Featured Content
2009 River Photo Competition
A selection of pictures from Friends of Riverway and Stafford Library's
Photo Competition.
A historical survey of the River Sow - by Mike Tallent. This is a fascinating illustrated study of the River from its source to its confluence with the Trent.
Music by Andrew Baker
- 12 pieces inspired by places and stories from the River Sow, supported by Stafford District Arts Council
Music by John Myatt, Joy Tilley & Stonefield House
- 4 pieces inspired by places and stories from the River Sow
Photographs by David Stubbs - commissioned by Staffordshire Libraries
Photographs by Rhoda King commissioned by Staffordshire Libraries
River Poems
- Four line poems about the River by Staffordshire Libraries Members, and a video of poems by children from St Leonard's School Stafford.
A Winter Adventure - Customers from Eccleshall Library and the Mobile Library were given disposable cameras and asked to explore the river in Winter – from its source to its meeting with the Trent.
Island Stafford- Photos from a guided walk round Stafford in October 2006, revealing how Stafford is surrounded by water
St Thomas’s Priory walk
- A walk past Stafford’s sewage works to the spectacular views over the river towards Milford
The River Sow - An illustrated project on the River Sow by Emily Cartmail
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 The Watershed Project
The Watershed Project is an exploration of the River Sow and its extraordinarily varied landscape. The catchment area of the river is a distinctive world, all within Stafford Borough.
The River Sow rises at Fairoak at the western edge of Stafford Borough, flows through Cop Mere, Eccleshall, through the town and joins the Trent at Shugborough.
The town and the landscape are shaped by water. In its fifteen miles the River flows through a very varied landscape - secluded valleys, lakes, marshes and urban areas, and through Fairoak, Bishop's Offley, Eccleshall and Chebsey.
The Meece Brook flows from as far north as Swynnerton. Chatcull Brook comes from Chatcull and Standon, Doxey Brook from Haughton and Derrington, Gamesley Brook from Ellenhall and Seighford, Clanford Brook from Ranton. In the town of Stafford the Marston Brook, notorious for flooding, runs through the north of town and through the marshes. The town is surrounded by marshes and brooks and the sites of ancient fish ponds.
The western boundary of the River Sow catchment area is the Watershed of Britain, the natural backbone that runs through the island, dividing westward and eastward flowing water. The source of the Sow is the furthest west where the water is flowing east, and a secret heart of England.
The river and its brooks connect everything and everyone in this very distinctive part of England. Everyone who lives here may see it differently. The landscape, the environment and its history live in everyone's imagination. We are all part of where we live.
The Watershed Project is a Staffordshire Libraries project in partnership with Friends of Riverway, an organisation dedicated to looking after the river environment in Stafford, and encouraging people to have a creative interest in their river.
Anyone who would like to contribute poetry, pictures or music inspired by the River Sow contact andrew.baker@staffordshire.gov.uk
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