River Alre

Name and Etymology

The river's name is an example of a so-called back-formation whereby a given name is based on another place-name, typically via a false or ungrounded theory or misunderstanding of the name's meaning. In this case the river was named by the local population after the fact that it ran through New Alresford assuming that the name Alresford meant the ford on the river Alre / Arle. In reality Alresford derives from the Old English alor (alder tree) and means "Ford at the Alder Tree". This theory is supported by the fact that the Alre river name is recorded relatively late- first appearing indirectly as Alsford ryver in 1540 and then as Arre and Arle in 1586.

Further evidence for the Alre's name being an invention due to its location near New Alresford is the fact that Old Alresford (the older of the two settlements and the original Alresford) does not sit on the Alre. Rather it is situated on the banks of an unnamed tributary stream of the Alre and not the larger river to its south. This clearly supports the fact that the name was invented later after New Alresford was founded after the 12th Century. It can therefore not be the original name of the river after which the settlement was named.

The Alre's relatively late mention is explained via the fact that until the Late Middle Ages the River Alre was considered to be the headwater of the Itchen. In fact the two rivers distinctions haven't always been clear with the Itchen itself at one point being referred to as the River Alre. In a record from 1447 Denewater is mentioned as the name for the river which runs through Alresford. It has been suggested that this name was the pre-16th Century name for the Alre and is in reference to the source of the river in Ropley Dean a hamlet of Ropley East of Alresford. In fact the valley which Ropley Dean is situated within still occasionally bears a small stream. However, 'dene' is common place-name element meaning valley, deriving from Old English 'denu' and may be unrelated to Ropley, or may even refer to "The Dean", an area of settlement in New Alresford near the Arle.

Another theory, which claims far less evidence is that the river took its name from the same alder tree as Alresford as it was supposedly a prominent alder tree.

The alternative spelling of the river's name Arle is as old as its first mention and in reality there is no correct spelling as even into the 20th Century it was recorded both ways.

Course

The river rises at a spring in the parish of Bishop's Sutton, 800 metres east of the old core of the village. Flowing west, the lesser-populated north bank of the village has the first of its three little crossings, Water Lane, a ford. Here the Alre runs between the parish church of St Nicholas and the site of the former bishop's palace, owned by the Bishop of Winchester for centuries, that gives the village its name.

It runs through Western Court Farm, where it provides the waters for the farm's watercress beds, and soon after it runs under the railway bridge of the Mid Hants Railway, known as the Watercress Line as it used to transport watercress from New Alresford to Alton and London.

North east of Alresford, the river has been split with one channel running through the Old Alresford Pond, an artificial 12th-century stew pond that was dug to provide fish for the Bishop of Winchester. It may also have served as a balancing pond for a navigation channel dug to the south. It is now designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The Alre runs just to the north of New Alresford, separating it from the smaller village of Old Alresford and forming the parish boundary between the two for much of its route. Here it runs under two water mills, Arle Mill and The Fulling Mill, as well as supporting additional watercress farms.

Its final section flows a couple of hundred metres south west through fields into the meandering course of the River Itchen.

History

Daniel Defoe mentions the river in his book A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain.

:"From thence we ride to Tichfield as above, where we pass the River Alre, which rises in the same County at Alresford, or near it, which is not above Twenty-two Miles off; and yet it is a large River here, and makes a good Road below, call'd Tichfield-bay."

Water quality

The Environment Agency measure water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.

Water quality of the River Alre in 2019:

References

References

1. "About Alresford".
2. (January 2009). "River Alre". The Wild Trout Trust.
3. Coates, R. (1989) The Place-Names of Hampshire p. 21
4. Klingelhöfer, E. C (1992) Manor, vill, and hundred : the development of rural institutions in early medieval Hampshire. Ontario, p. 177
5. (2 June 2024). "Alor".
6. Ekwall, E. (1938). The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names. Oxford University Press. p. 7
7. Coates, R. (1989) The Place-Names of Hampshire p. 21
8. Mills, A.D. (1998). Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford University Press. p. 10
9. Watts, V. (2004) Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names. Cambridge University Press. p. 10
10. Ekwall, E. (1928) English River-Names. Oxford University Press, p. 9
11. "About Alresford".
12. This can be seen in the several [[Anglo-Saxons. Anglo-Saxon]] charter boundaries which refer to the Alre as the Itchen.Grundy, G. B. (1921) The Saxon Land Charter of Hampshire with Notes on Place and Field Names. Archaeological Journal Volume 78: 69–78
13. Knight, Charles. (1867). "Geography: The English Cyclopaedia, Volume IV". Bradbury, Evans.
14. Camden, William. (1586). "Britannia". J. B..
15. Klingelhöfer, E. C (1992) Manor, vill, and hundred : the development of rural institutions in early medieval Hampshire. Ontario, p. 177
16. Klingelhöfer, E. C (1992) Manor, vill, and hundred : the development of rural institutions in early medieval Hampshire. Ontario, p. 177
17. A. D. Mills. "A Dictionary of British Place Names". Oxford University Press.
18. Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
19. "Bishop's Sutton Bishop's Palace". Gatehouse Gazetteer.
20. "Fulling Mill".
21. Defoe, Daniel. (1724–1727). "A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain".
22. (17 February 2016}} [[File:Open Government Licence logo.svg). "Glossary (see Biological quality element; Chemical status; and Ecological status)". Environment Agency.