River Leam - Course

Course

The River Leam rises from a spring, along with the Rivers Nene and Cherwell in the village of Helidon in Northamptonshire and flows, via Woolfhampcote, Braunston, the hamlet of Sawbridge, the village of Grandborough, for around 18.75 miles (30 km) in a broadly westerly direction.

Two miles from its source, the River Leam passes under the A425 main road from Daventry to Southam. At the village of Braunston it marks the boundary between Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. At Braunston, the river is crossed by a substantial embankment carrying the Grand Union Canal over the river on an aqueduct.

After Offchurch, the River Leam enters the outskirts of Royal Leamington Spa beside the Grand Union Canal – in fact, the canal has followed the river at various points from Braunston.

Though Leamington the river is surrounded almost entirely by parks, after passing an open area of grass and woodland called Newbold Comyn, the river widens dramatically into Jephson Gardens, the main municipal park in Leamington Spa. The widening is due to a weir spanned by an ornate Victorian iron footbridge.

Passing the Georgian Royal Pump Rooms in the centre of Leamington Spa, the River Leam flows a further two miles until it joins the River Avon at the border between Warwick and Leamington.

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