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0.52

Braystones

Ehen
Derwent West Cumbria and Duddon catchment • Braystones • Cumberland • ID: 744312 • Level
(36m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 155 views

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Current Level
0.518 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.551 m
24h Min
0.517 m
Typical Range
0.34 - 1.70
m
Highest Recorded
2.41 m
EA official record
2.41 in our data (since Feb 1976)
Current level is 22% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.7 cm over 5h
08 Oct 16:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.517 m
08 Oct 16:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.518 m
08 Oct 16:15 ▬ steady 0.519 m
08 Oct 16:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.519 m
08 Oct 15:45 ▬ steady 0.520 m
08 Oct 15:30 ▬ steady 0.520 m
08 Oct 15:15 ▬ steady 0.520 m
08 Oct 15:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.520 m
08 Oct 14:45 ▬ steady 0.521 m
08 Oct 14:30 ▬ steady 0.521 m
08 Oct 14:15 ▬ steady 0.521 m
08 Oct 14:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.521 m
08 Oct 13:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.522 m
08 Oct 13:30 ▬ steady 0.523 m
08 Oct 13:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.523 m
08 Oct 13:00 ▬ steady 0.524 m
08 Oct 12:45 ▬ steady 0.524 m
08 Oct 12:30 ▬ steady 0.524 m
08 Oct 12:15 ▬ steady 0.524 m
08 Oct 12:00 0.524 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Braystones
  • Watercourse: River Ehen
  • Nearest Town: Braystones
  • County: Cumberland
  • Coordinates: 54°26'25"N 3°31'46"W (54.440158, -3.529373)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1975
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 744312
  • RLOI id: 5018 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 744312-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 3 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Derwent West Cumbria and Duddon
  • Typical Range: 0.340 – 1.700 m
  • Drainage Area: 126 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 6 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.52 m (EA at 8 Oct 16:15)
  • Flow Archive: National River Flow Archive ↗

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Nearby Stations

Gauges connected to this river, and others nearby. A distance “by river” follows the river on the map; any other is in a straight line.

Connected upstream

Same river system, separate branch

Nearby

Distances by river: OS Open Rivers. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

Storm overflows whose water reaches this gauge on the mapped river network, nearest first by distance along the river. The status is each water company's monitor: it says whether an overflow is discharging, not how much or what it contains.

14 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 4.1 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 12 report not discharging, and for 2 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.

💧
United Utilities · into River Ehen · 4.1 km upstream along the river
34 spills · 13 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
United Utilities · into River Ehen · 4.1 km upstream along the river
5 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Picket How Farm SSO🏊 Bathing water
United Utilities · into River Ehen · 5.1 km upstream along the river
46 spills · 776 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
United Utilities · into River Ehen · 5.4 km upstream along the river
44 spills · 380 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
United Utilities · into River Ehen · 5.4 km upstream along the river
8 spills · 2 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow
💧
Wyndham Terrace CSO🏊 Bathing water
United Utilities · into River Ehen · 7.4 km upstream along the river
10 spills · 3 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Cleator WwTW🏊 Bathing water
United Utilities · into River Keekle · 9.6 km upstream along the river
71 spills · 1,200 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Cleator WwTW🏊 Bathing water
United Utilities · into River Keekle · 9.6 km upstream along the river
20 spills · 6 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

6 more further upstream, up to 13.2 km away along the river.

Nearby, connection not known

Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.

💧
Braystones WwTW🏊 Bathing water
United Utilities · into Irish Sea · 990 m away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
168 spills · 1,082 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Calder Bridge WwTW🏊 Bathing water
United Utilities · into River Calder · 3.0 km away in a straight line · not connected to this gauge on the river map
52 spills · 836 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
St Bridgets Lane CSO🏊 Bathing water
United Utilities · into Culv't'd Sect Of Skirting Beck · 4.6 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Seascale WwTW🏊 Bathing water
United Utilities · into Irish Sea · 6.0 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
41 spills · 484 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

These are the water companies' monitor statuses; a spill does not by itself explain a change in the gauge level. River connections and distances are traced on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels. Explore the sewage map →

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

How often this river runs high

In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 1.70 m on about 2 days. This year so far: 1 day.

2026 1 day so far
2025 5 days
2024 4 days
2023 0 days
2022 2 days
2021 3 days
2020 1 day
2019 1 day
2018 3 days
2017 3 days

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 8 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.1 km away).

