The Kin - Harpenden's forgotten river?

There must be scope here for a discussion on the alleged drying up of the nearby River Ver watercourse in Verulamium to allow the Saint to cross it on the way to his execution. Was this legend or geological possibility?

Many years ago I was told that the "river" still ran under the Lower High Street, and that the horse chestnut tree next to the Harpenden Arms comes into leaf many weeks before any other, because its roots dip into the river.

I have read with interest the comments made about the existence and provenance of the River Kin. The Kin is not of glacial origin but its provenance is a large clay deposit which resides between the beds of chalk. This cleft or slip of clay is of substantial depth and width and originates south of Harpenden and trends north terminating near the village of Slip End in Bedfordshire.

Historically within this slip there was a very high water-table. During winter, its level was frequently topped up to levels which allowed substantial surface flows from several springs in the Kinsbourne area and perhaps elsewhere. The channels of this escaping water may not now be discernible at a mapping scale of 1:25000 but on the ground they are still clearly visible and at certain points along them periodic flooding continues to occur. There are three main channels which fed the Kin in this area. The first starts in the proximity of the entrance to Chamberlaines at its junction with Annables Lane and continues North-eastwards across Kinsbourne Green Lane (at which point it still periodically floods) eventually joining the A1081. The second starts at the copse in the proximity to the Whitewalls trends north-eastwards still feeding two large lakes, then crossing Kennels Lane (at a point which still floods periodically) and thence to the A1081. The third main water channel is to be found in the proximity of Lady Bray Farm again flowing north-east and joining the A1081 south of Gibraltar Farm. All these remnant water courses are clearly visible to the eye and would have carried substantial flows of run-off water from the presence of a very high water table in the clay slip. As noted by Mr Casey, there is evidence of substantial gravel workings along the entire length of the river Kin and of course the presence of gravel and the presence of a river bed are strongly and positively correlated.

Ed: Our curator, Les Casey, has assembled a large collection of photographs of the Dry Valley (of the Harp or Kin) from Zouches Farm near Blow Down, Dunstable, to Colney Heath. Your observations add to the understanding of the landscape.

That Kinsbourne in its various historical written forms has the original meaning of the "Cynesbeorg", the burial place of the king, is discerned by toponymists (place name experts) by working backwards using the strict rules of historical linguistics from the written versions in Middle English back to Old English. The ways in which names developed after that time through Middle English into early modern English too are taken into account. There are known well-defined processes that give rise to both vowel and consonant changes and shifts and changes in grammatical aspect with time that allow linguistic experts to do this. Grammatically the -s- denotes a genetive (possession) but this is not of a stream but a king in this case. This process isn't without some criticism and indeed had there have been proper topographical and geological evidence for a spring and a stream perhaps some revision might have been in order.

However, the Geology of the dry valley at Harpenden is clear-cut as being glacial in origin. The gravels on the common are outwash from the glacier and they formed part of the river terraces of the proto-thames river system and its temporary and more permanent tributaries.

The work of Phil Gibbard and the Quaternary Research group at Cambridge has over the last two decades elucidated a lot of the complex geology of formation and erosion of these terrace deposits. They have shown too that the the original course of the Thames was through the vale of St Albans but when dammed by an eastern tongue of the ice of the Anglian Glaciation at Hatfield (see Tony Rook History of Hertfordshire for a good diagram) it diverted to its present course. It also gave rise to a pro glacial lake at Hatfield which in turn caused pooling of water back up the Lea valley to Wheathampstead and possibly at Nomansland. The gravels show that the ice and drainage system brought rocks from NW England and from Wales So it was a very extensive river system.

The word "Spring" is indeed not to be confused with the woodland term which is specific to a coppiced wood for producing poles. New wood "springs" from the coppiced stools of hazel or hornbeam. Stocking Spring in Wheathampstead combines two coppicing terms. Stocks, stockings or stubbings refer to the stumps. In fact most of the remaining small woodland in the area show signs of ancient coppice management.

