River Alt

The River Alt is in Merseyside, England.

The Alt runs from Hag Plantation in Huyton at 125 ft (38 m), through Croxteth Park, roughly follows the M57 motorway south of Kirkby, then flows north of Aintree and south of Maghull. Historically in Lancashire, it then runs south of Formby and empties into the Irish Sea, near the edge of the Mersey estuary at Hightown.

The Alts upper waters deriving from small streams and ,in particular, one arising at Hag Plantation in Huyton at 125ft.(2) The Alt then flows at a low gradient across an alluvium plain in a north- westerly direction before turning south-wards and emptying into the River Mersey at Hightown- between Crosby and Formby.

The Alt's catchment boundary reaches as far as Banks & Crossens in the north and out to Burscough & Kirkby in the east. It flows through varying types of land : Sherwood Sandstone in the Huyton area , Coal Measures in the West Derby area and eventually Mercia Mudstone in the Maghull/North Sefton area. The estuary forms part of the Ribble and Alt Estuaries Special Protection Area for wildlife.

The rivers name is probably of Celtic origin but banks of the river are lined by villages and places with names of Viking origin.

Both the Grand National at Aintree Racecourse and the Waterloo Cup in hare coursing at Great Altcar are associated with the River Alt watershed.

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