The River Beane is a short river in the county of Hertfordshire, England. A tributary of the River Lea, it rises to the south-west of Sandon in the hills northeast of Stevenage and joins the Lea at Hartham Common in Hertford.
In medieval times there were a number of watermills along the course of the Beane. A few of the buildings and mill races survive.
The Beane valley remains mainly rural in character. However, Hertfordshire’s population increased substantially in the second half of the twentieth century, and the consequent demand for water has affected rivers such as the Beane and the Mimram. In the case of the Beane, a licence was given to abstract water near Aston for Stevenage’s water supply. The river has since been adversely affected by over-exploitation of the chalk aquifer in its upper reaches.
The photo shows a dry section south of Walkern where from the 1990s until about 2014 there was only seasonal flow. An indication of the scale of the decline in flow is that the section at Walkern was once big enough to power a watermill and to support watercress beds.[4]
The lower Beane is more robust and there has continued to be regular flow through Watton-at-Stone, Stapleford and Waterford until the confluence with the River Lea. However, overall the river has performed badly in assessments by the Environment Agency of flow level.
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