River Tone

The River Tone is a river in the English county of Somerset. The river is about long. Its source is at Beverton Pond near Huish Champflower in the Brendon Hills, and is dammed at Clatworthy Reservoir. The reservoir outfall continues through Taunton and Curry and Hay Moors, which are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Finally, it flows into the River Parrett at Burrowbridge.
The was an act of the Parliament of England, passed in 1699 to authorise work that made the river navigable as far as Taunton. The act specified that profits should be used to benefit the poor of Taunton, but the proprietors succeeded in avoiding their obligation until 1843, when they used the proceeds from the sale of the navigation to fund a wing of the Taunton and Somerset Hospital, and to aid the Taunton Market Trust.
The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal opened in 1827, which provided an easier route than the river, and protracted legal battles followed over ownership of the river and water rights for the canal. These were not finally resolved until 1832, when the canal company formally took over the river navigation. The ability to navigate the river gradually deteriorated, not helped by the abandonment of the River Parrett as a navigation in 1878. Following flooding in Taunton in 1960, much of the river between there and its mouth was straightened, and the navigation locks were removed. That at Ham was blown up by the Territorial Army. Navigation rights were repealed in 1967.

Course

The river is about long. Its source is at Beverton Pond. Over its first it follows a south-easterly course and drops around before discharging into Clatworthy Reservoir, which also impounds the waters of 5 other streams.
The river continues as the outflow from the main dam of the reservoir, passing to the west of the village of Clatworthy before following a southerly course which passes to the east of Huish Champflower. The river enters a steeply wooded section at Washbattle bridge. The B3227 road from Wiveliscombe crosses from the east to the west side of the valley at Waterrow bridge. By the time it reaches Stawley bridge and turns south-east, it has lost another and is just above sea level. At Greenham, the river turns to run generally north-east. The river passes to the north of Wellington, and a mile further on the course of the derelict Grand Western Canal crosses the Tone on an aqueduct which now carries a footpath.
The river passes over weirs at Greenham, Tone and Nynehead, after which it is crossed by the Bristol and Exeter Railway. A disused bridge, constructed in 1817, spans the river at Nynehead. The river turns to the north-east near Bradford on Tone, with its two listed bridges, including the Bradford Bridge which was originally built by the 15th century, and then to the east near Upcott bridge, where there were two mills. At Roughmoor its course is crossed by Silk Mills Road. There is a scheme to make the river navigable from here to the town centre as a way of encouraging transport with less environmental impact.
Image:FrenchWeirRiverTone.jpg|thumb|left|A footbridge crosses the top of French Weir at Taunton
The French weir in Taunton is the head of navigation as boats can not be taken upstream of this point. As it makes its way through the town centre to Firepool weir and the junction with the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, it passes under the North Bridge, which was constructed in 1895, and Priory Bridge Road. Firepool weir was reconstructed in 1967 as part of the plans to straighten the river through the town centre and down to Bathpool in order to provide better flood defences. These works swept away the remains of the original navigation. Firepool Pumping Station was built the 1840s, on the site of medieval lime kilns, and later adapted for use as a pumping station supplying water to the steam trains of the Bristol and Exeter Railway.
The Brewhouse Theatre & Arts Centre, is close to the riverside., as is the County Ground, home of Somerset County Cricket Club. Next comes the A358 Obridge viaduct, the A38 Bathpool Bridge and the M5 motorway bridge. There is a disused five-arched railway bridge built in 1863 at Creech St Michael. Nearby is the aqueduct that carried the Chard Canal over the river from 1842 until 1866. Ham weir stands as a reminder of the location of the lock there. After Knapp bridge, the sluice at Newbridge marks the upper tidal limit of the river. Curry and Hay Moors, an area of low-lying fenland close to the river, are a Site of Special Scientific Interest. A railway bridge carries the Taunton to Castle Cary railway line over the river, after which is the Curry Moor pumping station. Two more road bridges at Athelney and Stanmoor cross the river before it joins the River Parrett at Burrowbridge, where the junction is overshadowed by Burrow Mump.

Geography and geology

The catchment area of the river is approximately and the average daily flow for the entire catchment is estimated to be. Water from tributaries such as Hillfarrance Brook, Halse Water, Haywards Water, Three Bridges Stream, Sherford Stream and Broughton Brook feed the river but are supplemented by controlled releases from Clatworthy and Luxhay Reservoirs during dry periods. The tributaries flowing into the Tone from the south bring water from the Blackdown Hills.
The rivers source is in the Brendon Hills which fall within the Exmoor National Park. The hills are quite heavily cultivated unlike their neighbouring upland areas of Exmoor and the Quantock Hills. The Brendon Hills are largely formed from the Morte Slates, a thick faulted and folded sequence of Devonian age sedimentary rocks. It then flows through an alluvial floodplain underlain by sub-alluvial gravels, underlain by rocks of the Mercia Mudstone Group. The floodplain is between and above the ordnance datum. The surrounding land is dominated by wet meadow and wooded areas including willow trees.
Water quality in the river can be affected by dredging work.

