Stockbridge and the Storms of February 2014

Stockbridge before a storm

The town of Stockbridge has been facing the risk of flooding for the past two weeks as a result of the storms and heavy rains that have swept the country. The local flood coordinators hand delivered

a guide to residents on 7th February warning them what to do to minimise the risk of flooding and sandbags were issued by the Test Valley Council to be placed in doorways and over air bricks to prevent potential water entry.

The River Test above Stockbridge on 15th February 2014

By 14th February the water meadows above the town were widely flooded and the River Test had risen to its highest point - 9ft - on the marker at the main road bridge. But as the storms passed on 15th, only two properties in the fields above the town, one at the lower end of the High St and two on the Houghton Road reported water ingress - mostly from under the floor. The main river and the subsidiary channels across the High St were in full flood but water didn't escape their banks except where this was intended - as in the water meadows. With better weather forecast this week, it looks as if the threat of flooding has somewhat receded.

Even at it's highest point, the main river was flowing three feet below the road bridge and so there was no risk of it backing up - as it had when parts of the town flooded in 1963 because the river could't get under the low narrow arches of the old bridge that the present bridge replaced. The river keepers opened sluices to allow the river to spread as widely as possible over the water meadows and they kept the channels flowing smoothly, clearing branches and other debris as soon as it fell.*


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The Test rises at Ashe just short of Basingstoke, about 17 miles from Stockbridge, and flows over slight gradients through water meadows, chalk farmland and villages, being joined by the Bourne at Whitchurch and the River Anton at The Mayfly before reaching the town, so it can never gain the volume of a long river like the Thames. Nevertheless the water table remains extraordinarily high and the flow experienced over this weekend was impressive, so only great care taken with its management even in good weather will allowed it to continue to pass through the town without causing significant damage.

Rainfall map for January 2014

I have just seen the rainfall map above showing January rainfall for the UK and am interested to see that Hampshire is part of the area that has experienced the highest rainfall of all. It will be fascinating to see the map for February, but it does bring home how fortunate we have been in Stockbridge and how well designed and managed the river defences have been.

PS: The rainfall map for the early part of February confirms this winter to be the wettest on record, and the areas most affected are much as in January the map above.   

For photos taken from 7th February to 7th March 20-14 in and around Stockbridge, click here 

*The real heroes of that flood were Ray Hill, manager of the Houghton Fishing Club and his team who were out all night every night making sure that no trees and/or other detritus had fallen into the river and were impeding the free flow downstream.  Had they not done this, in very short order, the water level above the obstruction would have risen and serious flooding would have occurred above and beyond that which did.  Frequently they had to enter the water up to their armpits to reach and clear obstructions, all by the light of hand held lamps.  It was VERY dangerous work, because at any  moment a large tree could have borne down on one or other of them out of the darkness and carried them away with irresistible force.   

Postscript from Roger Tym in 2018: Since then, the Houghton Club have installed two flood protection devices.  Above the bridge, there is now a spillway installed to ensure that the water level of that part of the river that ends up behind the Greyhound (and along the carrier that flows parallel to the High Street and about 300 yards N of it, ending more or less at the recreation ground - where it then flows S – or what is left of the flow),  is never higher than ordinary summer levels – which are c.2.5 feet above the level of the water in the river proper at the same latitude.

The second device is a by-pass weir and gate at Kingsmere Weir, about 150 yards below the bridge.  If ALL the boards are taken out of this device, which is 8 ft wide,  the water level of the river above the bridge drops by some 1.5 ft.

These two measures should ensure that the north of Stockbridge should not flood again from excess surface water levels in the system.  They will NOT prevent long term ground water flooding both N and S of the High Street if there is prolonged rainfall in the Autumn and Winter, but that amount of rainfall would now have to be very considerably in excess of that which we had four years ago.  This is because the flooding then was caused by a combination of both ground water and surface water excesses.

I am familiar with this because I got the funding for both schemes for the Club (£50k from TVBC and the County) and applied for and obtained planning permission for them, but the Club will forever have to maintain them..