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River Cherwell water levels

Live levels from 8 monitoring stations across Oxfordshire, West Northamptonshire, updated every 15 minutes.

8stations
0above typical high

Gauges

Monitoring stations, source to mouth

StationTownLevel nowStatusTrend
Woodford HalseHinton0.93 mASD 1h agoNormal—
Cropredy BridgeCropredy0.95 mASD 22m agoLow—
BanburystructureBanbury0.09 mASD 22m agoNormal—
Heyford BridgeSteeple Aston0.33 mASD 22m agoLow—
Enslow Weir AstructureShipton-On-Cherwell0.15 mASD 22m agoNormal—
ThruppThrupp0.79 mASD 22m agoNormal—
Kings MillstructureOxford1.55 mASD 22m agoLow—
Oxford Botanical GardensOxford4.66 mASD 22m agoLow—

Stations are listed from source to mouth as the water flows, traced on the river map (OS Open Rivers) and the Environment Agency’s own links between its gauges. A distance “by river” is along the river, and is shown only where the map traces the path.

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Gauged tributaries

Streams and rivers with a gauge whose water joins the Cherwell above one of its gauges, from the source down. Named streams without a gauge that have a page here are listed at the end.

3 gauged tributaries, 7 gauges

Bloxham Brook

Joins the Cherwell between Banbury and Heyford Bridge, no more than 24.4 km by river above Heyford Bridge.

Bloxham0.59 mASD 22m agoLow

Its water passes Heyford Bridge and every gauge below it on the Cherwell. It does not pass Banbury or the gauges above it.

Sor Brook

Joins the Cherwell between Banbury and Heyford Bridge, no more than 20.8 km by river above Heyford Bridge.

Bodicotestructure0.06 mASD 22m agoNormal

Its water passes Heyford Bridge and every gauge below it on the Cherwell. It does not pass Banbury or the gauges above it.

River Ray

Joins the Cherwell between Thrupp and Kings Mill, no more than 10.1 km by river above Kings Mill.

Grendon Underwoodstructure0.03 mASD 22m agoNormal
Lower Arncott0.45 mASD 22m agoNormal
Islip6.77 mASD 22m agoNormal

Its water passes Kings Mill and every gauge below it on the Cherwell. It does not pass Thrupp or the gauges above it.

Gauged streams joining the Ray

Where the Cherwell goes

Below Oxford Botanical Gardens, its water next reaches Iffley Lock, a gauge on River Thames, 2.6 km by river downstream.

Tributaries and where they join are traced on the river map (OS Open Rivers, edition 2026-04) and the Environment Agency’s links between its gauges. The map holds distances between gauges, not the junctions themselves, so a junction is placed between two gauges, and no further up than the tributary’s own lowest gauge. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Streams without a gauge

Named streams on the river map that flow into the Cherwell and have no gauge of their own. Each has a page with what is known about it: the next gauge downstream, and any storm overflows or water-sampling points placed on it.

Storm overflows upstream

21 storm overflows are traced upstream of Oxford Botanical Gardens, the Cherwell’s lowest gauge on the river map: on the Cherwell itself, on its gauged tributaries, and on smaller streams that join above there.

  • 0 report discharging now
  • 21 not discharging
  • 0 offline or silent: 0 monitor offline, 0 status unknown, 0 no live feed

Official figures for 2025, for the overflows traced upstream of Oxford Botanical Gardens: 537 spills over 6,006 hours in total, across all 21.

Each overflow is listed in the stretch above the first gauge its water reaches, from the source down, as on the Gauges tab. A stretch of the Cherwell includes the smaller streams that join it there.

