The River Foulness is a river in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Its name is derived from Old English fūle[n] ēa, meaning “dirty water”. Maintenance responsibilities for the river transferred from the Environment Agency to the Market Weighton Drainage Board on 1 October 2011. Market Weighton Drainage Board subsequently amalgamated with the Lower Ouse Internal Drainage Board on 1 April 2012 to create the Ouse and Humber Drainage Board. The river discharges into the Humber Estuary via Market Weighton Canal. Water levels within the river, its tributaries and the canal are managed and controlled by the Environment Agency. The river lies in an area known as the Humberhead Levels.
Course
The river rises as a series of drains in the fields to the north-west of the village of Shiptonthorpe, which is close to the town of Market Weighton. It passes under Clayfield Lane, where the former York to Market Weighton line also crossed. The station immediately to the north of the crossing was called , rather than Shiptonthorpe, and opened in 1847. The line was recommended for closure in the Beeching report of 1963 and closed in November 1965. The stream flows southwards along the eastern boundary of Shiptonthorpe, and is joined by East Beck which rises to the north-east in Londesborough. Below the junction it is crossed by the A1079 road at Shipton Bridge. Whereas it has previously been named Drain on the Ordnance Survey (OS) maps, it now becomes the River Foulness or Shipton Beck. It continues in a broadly south-westerly direction, and is joined by Skelfrey Beck, which flows westwards from Market Weighton. From this point onwards, it is called the River Foulness and is managed by the Ouse and Humber Drainage Board, an Internal drainage board (IDB) which is responsible for land drainage in the district, and maintains many drains which feed into the river. At Harswell, the river is crossed by Harswell Bridge, and is then joined by two drains. Many of the drains have alternative names, as the Ordnance Survey calls them Fox Drain and Eller Ings Dyke, whereas the IDB call them Acre Drain and Castle Eller Drain.
To the north-west of Holme-on-Spalding-Moor it is joined by Black Dike (OS) or Lowmath Drain (IDB), flowing from the east, and then by Black Beck (OS) or Seaton Main Drain (IDB). As it approaches the former Selby and Market Weighton Railway, the river used to meander to the south of the formation, but a new channel was cut running along the northern edge of the railway embankment, which was subsequently extended almost to Foulness Bridge, where the river flows under the railway. The station to serve Holme-on-Spalding-Moor was further to the east, and was called Holme (Yorks) when it opened in 1848, but was renamed Holme Moor in 1923, and closed in 1954. The trackbed is now a public footpath from the River Derwent to the A614 road. After closure, Foulness railway bridge was replaced by a wooded footbridge. The sewage treatment works for Holme-on-Spalding-Moor is located to the west of the settlement, on the south side of the railway embankment, and the treated effluent discharges into the river to the north of the embankment, via Main Drain. Wood Dike flows southwards and then eastwards, and also passes under to railway to join the Foulness. Just to the south of the junction, the river is crossed by the A163 at Major Bridge. It continues to the south and then the east, to be joined on its right bank by four more drains, Foss Dike, Seller Dike, Londesborough Drain and Great Committee Drain, before it reaches the hamlet of Welhambridge. Here there are two bridges, the first following the original course of the A614 road and the second a newer bypass.
Once past Welhambridge, Dunn's Drain joins on the left bank, and Featherbed Drain or Commonend Drain joins on the right, to the south-west of the hamlet of Bursea. Bishopsoil Drain or Carr Drain runs parallel to Featherbed Drain for much of its length, but near the Foulness turns to the east and runs parallel to the river before joining it further downstream. Just before it reaches the Market Weighton Canal, a short drain is pumped into the river by the Hasholme pumping station. The river joins the canal below Sod House Lock, and to the north of the M62 motorway bridge. Between the junction and the motorway are a group of farms, which are called North America by the Ordnance Survey.