Wych Brook

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title: "Wych Brook" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-cheshire", "rivers-of-shropshire", "rivers-of-wrexham-county-borough", "dee-catchment"] description: "River in Wales and England" topic_path: "general/rivers-of-cheshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wych_Brook" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary River in Wales and England ::

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

Field	Value
name	Wych Brook
name_other	River Elfe, Red Brook, Worthenbury Brook
image	Bridge at Higher Wych - geograph.org.uk - 336710.jpg
image_size	240px
image_caption	The Wych Brook at Higher Wych
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	Wales, England
subdivision_type3	Counties
subdivision_name3	Wrexham County Borough, Cheshire, Shropshire
subdivision_type4	Districts / Boroughs
source1_location	Fenn's Moss, Wrexham County Borough
source1_coordinates
mouth	River Dee
mouth_location	near Shocklach
mouth_coordinates
tributaries_left	Emral Brook
::

| name = Wych Brook | name_native = | name_native_lang = | name_other = River Elfe, Red Brook, Worthenbury Brook | name_etymology = | image = Bridge at Higher Wych - geograph.org.uk - 336710.jpg | image_size = 240px | image_caption = The Wych Brook at Higher Wych | map = | map_size = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = | pushpin_map_size = | pushpin_map_caption= | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = Wales, England | subdivision_type2 = | subdivision_name2 = | subdivision_type3 = Counties | subdivision_name3 = Wrexham County Borough, Cheshire, Shropshire | subdivision_type4 = Districts / Boroughs | subdivision_name4 = | subdivision_type5 = | subdivision_name5 = | length = | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location= | discharge1_min = | discharge1_avg = | discharge1_max = | source1 = | source1_location = Fenn's Moss, Wrexham County Borough | source1_coordinates= | source1_elevation = | mouth = River Dee | mouth_location = near Shocklach | mouth_coordinates = | mouth_elevation = | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = | tributaries_left = Emral Brook | tributaries_right = | custom_label = | custom_data = | extra =

The Wych Brook, Worthenbury Brook and Red Brook, formerly known as the River Elfe, is a tributary of the River Dee in England and Wales, forming part of both the historic and present-day border between the two countries. The stream forms part of the border between Cheshire and Shropshire in England to the east, and Wales, particularly the Maelor Saesneg (a detached portion of Historic Flintshire, now within Wrexham County Borough), to the west.

Course and landscape

The Wych Brook rises (as the "Red Brook") at Fenn's Moss on the Wrexham County Borough / Shropshire border, and flows northward and westward through a steep-sided, wooded valley to Threapwood, being joined by several smaller streams such as the Grindley Brook, which rises near the village of the same name, and the Iscoyd Brook. Near the community of Willington Worthenbury it is joined by the Emral Brook, and runs northward to the Dee (as the "Worthenbury Brook") near Shocklach. The Emral Brook itself rises near Penley and is joined by a number of tributary streams which drain the central part of Maelor Saesneg.

The middle section of the river valley, which has eroded deeply into an underlying glacial drift of boulder clay, sands and gravels, is the narrowest and deepest, particularly between Dymock's Mill and Lower Wych. The river landscape is characterised by ancient mixed ash woodland, unintensively-farmed lowland pasture and rush pasture. The English side of the valley is designated as an Area of Special County Value.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Wych_Brook_Valley_-geograph.org.uk-_130895.jpg" caption="Typical landscape of the Wych Brook valley: the foreground is in England and the rising ground in the distance in Wales."] ::

The Wych Brook was formerly known as the River Elfe or Elf. The origin of the name "Elfe" is in this case unknown, though the name "Wych" is thought to derive from saline springs in the area. There were formerly a number of natural salt springs or 'brine pits' near the river bank at Higher Wych and Lower Wych, which from medieval times were used as a water source for commercial salt production. It has been speculated that the river name Elfe is based on the Welsh language root hal-, halen, "salt".

Ecology

The river is a habitat for a variety of fish including brown trout, common dace, the gudgeon Gobio gobio, stone loach and common minnow. There is an unusual isolated population of dormice in the Wych Valley, as a result of an introduction of animals in 1996/7.

References

References

1. [http://www.cpat.org.uk/projects/longer/histland/maelor/msnatura.htm Maelor Saesneg], Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust
2. [http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/assets/pdfs/planning/landmap/12b.pdf The Wych Valley], Wrexham Borough Council
3. The Wych Valley, WCBC
4. Lee, "Iscoyd in Maelor Saesneg], ''Archaeologia Cambrensis'', XXVI, April 1876, p.92
5. [https://www.cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-06/Dormouse.pdf Dormouse], Cheshire Region Biodiversity Partnership

::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. ::