Between Woodford Halse and Cropredy Bridge4 overflows
  • Moreton Pinkney WwTW Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Ashby Brook · 16.6 km by river above Cropredy Bridge · 2025: 26 spills, 106 h
  • Byfield Wastewater Treatment Works Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Byfield Brook · 16.3 km by river above Cropredy Bridge · 2025: 36 spills, 355 h · placed on the river by its position alone
  • Woodford Halse SPS Not discharging
    Thames Water · into River Cherwell · 15.5 km by river above Cropredy Bridge · 2025: 15 spills, 142 h
  • Chipping Warden WwTW Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Tributary Of River Cherwell · 4.8 km by river above Cropredy Bridge · 2025: 11 spills, 28 h
Between Cropredy Bridge and Banbury2 overflows
  • Cropredy STW Not discharging
    Thames Water · into River Cherwell · 8.4 km by river above Banbury · 2025: 35 spills, 453 h
  • Chacombe Wastewater Treatment Works Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Chacombe Brook · 6.6 km by river above Banbury · 2025: 21 spills, 61 h
Between Banbury and Heyford Bridge5 overflows
  • Fergusson Road, Banbury Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Cherwell · 25.5 km by river above Heyford Bridge · 2025: 0 spills, 0 h
  • Lower Cherwell St Wps, Banbury Not discharging
    Thames Water · into River Cherwell · 24.4 km by river above Heyford Bridge · 2025: 4 spills, 4.5 h
  • Bloxham Wastewater Treatment Works Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Bloxham Brook · 22.9 km by river above Heyford Bridge · 2025: 28 spills, 349 h
  • Kings Sutton WwTW Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Kings Sutton Stream · 17.5 km by river above Heyford Bridge · 2025: 6 spills, 45 h · placed on the river by its position alone
  • Heyford Wastewater Treatment Works Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Cherwell · 2.0 km by river above Heyford Bridge · 2025: 33 spills, 303 h
Sor Brook, above Bodicotejoins the Cherwell above Heyford Bridge2 overflows
  • Horley (Oxon) WwTW Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Sor Brook · 13.3 km by river above Bodicote · 2025: 23 spills, 162 h
  • Shutford Wastewater Treatment Works Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Shutford Stream · 12.1 km by river above Bodicote · 2025: 32 spills, 255 h · placed on the river by its position alone
River Ray, above Lower Arncottjoins the Cherwell above Kings Mill2 overflows
  • Grendon Underwood WwTW Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Oxon Ray · 11.0 km by river above Lower Arncott · 2025: 31 spills, 306 h
  • Ludgershall WwTW Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Ludgershall Brook · 8.5 km by river above Lower Arncott · 2025: 52 spills, 617 h
River Ray, above Islipjoins the Cherwell above Kings Mill6 overflows

Near these gauges, connection not known

Within 3 km of one of the Cherwell’s gauges in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water reaches it.

  • Banbury Wastewater Treatment Works No live feed
    Thames Water · into River Cherwell · 1.8 km from Banbury in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map · 2025: 26 spills, 314 h
  • Tackley SPS Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Tributary Of The Rver Cherwell · 2.1 km from Enslow Weir A in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map · 2025: 4 spills, 47 h
  • Wardington Sewage Pumping Station Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Trib Of River Cherwell · 2.2 km from Cropredy Bridge in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure · 2025: 55 spills, 358 h
  • Eydon Wastewater Treatment Works Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Tributary Of River Cherwell · 2.3 km from Woodford Halse in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map · 2025: 60 spills, 872 h
  • Bletchingdon WwTW Not discharging
    Thames Water · into Bletchingdon Brook · 2.7 km from Thrupp in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map · 2025: 32 spills, 302 h

1 other overflow within 3 km of these gauges is placed below the Cherwell’s lowest gauge or on another river, so not listed.

A status is the water company’s own monitor: it says whether an overflow is discharging, never how much or why, and a spill does not by itself explain a change in a river level. A status older than two hours is shown as unknown. Annual figures are the official returns: 12/24-hour spills for England and Wales, overflow events for Scotland (Scottish Water counts differently, so the two cannot be compared). “No data” means the monitor produced no usable data that year, not zero. Overflows are placed on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels: an overflow the map cannot place may still drain here. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026. Sewage in Britain’s rivers →

Live status: © Thames Water storm overflow activity data, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Annual figures for England: Environment Agency Event Duration Monitoring return, © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Water samples

Dated samples taken by the Environment Agency, not live readings. Results are published days to months after the sample is taken, and many points are sampled only a few times a year, or have not been sampled for years.

47 sampling points on the River Cherwell and the streams that join it above Oxford Botanical Gardens. 31 have a sample from the last 12 months; 37 have any sample banked.

Sampled most recently, anywhere on the Cherwell and its streams:

Where, from the source downSampling pointsNewest sample
Above Cropredy Bridge5 points4 sampled1 Sep 2026
Above Banbury1 point14 Aug 2026
Above BodicoteSor Brook · joins the Cherwell above Heyford Bridge5 points2 sampled28 Sep 2026
River Ray and its streamsjoins the Cherwell above Kings Mill16 points14 sampled4 Sep 2026
Above Heyford Bridge14 points11 sampled28 Sep 2026
Above Enslow Weir A2 points1 sampled3 Sep 2026
Above Kings Mill3 points4 Sep 2026
Above Oxford Botanical Gardens1 point27 Jul 2026

England's samples only. Each count opens the list of those points, nearest first, with the date of each one’s latest sample (the gauge’s “Upstream of here” list).

FloodRadar does not grade these results: there is no overall score, and official river classifications are a separate dataset. A sample taken downstream of an overflow does not by itself show where anything in it came from. River connections and distances are traced on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels.

Water samples: Environment Agency Water Quality Archive, © Environment Agency and/or database right 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.