The Stour

Shreen Water

The Shreen rises in Mere, South Wiltshire, and travels to Gillingham, Dorset, where it joins the Stour. At Mere, many delightful footbridges cross the stream, giving access to people's houses.

Mere's community choir, established as part of Common Ground's Confluence music-making project in 1998, named itself Shreen Harmony after the river. Its first outing was to sing old and new Christmas carols in the town in December 1998. At the end of the evening, candles were floated downstream.

As part of a Confluence project to help people compose new music - whether or not they had any previous experience - Sue Langford of Mere wrote a piece celebrating Lordsmead Bridge over the Shreen (excerpt below).

The residents in Mere have complained about low flows in the Shreen Water in summer fearing that groundwater abstraction from the chalk by Wessex Water may be the cause.