River Chater

It rises near Whatborough Hill in Leicestershire, and then flows east, past Sauvey Castle and Launde Abbey, before crossing into Rutland.{{cite book |last1=Ovens |first1=Robert |last2=Sleath |first2=Sheila |title=The Heritage of Rutland Water |date=2008 |publisher=Rutland Local History & Record Society |location=Oakham |isbn=0907464394 |page=316 |chapter=14; Rutland Waters}} Chater Valley is a {{convert|3.8|hectare|acre|adj=on}} biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Loddington, Leicestershire.{{cite web|url= https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteDetail.aspx?SiteCode=S1003619&SiteName=chater&countyCode=&responsiblePerson=&SeaArea=&IFCAArea= |title=Designated Sites View: Chater Valley | series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate = 10 September 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271003619%27 |title=Map of Chater Valley|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|accessdate= 10 September 2017}} The river continues east, to the north of Ridlington, Preston, and then to the south of Manton and the north of Wing. North-east of South Luffenham, it is joined by the Morcott Brook. It continues north-east, going under the A6121 road at Foster's Bridge and through Ketton, before meeting the River Welland near Tinwell.{{cite map|title =Rutland Water|map =234 |year =2015 |scale =1:25,000 |series =Explorer |publisher =Ordnance Survey |isbn =9780319244272 }}

The river drains an area of {{convert|49|km2|order=flip}} that is mostly clay, but with limestone and sandstone in certain areas. The catchment is rural, with mixed farming and woodland in its lower reaches.{{cite web |title=Chater - Upper |url=https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/WaterBody/GB105031050430 |website=environment.data.gov.uk |accessdate=3 March 2020}}{{cite web |title=Chater - Lower |url=https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/WaterBody/GB105031050440 |website=environment.data.gov.uk |accessdate=3 March 2020}}{{cite web |title=31010 - Chater at Fosters Bridge |url=https://nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/data/station/spatial/31010 |website=nrfa.ceh.ac.uk |accessdate=3 March 2020 |language=en}} Originally, the project for the massive reservoir of Rutland Water considered damming the valley of the Chater, but the underlying geology was not conducive for this. Additionally, the available land space would have made the reservoir smaller than the eventual site of Rutland Water.{{cite book |editor1-last=Harper |editor1-first=David M |editor2-last=Bullock |editor2-first=John A |title=Rutland Water -- Decade of Change : Proceedings of the Conference held in Leicester, U.K., 1-3 April 1981 |date=1982 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |location=London |isbn=978-94-009-8008-2 |page=9}}

The river holds a variety of fish species, including roach, dace and chub. White-clawed crayfish are known to be in the river, which puts them at risk, as invasive species of crayfish are known to be in the Welland.{{cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Simon |title=Rivers Chater & Welland, Rutland |url=https://www.wildtrout.org/assets/reports/2006chaterwelland.pdf |website=wildtrout.org |accessdate=3 March 2020 |page=3 |format=PDF |date=November 2006}}

Mills used the river to power waterwheels, usually for grinding corn. The last watermill operating on the river was at South Luffenham in 1948, when the leat was damaged and never repaired.{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=Marilyn |authorlink1=Marilyn Palmer |last2=Neaverson |first2=Peter |title=Industry in the Landscape |url=https://archive.org/details/industrylandscap00neav |url-access=limited |date=1994 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=0-415-11206-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/industrylandscap00neav/page/n37 25] |chapter=2: Providing the necessities of life}}

Chater is a pre-English river name of uncertain etymology. Eilert Ekwall suggests it derives from Brittonic ceto-dubron meaning forest stream.{{cite book |last1=Cox |first1=Barrie |title=The Place-Names of Rutland |date=1994 |publisher=English Place-Name Society |isbn=0904889173 |page=1}}

Ketton, a village that the river flows past, takes its name from the Chater.{{cite book |last1=Ekwall |first1=Eilert |title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names |date=1947 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |oclc=12542596 |pages=93, 261 |edition=3}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book

|title=A History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire

|author1=William Henry Wheeler

|author-link=William Henry Wheeler

|author2=Leonard Charles Batty

|publisher=British Library Historical Print Collections

|year=1896

|isbn=978-1-241-32839-9}}

{{Refend}}

{{Rivers and watercourses of Leicestershire}}

{{Rivers and watercourses of Rutland}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chater, River}}

Chater

Chater