The Stour

River Allen

The Allen is a chalk stream: it 'flows over chalk for almost all of its length until it joins the Stour at Wimborne. Its valley landscape is much more intimate than the surrounding countryside, with flat water meadows on either side of the river contrasting with adjacent arable fields. Copses and riverside trees are frequent; development is rare, though historic bridges are a feature' (Dorset Local Environment Agency Plan, 1997).

The river is one of the 'twin-bournes', that give Wimborne Minster its name (the other being the Stour itself). It is a tributary of the Stour, which rises near Monkton Up Wimborne in Dorset and flows for over ten miles, past the Minster church at Wimborne and into the Stour just to the south of the town.

The river was formerly called the Wimborne. Ekwall believes Allen is a late name (first appearing in documents in 1577) and may have been inspired by a local bridge.

Wimborne grew up between the Allen and the Stour. The Allen divides on its journey through the main part of the town creating a long thin island containing meadows known as 'Mill Mead' before they were built on. There are various local names for these bifurcations - the mill stream, the 'Wim' and East Brook.

Three mills operated within a kilometre stretch. Town Mill, at the bottom of Mill Lane was a three storey brick building constructed in 1771, severely damaged by fire in 1952. It has now been redeveloped and contains a tea room with a resident ghost. It was a corn mill - as was Walford Mill a little further upstream. This attractive building has now been converted into a craft centre by East Dorset District Council. Just above Canford Bridge was a paper mill known as Brig Mills (mill at the bridge). Apparently the old mill wheel still survives. By 1780 paper making had been moved from this mill to one at Witchampton further upstream and this was closed as recently as the 1980s.

The rivers were put to good use in other ways. In the early 1600s two fishermen made a living netting the rivers and The Fish Shambles, mentioned in David Popham's 'The Book of Wimborne' suggests there was a fish market of some kind in the town. Eels were caught in eel traps, and angling is still a popular pastime. The Allen used to be an excellent river for game fishing but migratory salmon and resident trout are declining. According to the Environment Agency the salmon stock of the Stour catchment is in a precarious state. There were also two breweries, Julian's Brewery and Town Brewery.

The stretch of the Allen opposite the school playing fields was a favourite spot for swimming and diving in the 1930s and it was also possible to row a boat- which is hard to believe now: by 1989 the river was identified as one of the top 20 low flow sites in England and Wales. Water is abstracted from bore holes by the Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water Company at Walford Bridge Pumping Station and further upstream at Stanbridge Mill (bridge, top left). A reduction in abstraction rates is gradually being achieved by the excavation of storage lakes at Longham.

The Allen was well known for its water meadows - an old system of controlled winter inundation - the water-warmed meadows encouraging the grass before the growing season to provide stock with an early bite. They do form a particular feature of chalk rivers, but are not exclusive to them. Of the 22 water meadows remaining along the Allen in 1948, all were destroyed by 1994.

There are some attractive bridges in Wimborne across the Allen. Walford Bridge lost much of its elegance when a cantilevered pedestrian footpath on east side of the bridge was constructed in 1972. It had previously been widened by 9 feet in the nineteenth century. The seventeenth century structure can still be seen. In 1567 there was an Isebec bridge, its successor the Eastbrook Bridge was widened by 8 feet in 1789. It is said that the distinctive cast iron railings paid homage to a certain Mr Uparrow (top right)... Canford Bridge at the junction of the Allen and Stour was completed in 1813. It also has a later cantilevered footpath on the west face which hide the three Portland limestone arches. Julian's Bridge was built in 1636 to replace an earlier bridge. It had its 8 pointed arches widened on both sides in 1844. The elegant Canford Suspension Footbridge built at end of the 19th century is of cast iron and steel.

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