Ludney: ghost of the River Lud

Image: © Chris Taken: 5 Dec 2012

Ludney is named after the River Lud, or Ludd, which used to run through it. Alas there is no sign of the Lud on current maps. The Lud was sacrificed to the Louth Navigation (canal, now disused), which took most of its water for the stretch Louth-Tetney Lock. The Lud was allowed a brief revival, shown in Image, Image and Image Here it tumbles triumphantly back into its channel, and wends its wiggly way alongside the canal as far as Alvingham. At High Bridge, Alvingham it seems to divide into two branches, named Seven Towns North Eau and the Old Eau. The Lud is no more! Ludney is a muddle of different drains, and branches of drains, of which this is one. One way or another, they all seem to end up in the Seven Towns North Eau, a straightened section of which runs under the road a few hundred metres further on by Appleby's carpark (Image). So we can only deduce that the Seven Towns North Eau is the reincarnation of the River Lud, its flow boosted by a hundred drains.

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