This property of chalk also means there are many seasonal rivers, called winterbournes, that flow depending upon the level of the water table.
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British Geological Survey 1:50K map sheet 318/333 Brighton & Worthing. The chalk, being porous, allows water to soak through; as a result there are many winterbournes along the northern edge.
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During dry seasons the water table may fall below the level of the stream's bed, causing it to dry out. Winterbournes occasionally give their names to settlements. Many of the United Kingdom's 'Winterbournes' are villages in Dorset, such as Winterbourne Abbas, Winterborne Monkton, Winterborne St Martin, Winterborne Zelston, Winterborne Houghton and Winterborne Whitechurch. In Wiltshire, north of Avebury, there are the villages of Winterbourne Monkton and Winterbourne Bassett; and in South Gloucestershire there are the villages of Winterbourne and Winterbourne Down.
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The civil parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for all significant local government functions. The parish was created in 1934 by amalgamating the three ancient parishes of Winterbournes Earl, Dauntsey and Gunner.
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At the 2011 Census the population of the civil parish was 10,724. For the Amesbury Community Area the mid-2011 population was estimated to be 33,660 (this is a wide area stretching to Tilshead, Larkhill and Figheldean in the north; Cholderton in the east; the Winterbournes, the Woodfords and Great Wishford in the south; and Wylye in the west).
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Exploitation of chalk aquifers as a domestic water source in Britain has had the effect of converting many streams and rivers into artificial winterbournes. This effect is controversial, and local campaigns have often been successful in reducing aquifer abstraction and reversing the effect. For an example, see the River Pang in Berkshire. There is a winterbourne stream in a suburban area of Lewes, East Sussex.
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A gypsey is a name given to intermittent springs and streams in the Yorkshire Wolds, England. Gypseys are streams formed from springs from the waterladen chalk that constitutes the Yorkshire Wolds. The springs flow in late winter or early spring, with the water emanating through unbroken turf. In Wiltshire and Dorset the same phenonoma is known as winterbournes, in Kent known as nailbournes, and as lavants in Hampshire.
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The village is in the North Wessex Downs at all points a few miles north of the M4 motorway. It has within 400 metres east of its main residential area, which is a linear development, the B road between Newbury ( SSE) and Wantage ( NNW). Most of the land is agricultural with a few woodlands, particularly along the northern border where elevation exceeds 170m above sea level. There are several winterbournes that flow in the winter in this area.
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A winterbourne is a stream or river that is dry through the summer months. A winterbourne is sometimes simply called a bourne, from the Anglo-Saxon word for a stream flowing from a spring, although this term can also be used for all-year water courses. Winterbournes generally form in areas where there is chalk (or other porous rock) downland bordering clay valleys or vales. When it rains, the porous chalk holds water in its aquifer, releasing the water at a steady rate.
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Elena evades him only to discover that he has colleagues and that they are trying to capture not only herself, but also the Winterbournes. In the fight, Elena kills one of the men, Mark, and the three women find themselves confronting a half-demon able to teleport whom Elena nicknames 'Houdini', who works for Tyrone Winsloe. Ruth casts a spell which traps him temporarily and the three women make their escape. Elena calls Jeremy and, the next morning, the two of them attend a meeting of the Inter- racial Council.
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The Western Weald is drained by the River Arun and its tributaries including the rivers Lox, Kird and especially the River Rother and its tributaries the River Lod and the Haslingbourne Stream. On the northern boundary Blackdown is the highest point in Sussex, while further east around Loxwood the land is low and quite flat. The south of the district has many permeable chalk and gravel areas and is drained by two winterbournes, the River Lavant and River Ems, which are usually dry in the summer. The large inlet known as Chichester Harbour and the headland of Selsey Bill are conspicuous features of the coast.
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One of the Kennet's sources is Swallowhead Spring near Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, the others being a set north of, upstream of, Avebury near the small villages Uffcott and Broad Hinton. These then converge. In these early stages it passes close by many prehistoric sites including Avebury Henge, West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill. The land drained by the headwaters normally has a deep water table (being in the North Wessex Downs which is mostly chalk as the upper subsoil), thus many stretches are winterbournes when and where precipitation is low and surrounding soils are not so dense with impermeables as to form a surface spring.
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Rain falling on part of the North Downs mainly filters through a thin topsoil into chalk and emerges on the spring line and in gentle ravines carved by water erosion. At the top of the catchment the Wandle has four main headwaters historically noted as winterbournes -- streams which only flow when the water table is high. Two such streams, culverted, combine in Central Croydon beneath Bourne Street to form the Wandle which emerges immediately north-west in Wandle Park. The Wandle is piped part-way-through neighbouring New South Quarter to flow under Purley Way (formerly Waddon Marsh Lane) and part of its retail park.
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Chalk deposits are generally very permeable, so the height of the water table in chalk hills rises in winter and falls in summer. This leads to characteristic chalk downland features such as dry valleys or coombes, and seasonally-flowing streams or winterbournes. The practice of extracting water from this aquifer, in order to satisfy the increasing demand for water, may be putting some of these streams under stress. In the valleys below the downs at the base of the chalk layer, greensand or gault clay comes to the surface and at the interface at the top of the gault a springline can occur where water emerges from the porous chalk or the underlying greensand.
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Flood water from winterbournes above the village to the west threatened houses and the church and lead to the closure of Springvale Road near the Good Life shop in February and March 2014. Water ran down Down Farm Lane onto Springvale Road and had to be diverted with sandbags across the road to the watercress beds alongside Bedfield Lane. From there the flood water passed through the lake at Church Paddock Trout Fishery and into the streams around St Swithun's Church from where it followed the normal water course, under Worthy Lane and towards the Itchen. At one point the water levels around the church threatened it with flooding and sand bags were placed around the 11th century Grade I listed building to protect it.
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This map shows the bounds of the Level and nearby features West side of the Level with elm trees, 2006 London Road and Lewes Road, two major routes leading out of Brighton, were built along steep-sided valleys through which winterbournes flowed intermittently. The valleys, and therefore the streams, met where the Level is now and flowed out to sea at the Old Steine. The land was always marshy and swampy and was never built upon. Instead, it became a popular place for public recreation and entertainment as Brighton grew into a fashionable seaside resort in the 18th century. After the town's authorities banned ball games and other traditional entertainments on the Old Steine in 1787, the Level became the focus for the early resort's sporting activities: The Prince of Wales (later George IV of the United Kingdom) then laid out a cricket ground on the northern side in 1791.
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