6severe warnings 42flood warnings 230flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 17 Dec 2025 — River Ehen at Egremont, Bleach Green, Ennerdale Mill, Bridge End, Vale View, Wood Bank, Rugby Club

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 0 6
2025 0 3 14
2024 0 2 13
2023 0 0 7
2022 0 1 5
2021 0 3 5
2020 0 0 9
2019 0 0 8
2018 0 0 4
2017 0 5 11
2016 0 0 8
2015 6 12 15
2014 0 1 9
2013 0 2 8
2012 0 4 10
2011 0 0 7
2010 0 1 10
2009 0 4 16
2008 0 4 17
2007 0 0 25
2006 0 0 23

Warnings apply to a whole flood area, not necessarily this exact spot. Years before 2006 aren't covered by the EA's historic record. See also the Braystones flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 8 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Catchment Character

🌊 Steep & flashy Steep catchment sheds rain quickly — expect fast, sharp rises after heavy rain.

Your catchment is all the land that drains rainfall into the river above this gauge. Its character — how steep, wet, wooded, urban or chalky that land is — decides how fast rain here turns into a rising river. A steep, bare or clay catchment is “flashy” (rises and falls quickly, floods easily); a flat, chalk or well-wooded one is slow and steady. The tiles below put numbers to that; the flow-duration curve reads left-to-right from the river’s typical high flows (Q5) down to its low flows (Q95) — a steep curve means a flashy river.

The physical character of the land that drains to this gauge, and how it shapes its flood response — from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Baseflow Index
0.50
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,862 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +2% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.1%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
73.68 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
100 m³/s
19 Nov 2009 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 5.4417.203.161.005% (high)% of days exceeded95% (low)
Daily flow (m³/s) exceeded each % of the time — a steep curve is flashy, a flat one is steady. Q5 high · Q50 median · Q95 low.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 15%Grassland 65%Arable 7%Heath/scrub 5%Urban 5%Other 3%

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, public water supply.

Photos

Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Photos © NRFA / UKCEH & the measuring authority — shown at web resolution. Full gallery on the NRFA ↗

About this gauge

Non-standard shallow V weir. Low flows dominated by compensation flow from Ennerdale.

More detail

The catchment

Geology of the upper catchment is impervious Borrowdale Volcanics in east, Skiddaw Slates in west, the whole overlain in north west by Carboniferous Limestone, Coal Measures and patches of Permo-Triassic Sandstone. Drift covered. Some urban development in the small towns of Egremont and Cleator Moor in the lower catchment, middle reaches arable, remainder sheep pasture. Towns situated close to the channel or tributaries. Includes Ennerdale Water. No known catchment changes.

The station

Non-standard shallow V control installed 1997. Superseded a velocity area station with unstable rating. Weir lowered summer 2007.

How it measures flow

Cableway at site. Stony bed. Bypassed in extreme floods - comes out of bank u/s at about 2m and bypasses station; thus flow measured is not total flow. Velocity area station had unstable rating - gravel bar low flow control with significant weed growth problems. Multiple peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Rated by current meter to 2.4m. Ratings allow for changes in channel and weir structure. Change in datum in 2007 when weir was lowered unknown.

Flow regime

Low flows dominated by compensation flow from Ennerdale; major exports for water supply.

The flow record

Significant bypassing in major events, such as November 2009 when embankments were breached. Flows above 1.3m likely to be underestimated. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8) and in September 2023 (WINFAP Files v12).

Descriptions from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH). NRFA station record ↗

Gauge Details

How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).

Gauge type
Flat-V weir
Operating since
1974
Station datum
10.1 mAOD
Flow record
1974–2024 · 50 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1973
Hydrometric area
74
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Ehen at Braystones flooding today?

The current level is 0.52m, which is within the typical range of 0.34 to 1.70m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Braystones?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 12 hours of measurements by default (up to 7 days), updated roughly every 15 minutes.

What is a normal level for the River Ehen at Braystones?

The typical range at this station is 0.34m to 1.70m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.70m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.

How often is this river level data updated?

Readings are supplied by the Environment Agency gauge. FloodRadar checks for updates roughly every 15 minutes; the timestamp above shows how recent the latest available reading is.

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Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.

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📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge

Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:

Check any UK postcode’s flood risk →

🏠 Buying or renting around here? Get the Property Flood-Risk Report for any English postcode — official risk band, recorded floods, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →