River Foss

River Foss
The River Foss at York, looking upstream. The bridge is the Foss Bridge (1811–12), which links the streets of Fossgate and Walmgate.
Location
Country	England
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Near Oulston Reservoir, Yearsley
• coordinates	54°09′38″N 1°07′54″W / 54.160556°N 1.131667°W / 54.160556; -1.131667
• elevation	160 m (520 ft)
Mouth
• location	River Ouse, York
• coordinates	53°57′05″N 1°04′42″W / 53.951389°N 1.078333°W / 53.951389; -1.078333
• elevation	12 m (39 ft)
Basin size	118 square kilometres (46 sq mi)

v t e River Foss
Legend
Oulston Reservoir Milking Hill Bridge, Yearsley Mill Green Bridge, Crayke Eller's Beck, Crayke Brandsby Beck Marton Bridge, B1363 White Bridge (Foot bridge) Mill Bridge, Stillington Foss Bridge, Farlington Farlington Beck Near West Lilling Whitecarr Beck Sherriff Hutton Bridge Howl Beck Ings Lane, West Lilling Black Dike Strensall Bridge Strensall New Bridge York to Scarborough Railway Towthorpe Bridge Pedestrian bridge, Earswick  A1237  York Outer Ring Road Church Lane, Huntington Link Road Bridge, New Earswick Yearsley Bridge, York Yearsley loop Fossway Bridge, York Foot & cycle path on disused railway line  A1036  Monk Bridge, York  A1036  Foss Bank Bridge, York Layerthorpe Bridge, York Pedestrian bridge to DEFRA, York Pedestrian bridge to Rowntree Wharf Wormald's Cut, Rowntree Wharf Foss Bridge, Fossgate, York Piccadilly Bridge  A1036  Castle Mills Bridge, York Castle Mills Lock, York Browney Dyke River Foss Barrier Blue Bridge (footpath/cyclepath) River Ouse

The River Foss is in North Yorkshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Ouse. It rises in the Foss Crooks Woods near Oulston Reservoir close to the village of Yearsley and runs south through the Vale of York to the Ouse in the centre of York. The name most likely comes from the Latin word Fossa, meaning ditch.^[1] It is mentioned in the Domesday Book.^[2] The York district was settled by Norwegian and Danish people, so parts of the place names could be old Norse. Referring to the etymological dictionary "Etymologisk ordbog", ISBN 82-905-2016-6 deals with the common Danish and Norwegian languages – roots of words and the original meaning. The old Norse word Fos (waterfall) means impetuous. The River Foss was dammed, and even though the elevation to the River Ouse is small, a waterfall was formed. This may have led to the name Fos which became Foss.

The responsibility for the management of the river's drainage area is the Foss Internal drainage board (IDB). It has responsibility for the area from Crayke to the pre-1991 city boundary of York covering 9,085 hectares and 162.54 km of waterways. The Foss IDB is part of the York Consortium of Drainage Boards that oversees 10 IDB's in the Yorkshire region.^[3]

The typical river level range at the Foss Barrier is between 5.05m and 7.90m. The highest river level recorded was 10.20 metres and the river level reached 9.34 metres on 23 January 2008.^[4]