The river rises as a small pool beneath Carters Hill, a few metres to the east of the
M1 motorway and just to the east of the village of
Chalton, Bedfordshire. Flowing north, it reaches
Flitwick, then north east past
Greenfield and
Flitton, then through
Clophill,
Chicksands, and
Shefford, where it is joined by the River Hit, then past
Stanford, before meeting the
River Ivel at
Langford. Below its junction with the River Hit, the of its course was largely incorporated into a canal, known as the
Shefford Canal or River Ivel Navigation. Completed in 1823, the canal connected Shefford with the
North Sea allowing barges of coal to be brought to the town. The canal fell into decline over the following decades and in 1876 a dam was installed on the Ivel at
Sandy, closing the Shefford section for good. Today, sections of the canal near Shefford are dry or have been filled in. ==References==