Glen Goyle is blessed with a charming little stream making its way through the narrow gorge – and this unassuming piece of water was featured last week on the blog pages of the Sid River website:
The stream that runs through Glen Goyle has more than one name, which can be confusing – both the Bickwell and the Woolbrook are given…
Strictly speaking, this stream is not part of the Sid Valley catchment area – as it is not a tributary of the River Sid, as with the other-named Woolbrook, Snod Brook and the streams running through the Roncombe and Burscombe valleys.
However, this Woolbrook or Bickwell stream is clearly part of the Sid Valley’s topography – and is considered an important site for interactions with both nature and people.
The stream rises just below Muttersmoor – and takes a fair bit of run-off from the surrounding fields.
The Bickwell stream or Woolbrook – The Sid
There has been a bit of interest on social media – and a note received from FOGG member John Hopkins – together with photo and map supplied by John:
There has been no mention of the second brook that appears as a waterfall just above the bridge at Glen Goyle.
That runs through the gardens of Convent Fields and Convent Road, appearing in an open ditch in Cotmaton Road by Cheese Lane. Then dropping into a manhole, going underground, dividing with a small channel taking a small amount down Cotmaton Road to an open brook in The Woodlands Hotel garden and on to Station Road with the main flow finishing up in the Goyle.
The source must be in Manor Park to the north of Broadway. It certainly was picking up muddy run off from the fields in a recent storm: see picture. Maybe we could call it the Convent Brook if no one else has named it…
From the Manor Park, past the Convent (now St John’s School), onto Cotmaton and into Glen Goyle, just off the map to the south.
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