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Black Water

A stream near Old Beetley, Norfolk. No gauge of its own: what the river map and the banked data say about it.

Black Water is a stream on Ordnance Survey’s river map near Old Beetley, Norfolk, with about 7.3 km of mapped channel. On the map it flows into the River Wensum, which flows on into the River Yare and out to the sea.

Next gauge downstream

Swanton Morley on the River Wensum, about 3.2 km along the river below where Black Water ends on the map.

No recent reading (last 5 h ago)

After that, COSTESSEY MILL SLUICE, about 33 km along the river.

No gauge measures Black Water itself. A gauge downstream shows water that has already passed it, mixed with everything else that has joined on the way, so it says nothing exact about this stream.

Water-sampling points on Black Water

2 Environment Agency sampling points are placed on this stream. These are dated samples taken by hand, not live readings, and FloodRadar does not grade them.

Black Water downstream of Spong Bridge
Last sampled 4 Aug 2026 · 58 days ago · 9 samples banked
Black Water Spong Bridge tributary of River Whitewater
No sample published 1 Oct 2023 – 30 Sep 2026

A sample is taken on a date; it says nothing about the water today. A sample below an overflow does not by itself show where anything in it came from.

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

Places along it

From its source towards its mouth, the settlements within a kilometre of it on the map: East Bilney, Hungry Hill, Old Beetley, Billingford.

Place names: OS Open Names. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

On the map

The map needs JavaScript. Everything it shows is listed on this page.

The blue line is Black Water; grey lines are other mapped watercourses. Lines from OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04).

The River Wensum, the river it joins →NR20 5HS, a postcode page near where it ends on the map (about 320 m away) →All rivers with gauges →

What this page can and cannot tell you

Its line, its name and where it flows come from Ordnance Survey’s river map (OS Open Rivers, edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small streams, ditches and culverts. “Flows into” is the map’s word: a channel that is not on the map is not shown here, which does not mean it is not there.
No gauge measures Black Water itself, so its own level is not known here.
No storm overflow is placed on this stream on the river map. That is not the same as none: the map cannot place every overflow.
Water samples are England’s only (the Environment Agency’s archive), placed where the map can place their sampling point.
Nothing on this page says whether any place floods. For an address, see its postcode page.

This uses Environment Agency flood and river level data from the real-time data API (Beta). Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0.