6 m3/s6 December 1960 | discharge2_location= Worsham | discharge2_min = | discharge2_avg = 2.40 m3/s | discharge2_max = | discharge3_location= Bourton-on-the-Water | discharge3_min = | discharge3_avg = 1.20 m3/s | discharge3_max = | source1 = | source1_location = Gloucestershire, Cotswold Hills | source1_coordinates= | source1_elevation = | mouth = River Thames | mouth_location = Newbridge | mouth_coordinates = | mouth_elevation = | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = | tributaries_left = | tributaries_right = | custom_label = | custom_data = | mapframe-zoom = 9 | mapframe-height = 250 The River Windrush is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises near Snowshill in Gloucestershire and flows south east for 65 km via Burford and Witney to meet the Thames at Newbridge in Oxfordshire.

The river gives its name to the village of Windrush in Gloucestershire.

River

The Windrush starts in the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire northeast of Taddington, which is north of Guiting Power, Temple Guiting, Ford and Cutsdean. It flows for about 35 mi: through Bourton-on-the-Water, by the village of Windrush, Gloucestershire, into Oxfordshire and through Burford, Witney, Ducklington and Standlake. It meets the Thames at Newbridge upstream of Northmoor Lock.

The river-name Windrush is first attested in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 779, where it appears as Uuenrisc. It appears as Wenris and Wænric in charters of 949, and Wenríc in one of 969. The name means 'white fen', from the Welsh gwyn and the Old Celtic reisko.

The river may still host trout, grayling, perch, chub, roach and dace. It held good populations of native crayfish until at least the 1980s. Its waters were used in cloth and woollen blanket making in Witney from mid 17th century. In 2007, it was among many of the district's rivers to flood. It flooded generally but perhaps most acutely in Witney, whose only bridge across the river was submerged. Some decline has been noted, especially in years of release of untreated sewage from plants of Thames Water. The river after drier spells sees algae formations.

The ship , synonymous with postwar immigration of West Indian people to the UK, was named after the river.

References

|downstream=River Evenlode (north)}}

References

1. [[Eilert Ekwall]], ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'', p.523.
2. "history Witney Blanket Story – A brief history of the wool trade in the Witney area".
3. "Witney Flood Gallery".
4. (27 November 2019). "Thames Water asked to tackle sewage pollution in Windrush". Oxford Mail.
5. (26 January 2020). "'Raw untreated sewage' is flowing into Cotswolds river". Gloucestershire Live.
6. "River Windrush, Barrington, Gloucestershire". The Wild Trout Trust.
7. Freeman, Anna. (2019). "River phytoplankton biological controls on a microscopic level". University of Reading.
8. (June 2020). "HMT Empire Windrush". Windrush Review.

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