Geologically the position of Kinsbourne isn't propitious for a spring. In our district a spring line can be found where the chalk overlays the "chalk rock" which is a harder less porous layer that runs the length of the base of the Lea valley from Batford to Wheathampstead on both sides and forms part of the base on which the old Dunstable to WGC was built between Leasey Bridge and Batford. It is the origin of the springs that were at Batford and the "Causewell" at Castle farm at Wheathampstead. Castle in this case being a folk etymology of the original word Causewell which is from a Norman French word "Causse" or limestone. It gave rise to the false impression that what turned out to be a natural gravel formation might have been the Motte of a Norman Castle.

It is essential to be very rigorous in local history research to avoid creation or perpetuation of myths due to lack of specific knowledge. At the same time it must be said that if the experts explained better how they arrived at their conclusions it would help non expert local historians fall into the many traps that seem to await them when they bravely venture out into the territory.

Ed - thanks for the very interesting topographical and etymological information.

I am pleased to see that the saga about the River Kin continues to raise debate. Firstly, I must admit to neither being a historian nor even an amateur one. However, I am well qualified to observe, describe and interpret landscapes having done so in many parts of the world for much of my working life. So in answer to the contribution from Mr Cox we need perhaps to cover the ground, so to speak, once again. The area of Kinsbourne Green was and indeed still is an area of intense periodic wetness. The key causal agent for this condition lies with the presence of a deep deposit of clay contained in a cleft within the stratas of chalk. Clays are characterised by having a very high water holding capacity and when fully saturated excess water is released under certain conditions in the form of springs. These in turn, if sufficiently active, give rise to the formation of bournes, streams or rivers. From the note by Mr Cox on the question of springs, it might appear that he is unfamiliar with the presence beneath our feet of this expansive area of clay ‘slip’ which extends in length over a distance of some five miles with Kinsbourne Green at its mid point, and the importance of it as a reservoir for winter rains.

The writer has lived at Kinsbourne Green for some fifty years. The presence of spring water at some time during the winter months can invariably be noted. The location of the springs is indicated by the prolonged presence of standing surface water which often results in significant damage to winter sown crops in adjacent arable land. The presence of springs can also be noted from the presence of ponds and lakes acting as reservoirs of spring water. The spring activity today is much reduced compared to yesteryear by the marked draw down of the aquifer over the past years. Our forbears however certainly noted spring activity to the extent of demarcating, naming and mapping their position. Thus we find Jenny Spring, Eight Acre Spring, Long Spring, Spring Field, Penny Pond, Watery Lane, Spring Road et al. I cannot speak for the rest of the county but a spring at Kinsbourne Green does mean a spring, a water source as defined by any geological dictionary and has no other connotation. Historically, these springs were sufficiently active to form substantial flows of surface water during winter months; the principal flows were named the Kin and the Bray. The depressions in the land surfaces which these flows created and followed are clearly visible today and sections of them often flood after periods of heavy rainfall.

There now remains the issue of the provenance of the various spinneys and woodlands at Kinsbourne Green. These are self generated, lying proud of the prime agricultural land surrounding them. One such spinney is composed of at least twelve species and for the sake of completeness is listed as follows: Oak, Cherry, Holly, Ash, Hawthorne, Laurel, Blackthorn, Beech, Sycamore, Hazel, Elder and Wych Elm. Neither in shape nor form does this and other similar woodland resemble the remnants of a commercially coppiced woodland, marvellous examples of which are still to be found at Marshalls Heath, Hertwood Forest, Ashridge Estate and elsewhere.

There can be no doubt that the woodland at Kinsbourne Green is self generated on areas of land subject to intense and prolonged water logging and too wet to plough and even too wet to establish permanent pasture. Their presence over the years must also have contributed, by transpiration from depth, to the localised amelioration of the high water table and a reduction in flow from the springs contained within their boundaries.

Finally I concur, without qualification, the need to be rigorous in the documentation of the natural history of the areas we live in. Hence, the reason why the contribution from Mr Cox has been replied to and its contents challenged.

See also my page about The Slip.