River Cole, West Midlands

The River Cole is a 25mi river in the English Midlands. It rises on the lower slopes of Forhill, one of the south-western ramparts of the Birmingham Plateau, at Hob Hill, near Wythall; and flows largely north-east across the plateau to enter the River Blythe below Coleshill, near Ladywalk, shortly before the Blythe meets the Tame. This then joins the Trent, whose waters reach the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. Its source is very near the main watershed of Midland England : tributaries are few and very short except in the lower reaches, so the Cole is only a small stream. GeologyAverage gradient of the central reaches is 10 1 /2 feet in a mile. There is a fast run-off from the drift covered Keuper marl clay which makes up its catchment area, and heavy rain produces sudden floods; in the absence of replenishing side-streams these subside as quickly as they rise. The Cole is normally shallow, except where weirs maintain an artificial depth. EtymologyIts bears a Celtic name derived from the old British word for hazel. In a charter of AD 972 of Pershore Abbey the river throughout Yardley is 'Colle'. It has since borne several different local names: Description of the courseA southern tributary rises in fields at Hob Hill, its course runs through farm land and is then joined in the vicinity of the aptly named Watery Lane by a northern tributary which rises in Redhill and crosses Kings Norton golf club. The combined river then is bridged by the A435, Alcester Road by the Horse and Jockey Public House from where it crosses fields to the east of Wythall before passing under an aqueduct for the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal on Peterbrook Road at Major's Green. Skirting to the west of Shirley and passing the site and former mill pond of Bache Mill, it is joined on its eastern bank by the Shirley Brook which forms the boundary between Birmingham and Solihull.

The River Cole is a 25mi river in the English Midlands. It rises on the lower slopes of Forhill, one of the south-western ramparts of the Birmingham Plateau, at Hob Hill, near Wythall; and flows largely north-east across the plateau to enter the River Blythe below Coleshill, near Ladywalk, shortly before the Blythe meets the Tame. This then joins the Trent, whose waters reach the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. Its source is very near the main watershed of Midland England : tributaries are few and very short except in the lower reaches, so the Cole is only a small stream. GeologyAverage gradient of the central reaches is 10 1 /2 feet in a mile. There is a fast run-off from the drift covered Keuper marl clay which makes up its catchment area, and heavy rain produces sudden floods; in the absence of replenishing side-streams these subside as quickly as they rise. The Cole is normally shallow, except where weirs maintain an artificial depth. EtymologyIts bears a Celtic name derived from the old British word for hazel. In a charter of AD 972 of Pershore Abbey the river throughout Yardley is 'Colle'. It has since borne several different local names: Description of the courseA southern tributary rises in fields at Hob Hill, its course runs through farm land and is then joined in the vicinity of the aptly named Watery Lane by a northern tributary which rises in Redhill and crosses Kings Norton golf club. The combined river then is bridged by the A435, Alcester Road by the Horse and Jockey Public House from where it crosses fields to the east of Wythall before passing under an aqueduct for the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal on Peterbrook Road at Major's Green. Skirting to the west of Shirley and passing the site and former mill pond of Bache Mill, it is joined on its eastern bank by the Shirley Brook which forms the boundary between Birmingham and Solihull.