River Sence

River Sence
River
The River Sence, near Sheepy Magna
Country	England
Counties	Leicestershire, East Midlands
Towns	Sheepy Magna, , Coalville
Landmarks	Sence Valley Forest Park, Kelham Bridge Nature reserve
Source
- location	Copt Oak, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
- coordinates	52°43′04″N 1°18′01″W / 52.7179°N 1.3003°W / 52.7179; -1.3003
Mouth	River Anker
- location	Atherstone, West Midlands, Warwickshire, United Kingdom
- coordinates	52°35′20″N 1°32′13″W / 52.5889°N 1.5370°W / 52.5889; -1.5370Coordinates: 52°35′20″N 1°32′13″W / 52.5889°N 1.5370°W / 52.5889; -1.5370
Location of the mouth within Leicestershire

The River Sence is a river which flows in Leicestershire, England. The tributaries of the Sence, including the Saint and Tweed, fan out over much of western Leicestershire from Charnwood Forest and Coalville in the north-east to Hinckley and almost to Watling Street in the south and south-west. Its watershed almost coincides with Hinckley and Bosworth Borough of Leicestershire, which was formed in 1974 by amalgamation of Market Bosworth Rural District and Hinckley Urban District. It flows into the Anker, which in turn flows into the River Tame. It is part of the wider River Trent catchment, which covers much of central England. In 1881, Sebastian Evans wrote that the usual names for this river were Shenton Brook and Sibson Brook.

It is also used of the Saint and its tributary from Stapleton. Antiquarian accounts of the Battle of Bosworth label the brook upstream of Shenton “Tweed”. Recent Ordnance Maps 1:25 000 (2000) label only the “Tweed River” south-west of Stapleton and the 1:50 000 (1990) map gives it no name. The lower reaches from Shenton to Ratcliffe Culey are known locally as the Saint, as used below.

The Sence rises on Bardon Hill (GR SK461132; alt. 278 m), crosses the A50 (GR SK453122) and gathers a group of three headwaters around Bardon (GR SK457123) and Stanton under Bardon. It flows westwards with a tributary stream from Coalville, past Hugglescote (GR SK424123) and Donington le Heath. It then turns south-west, receiving Blower’s Brook and another tributary from Ravenstone, continuing between Heather and , between Newton Burgoland and Odstone, through Shackerstone, between Bilstone and Congerstone, and between Sheepy Magna and Sheepy Parva. It joins the Anker on the boundary with Warwickshire between Sheepy, Ratcliffe Culey and Atherstone at the Mythe, an ancient chaplry of Sheepy (GR SK315991). From Bardon village over a distance of about 20 km, it falls by about 100 m, a gradient of 1:200.