• Dedham Mill, Essex 1820 by John Constable. • Our photos of the River Stour are taken looking down

the river to the left from the bridge in the photo

River Stour, Dedham, Essex

We think that this river is at the Lower Course stage of the river because of the following points:-*Flat and wide floodplains. We often see from our house the fields around the river flooded in winter as this happens quite often.

• Gentle valleys and hills the wide plains are seen in the photo to the left

The river has become wider with flooding and the extra water from the melted snow –

you can see in the photo below how the river is now overflowing up and around the

trees

More reasons that this is at the Lower Course stage

Other reason is that this stage the river is gently meandering

You can also see this in the map below

More Reasons - Splits and Channels

Closer look at the shallow split

The river running through Dedham also splits in a number of places where sand, rocks and dirt have built up. In the photo below you can see that the main river is on the right with a split channel on the left

River Speed

The water is flowing quite slowly here even though it was a windy day when this research was taken. We measured out

10 steps and it took the floating orange 74 seconds to float this distance. 10m divided by 74seconds = 0.135 meter per second river speed

The river in Dedham does not have a Ox Bow but below is an aerial photo of the River

Stour in Higham – about 2.5 miles from Dedham showing an Ox Bow in the river –

another indication of the Lower Course stage

• With this Ox Bow you can see the lake in the middle and it will submerge with the meander in time

Estuary in Mistley

Estuary Features• Another reason we

think that the River Stour in Dedham is a Lower Course is that 5 miles away in Mistley is the estuary of this river

• We visited this part of the river the next day after taking the photos in Dedham.

• Judging by the photos we have taken we have proof that this is a estuary.

Feature – width & tides

• Here you can see how much wider the river is to the one in Dedham –

• This part of the river has tides – showing the closeness to the sea

Sediment and rocks are deposited here, and because the river is not flowing quickly is stays here and does not go

any further

From the photo below you can see the low plains and

wide river at Mistley

• From the map you can see the river from Dedham to Mistley and further to the sea at Harwich

Conclusions on which Course the River Stour,

Dedham is• We believe that the river we have looked at is at the Lower Course stage because

• Wide floodplains• Gentle hills, low valleys• Slow river speed – water mainly flat with small

ripples• Meandering river• Splits and channels in the river from deposits• Flooded banks• Ox Bow formed just before Dedham (2.5 miles

away)• Estuary close by after Dedham at Mistley (5 miles

away)