Names of the Rivers

Names of the Rivers & Dykes in Scrooby

Graham Robbins

The Narrow River

The river running through Scrooby is currently named the Ryton. It has had several other names. On the enclosure map of 1777 the river is labelled 'The Narrow River' and 'The Narrows'. It has also been known as the 'River Blyth', presumably after the town of Blyth which it also runs through.

The old course of the river Ryton formerly ran through the race at Scrooby Mill and passed immediately north of the Manor House to join the river Idle in the meadows between Scrooby and Bawtry. The present course of the river is the old flood channel, and sluices were provided to re-direct the water as necessary. When the turnpike road was built in 1766, additional drains were provided to reduce the risk of flooding. In the 18th century, fish garths were recorded along the length of the flood channel, at Floodgate Hill. Today, fishermen try their hand along the same length, from the bank of the area of parish land called the Whinz. On Floodgate Hill itself, a small stand of ancient Scots pines keep silent watch over passersby, as they have done for above a century and a half.

The Trout Beck

The tributary stream which runs to the east of Scrooby village, northward and into the Ryton is referred to as the Trout Stream and Trout Beck in parish council minutes of the 1980s and 1990s.

Capstick's Dyke

George Lister of Scrooby told me in late summer of 2011, that the ditch which ran across the field known as Otter Pits between the Great North Road and West End Farm was known as Capsticks Dyke or Capsticks Drain. There is a Capsticks family on the 1901 census for Scrooby (see here), and George Capsticks, the head of the family, is listed as an agricultural labourer. I guess he either dug the drain or filled it in. The ditch can be seen as a crop mark - a line of strong grass growth - running south-eastward from the southerly red brick storm conduit under the 1776 turnpike road causeway. The crop mark stops at the westerly boundary of West End Farm's paddock. On the other side of the boundary, the ditch is extant, used as a water feature. Beyond the eastern boundary of the paddock, the ditch continues, eventually passing as a culvert under Mill House, and ending in the Mill pond.