Hydrology and water quality

The Environment Agency is responsible for monitoring water quality on the river and its tributaries, which have been divided into seventeen separate water bodies. In 2013, seven water bodies were assessed as having good quality and ten as being moderate. The reasons for not achieving good status included pollution from waste water, pollution from agriculture and physical modifications. The physical modifications include dredging work on the lower reaches, near the junction with the Parrett to increase the channel flow to reduce flooding. The use and storage of the dredged material in bank restoration may also have an impact. In 1998 improvements were sought to treatment works and surface water outfalls to improve water quality. A vegetable washing plant on the Chelston stream at Wellington was also identified as a source of pollution. The waters of the Upper Tone have been classified as having good ecological status, whereas the section from Wellington to Taunton and downstream of Taunton are rated as moderate.
Water quality of the River Tone in 2019:

Section	Ecological Status	Chemical Status	Length	Catchment	Channel


					Heavily modified

Like most rivers in the UK, the chemical status changed from good to fail in 2019, due to the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, perfluorooctane sulphonate and mercury compounds, none of which had previously been included in the assessment.
There are three monitoring stations on the river tracking the water levels. At Greenham the normal level of the river in average weather conditions is between and with the highest recorded being on 7 December 2000. At Bishops Hull the normal range is to and the high on 30 October 2000. At Taunton market the normal range is to with a high of on 24 December 2013.
The flow in two tributaries and two points on the river is also monitored, primarily to act as an early flood warning system for Taunton. On Halsewater the mean flow is while at Milverton on the Hillfarrance Brook it is and at Greenham on the river itself it is. At Clatworthy Reservoir near the source the flow rate is.

History

The river has a long history of improvements to facilitate navigation from Bridgwater to Taunton, and has also been used to power mills along its length. These two objectives are often antagonistic, and this has been the case on the River Tone.
The earliest known record of improvements to the river is recorded in a document of 1325 from the Dean and Chapter of Wells Cathedral, where it was proposed to widen the river between Ham Mill and a new mill which was to be built at Knapp. The Dean and Chapter owned the river as far as Athelney weir, which was presumably a fish weir, as the river was an important source of fish for the local population. Records from 1494 record the intent to build a new mill at North Curry, which was operational in 1504, and caused flooding in 1505, resulting in the Bishop of Winchester having to complain to the Dean and Chapter of Wells. There is also mention of boats using the river at this time, as their use was restricted by the construction of the new mill at Ham.

River improvements

Navigation on the first from Burrowbridge to Ham Mill was much easier than on the final stretch to Taunton, and in 1638, John Mallett, the Sheriff of Somerset and member of parliament for Bath, obtained a Commission under the Great Seal from King Charles II. This granted him and his heirs sole navigation rights from Bridgwater to Ham Mills, and allowed him to improve the river at his own expense. He saw this as a philanthropic action, as it reduced the price of coal to the poor people of Taunton, as well as improving the transport infrastructure.
With the death of Mallett and later his son, work on the maintenance of the river ceased, and its condition declined. By 1697, trade was threatened, and a group of 34 merchants and traders petitioned parliament for powers to take over the navigation. The River Tone Navigation Act 1698, dated 24 March 1699, created the Conservators of the River Tone, giving them powers "for making and keeping the River Tone navigable from Bridgewater to Taunton, in the county of Somerset", which included the purchase of the navigation rights from Bridgwater to Ham Mills from the Mallett estate, for which a price of £330 was agreed.
The conservators applied for a second act of parliament, the , as they needed a further £3,800 to finance projects including the building of a half-lock and the removal of a shoal just below Knapp Bridge. Boats carrying 15 tons of cargo could reach Taunton by 1717. The navigation included a lock and two or more half-locks, consisting of a pair of gates to hold back the water, and an agreement to build a towpath between Ham Mills and Taunton was reached in 1724.
The number of locks on the navigation varied over the years, and by 1804 there were four full or pound locks, situated at Ham, Creech St Michael, Bathpool and Obridge. In addition, there were at least four half locks. Curry Moor gates were the lowest on the river, which were followed by a second half lock further upstream, just below Newbridge. A third gate was located below Ham lock, and the fourth one was just below the lock at Bathpool.