| Crane | |
|---|---|
 River Crane in Crane Park, Twickenham below the nature reserve and powder mills site | |
River Crane, London (London Borough of Hounslow) River Crane, London (Greater London) | |
| Location | |
| Country | England |
| Districts / Boroughs | London Boroughs of Hillingdon, Hounslow, Richmond upon Thames |
| Places with main adjoining parkland | Cranford, Hounslow Heath, Whitton |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | nominal point of transition from Yeading Brook |
| • location | Traditional tripoint of Cranford, Hayes and Southall[a] |
| • coordinates | 51°29′53″N 0°24′39″W / 51.49806°N 0.41083°W |
| Mouth | River Thames: Tideway |
• location | Isleworth |
| Length | 13.6 km (8.5 mi) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Marsh Farm |
| • average | 0.54 m3/s (19 cu ft/s) |
| • minimum | 0.00 m3/s (0 cu ft/s)5 December 1982 |
| • maximum | 13.4 m3/s (470 cu ft/s)28 December 1979 |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Cranford Park |
| • average | 0.51 m3/s (18 cu ft/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • right | Yeading Brook, Upper Duke of Northumberland's River |
The River Crane, a tributary of the River Thames, runs 8.5 miles (13.6 km) in West London, England. It forms the lower course of Yeading Brook. It adjoins or passes through three London boroughs: Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames, in the historic county of Middlesex. The drainage basin is heavily urbanised but many of the Hayes to Whitton flood-meadows have been conserved, forming a narrow, green vale, opening out to what remains of Hounslow Heath in the centre – a near-continuous belt of semi-natural habitat.
At the start of the twentieth century, several small sewage works discharged to the river. However, these have been consolidated with others into one (Mogden Sewage Treatment Works) which discharges directly to the upper estuary of the Thames (the Tideway).
The Crane's form has been greatly altered by river engineering works: over centuries the watercourse has been subject to widening, narrowing, straightening, dredging and bank reinforcement. The greatest of such works has been the two-phase construction of the Duke of Northumberland's River (DNR), a tributary and distributary, to guarantee water power to mills, now demolished, across the south and southeast of Isleworth, which in latter decades worked calico cloth as well as grain. The Lower DNR also waters the grand fish pond inherited from Syon Abbey, which gave way in the dissolution of the monasteries to Syon House[b] and Syon Park. The semi-private park, with its scenic tea room, garden centre and hotel, has a nature reserve zone alongside the Thames. Its lake is still refreshed via sluice and culvert from the Lower DNR's Mill Plat, and thus is supplied by virtue of the Crane from the Colne and the Yeading Brook. The latter means the river system has sources in the London Boroughs of Harrow and Ealing [in Southall as an overflow offtake from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal].
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