River Leach

River Leach
Upper Leach near Eastleach Turville
Country	England
Counties	Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire
Towns	Northleach, Lechlade
Landmark	Lodge Park
Source	Hampnett
- location	Gloucestershire, Cotswolds
- coordinates	51°41′N 1°38′W / 51.683°N 1.633°W / 51.683; -1.633
Mouth	River Thames
- location	Lechlade
Length	29 km (18 mi)
Discharge	for Priory Mill Lechlade
- average	0.75 m3/s (26 cu ft/s)
- min	0.01 m3/s (0 cu ft/s) 25 September 1990

The River Leach is a river tributary to the River Thames, in England which runs mostly in Gloucestershire. It is approximately 18 miles (29 km) long, springing from the limestone uplands of the Cotswolds. In parts of its course it becomes a seasonal bourn, only running above ground when there is sufficient rainfall. Despite its small size it gives its name to two towns and a pair of villages.

The source of the Leach is in the village of Hampnett, about ten miles east of Cheltenham just south of the A40 road. The source spring is enclosed by stonework and pours from a pipe. It seems likely that this spring in a sheltered valley on the Cotswold uplands was the original reason for the existence of the village of Hampnett. According to residents, this section runs all year round.

After running a mile down its limestone valley, the Leach reaches Northleach, the first settlement to which it gives its name. The river enters Northleach to the south west, where it gushes out of a Victorian conduit just below the Fosse Way. At this point it is also known as the Seven Springs. The site of the first watermill on the river is in a part of Northleach called Mill End. A section of the river is confined into mill race type stonework, close to the churchyard and runs behind houses marking the town boundary. The river can next be seen at a road bridge at the end of the town. It is still little more than ditch-sized, and as such continues down the valley to the hamlet of Eastington running alongside a lane before passing through a culvert and away through grazing land.

The river runs behind Lodge Park, a National Trust property, and through Larkethill Wood, where it flows under another lane, before passing Kilkenny Farm. The Leach valley shows as a substantial dip in the B4425 Cirencester-Burford road. The river has an embankment at the bottom of the valley, but has not increased in size. Through all this section the river is often nearly invisible under summer vegetation. It then passes Swyre Farm with another road crossing, then Dean Farm, before reaching a very picturesque winding valley, crossed by the Westwell-Hatherop road. This section is notably a bourn in an unremarkable depression, which normally runs in the winter, but often disappears in the summer. (In recent dry winters - writing at summer 2007 - this section remained dry. Even more unusually, as of July 2007, it was running which has not happened during the summer for many years. The bourn section had been running continuously for long enough to have taken on the appearance of a river, with a scoured bed and water plants.)