Page:VCH Staffordshire 1.djvu/80

 A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE within the limits of the county, and nearly all have their whole course in the county and are tributary to the Trent. By an Act of Parliament, 1897, the small peninsula-like prolongation of Staffordshire in which Upper Arley is situated has been added to Worcestershire, so that the Severn proper flows through no portion of the county, but drains a portion of the west and south-west by streams tributary to the Severn. i. THE WEAVER The Weaver is a Cheshire river tributary to the Mersey, and is fed by the waters of several streams draining the north and north-west of Staffordshire. The most important is the Dane. This river enters Staffordshire at Three Shires Head north-east of Flash, and is a rapid mountain stream forming the boundary between Staffordshire and Cheshire from near Flash to below Bosley ; here it passes into Cheshire, and after a long and varying course joins the Weaver near Northwick. It drains by numerous small tributaries a considerable portion of north Staffordshire, such as the country around Flash, Quarnford, the Roaches, Gradbach Hills, Swithamley, Rushton Marsh, and by an important stream rising on the east side of Mow Cop and Bradley Green, Gillow Heath and Biddulph. A portion of the county south-west of Biddulph is drained by small streams tributary to the Wheelock, which enters the Dane near Middlewick, and by Checkley Brook which joins the Weaver near Nantwich. These minor streams drain the country around Kidsgrove, Audley, Betley, Wrinehill, Made- ley and the northern portion of Whitmore, a district rich in some of the rarer plants, among which are : Ranunculus fluitans Andromeda polifolia Utricularia vulgaris Nymphaea alba Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea minor Empetrum nigrum Oxycoccus Potamogeton rufescens Cotyledon Umbilicus Cynoglossum officinale Osmunda regalis Crepis paludosa 2. THE DOVE The Dove rises in a natural spring on Axe Edge at an elevation of 1,684 f eet above sea level and enters the county near Patch Edge, and flows south-east through a narrow valley to Longnor, where it receives a small feeder from the west rising on the high ground near Quarnford. After flowing 4 miles through another narrow valley it passes near Hartington. From here its course is a little more south through Pike Pool in Berresford Dale and 2 miles further through the weird narrow dale, the entrance to which it appears to have carved out of the solid rock. From this it flows between the craggy hills of Mill Dale, and below the beautiful Alstonfield church to the wild and romantic Dove Dale. Dove Dale is nearly 3 miles long and is entered by a pathway between of lofty rocks and cliffs, surmounted by isolated crags called tors. The rocks are grand in aspect and covered with vegetation, trees and shrubs and smaller plants, many of them the rarest elements of the county flora, too frequently growing in inaccessible places. Here the Dove murmurs along over miniature falls and weirs, and amid boulders covered with rare cryptogamic wealth, with floating masses of Ranunculus pseudo-fluitam and the local float-grass Glyceria fluitans, and passing under Dove Bridge enters a broad fertile valley, and near Ham is joined by its important affluent the Manyfold. The Manyfold is formed by streams rising in the moorlands near Flash and near Croft Bottom, and flows south-east by Wiltshaw Hill and east through part of Longnor, then south through Ludbourne and Brund to Hulme End. Here the limestone hills divert its course south-west by Ecton Hill, near where it is fed by Blake brook and Warslow brook, draining a large extent of country around Warslow ; thence flowing through the beautiful Wetton valley, past Ossum's Hill and Thor's Cave to Beeston Tor, its bed unites with that of the Hamps. Near Wetton the river disappears for several miles, passing through an underground channel and emerging at Ham. The Hamps rises on the wild moors south-west of the Manyfold and has a course of 5 miles south through Keywall Green to Onecote ; it then flows eastward through Ford, then west through Winkshill ; here the high limestone hills divert its course easterly by Crowtrees and Waterhouses to Stoneyrock, where its course becomes northward through a beautiful rocky valley of about 3 miles to the union of its bed with that of the Manyfold at Beeston Tor. This river near here disappears for several miles and emerges at Ham, where it unites with the Manyfold, and the united stream joins the Dove near Thorpe. The Dove 46