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⏱ Last reading 5h ago
0.10

Letcombe Bassett

Letcombe Brook
Vale of White Horse catchment • Letcombe Bassett • Oxfordshire • ID: 1761TH • Level
(5h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 154 views

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Last Level
0.096 mASD
⚠ 5h ago · may be out of date
24h Max
0.099 mASD
24h Min
0.082 mASD
Typical Range
0.06 - 0.20
mASD
Highest Recorded
0.27 mASD
EA official record
A 0.57 reading (31 Oct 2013) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
Current level is 36% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 5h
08 Oct 15:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.096 mASD
08 Oct 14:45 ▬ steady 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 14:30 ▬ steady 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 14:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 14:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.096 mASD
08 Oct 13:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 13:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.096 mASD
08 Oct 13:15 ▬ steady 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 13:00 ▬ steady 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 12:45 ▬ steady 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 12:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 12:15 ▬ steady 0.098 mASD
08 Oct 12:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.098 mASD
08 Oct 11:45 ▬ steady 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 11:30 ▬ steady 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 11:15 ▬ steady 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 11:00 ▬ steady 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 10:45 ▬ steady 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 10:30 ▬ steady 0.097 mASD
08 Oct 10:15 0.097 mASD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Letcombe Bassett
  • Watercourse: Letcombe Brook
  • Nearest Town: Letcombe Bassett
  • County: Oxfordshire
  • Nearest reservoir: Farmoor (21.7 km) · 76.0% full (as of 31 Aug 2026)
  • Coordinates: 51°33'56"N 1°27'38"W (51.565511, -1.460667)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1990
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 1761TH
  • RLOI id: 7079 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 1761TH-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 0 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Vale of White Horse
  • Typical Range: 0.058 – 0.198 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 4.0 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: 0.10 mASD (EA at 8 Oct 15:00)
  • 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

Nearby

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

How often this river runs high

In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 0.20 m on about 68 days. This year so far: 67 days.

2026 67 days, 11 of them high · 11 high so far
2025 128 days
2024 241 days, 97 of them high · 97 high
2023 62 days
2022 0 days
2021 47 days
2020 96 days
2019 8 days
2018 28 days
2017 0 days

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out. The darker part is days above 0.25 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2008 for the 7 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.9 km away).

4flood warnings 134flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 4 Jan 2024 — River Lambourn from Upper Lambourn to Great Shefford

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 45
2025 0 3
2024 1 17
2023 1 14
2022 0 1
2021 0 5
2020 0 7
2019 0 4
2018 1 3
2017 0 1
2016 0 5
2015 0 1
2014 1 6
2013 0 5
2012 0 9
2011 0 1
2010 0 3
2009 0 3
2008 0 1

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 Letcombe Bassett flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 7 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Catchment Character

🌊 Groundwater-fed Slow and steady — fed largely by groundwater, so levels change gradually, not in sudden spikes.

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
0.96
groundwater-fed — slow & steady
Avg Annual Rainfall
777 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.5%
largely rural
Highest Daily Mean Flow
0.523 m³/s
14 Apr 2024 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.1010.2750.0750.0145% (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 3%Grassland 48%Arable 47%Urban 2%
Grassland 53% → 48% since 1990

Flow affected by: groundwater abstraction.

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

The gauging station is located in the upper section of Letcombe Brook, just downstream of Letcombe Brook at Arabellas Lake (39112).

More detail

The catchment

Rural catchment on scarp slope of the Lambourn Downs (Chalk - Drift free except for peat on the highest hills in the south). Catchment area derived from a Digital Terrain Model.

The station

Flat V weir (3.0m wide) superseded original rectangular notch (1.0 m wide) in 1981.

Flow regime

Baseflow-dominated regime. Runoff suggests that the topographic catchment is considerably smaller than the actual contributing area. Flows substantially reduced by pumping from the Childrey Warren boreholes (groundwater pumping). This can impact substantially on low flow patterns. The alleviation of low flows scheme was implemented in 1992.

The flow record

Gw augmentation noticeable (eg. 2004).

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
1971
Station datum
105.6 mAOD
Flow record
1971–2024 · 53 yrs · 99% complete
Hydrometric area
39
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the Letcombe Brook at Letcombe Bassett flooding today?

The current level is 0.10m, which is within the typical range of 0.06 to 0.20m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Letcombe Bassett?

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 Letcombe Brook at Letcombe Bassett?

The typical range at this station is 0.06m to 0.20m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.20m 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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📮 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 →