River Team

{{Short description|River in North East England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{More footnotes|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox river | name = River Team | native_name = | native_name_lang = | name_other = | name_etymology =  | image = File:River Team - geograph.org.uk - 836601.jpg | image_size = | image_caption = River Team near Gateshead | map = | map_size = 260 | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Tyne and Wear | pushpin_map_size = 260 | pushpin_map_caption = Location of mouth within Tyne and Wear | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = United Kingdom | subdivision_type2 = Country within the UK | subdivision_name2 = England | subdivision_type3 = Counties | subdivision_name3 = {{flag|Tyne and Wear}}<br/>{{flag|County Durham}} | subdivision_type4 = Towns | subdivision_name4 = Gateshead | subdivision_type5 = | subdivision_name5 =  | length = | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location = | discharge1_min = | discharge1_avg = | discharge1_max =  | source1 = | source1_location = | source1_coordinates = | source1_elevation = | mouth = | mouth_location = Confluence with the River Tyne, Dunston, Tyne and Wear | mouth_coordinates = {{coord|54.957709|-1.637177|region:GB|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | mouth_elevation = | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = | tributaries_left = Black Burn,<ref>https://sites.google.com/view/egsarchive/document-archives/gateshead-council-level-1-strategic-flood-risk-assessment</ref> Lady Park Burn, Strandy Burn, Coltspool Burn, Small Waters, Red Burn, Bobgins Burn, Carrmyers Burn | tributaries_right = Allerdene Burn, Leyholdburn Gill, Rowletch Burn, Letch Burn | custom_label = | custom_data = | extra = }}

The '''River Team''' is a tributary of the River Tyne in Gateshead, England.

The minor tributaries of the River Team include Strandy Burn, Coltspool Burn, Rowletch Burn, Red Burn, Letch Burn, Bobgins Burn, Farleith Burn, and Carrmyers Burn. The Black Burn is also a tributary, albeit culverted at its confluence with the Team, and it flows by Watergate Park, and rises at Sunniside.<ref>{{Cite web |title=View map: Ordnance Survey, Durham VI.8 (Gateshead; Lamesley; Whickham) - Ordnance Survey 25 inch England and Wales, 1841-1952 |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/120934437 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250528000443/https://maps.nls.uk/view/120934437 |archive-date=28 May 2025 |access-date=2025-12-10 |website=maps.nls.uk |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=English Geography Site Archive - Gateshead Council Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment |url=https://sites.google.com/view/egsarchive/document-archives/gateshead-council-level-1-strategic-flood-risk-assessment |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=sites.google.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Etymology== The name ''Team'' may have a Brittonic origin.<ref name="BLITON">{{cite web |last1=James |first1=Alan G. |title=A Guide to the Place-Name Evidence - Guide to the Elements |url=https://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary_2019_Edition.pdf |website=Scottish Place Name Society - The Brittonic Language in the Old North |accessdate=25 October 2018}}</ref> The name may be from the Brittonic root ''tā-'', with a sense of "melting, thawing, dissolving",<ref name="BLITON" /> plus a nasal root determinative, giving a form of ''*tā-m-'' or ''*tā-n-''.<ref name="BLITON" /> However, ''Team'' has also been associated with the Indo-European ''*temhx-'', "dark" and ''*tṃh-'', "cut" or "be cut".<ref name="BLITON" />

==Course== Its source is near Annfield Plain, where it is known as '''Kyo Burn'''. Briefly known as '''Houghwell Burn''', it then changes its name again to '''Causey Burn''' as it flows underneath the famous Causey Arch. It then flows past Beamish Museum in County Durham (where it is known as '''Beamish Burn''') then crosses the border into Gateshead flowing through Lamesley. Continuing on into the Team Valley, the river flows through a culvert in the middle of the roundabout underneath the A1 road, it then continues through the Team Valley Trading Estate through a covered culvert, before emerging to the surface halfway along.

It then flows through the site of the 1990 National Garden Festival, before finally discharging into the River Tyne in Dunston. This area is known as Teams, after the river. At the mouth is the Dunston Staiths.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dunston Staithes {{!}} OurGateshead |url=https://ourgateshead.org/info/dunston-staithes |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=ourgateshead.org}}{{better ref needed|date=July 2025|reason=WP:UGC}}</ref>

==Pollution== The River Team has long been regarded as one of the most polluted rivers in the area due to the discharges from Sewage works near Lamesley and heavy industry in the Team Valley. It is called "The Gut" by the residents of Dunston. However considerable improvements have now been made and the river is relatively clean.

===Water quality=== The Environment Agency measure water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/help/glossary |website=Catchment Data Explorer |title=Glossary (see Biological quality element; Chemical status; and Ecological status) |publisher=Environment Agency |date=17 February 2016}} 30px Text was copied from this source, which is available under an [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ Open Government Licence v3.0]. © Crown copyright.</ref>

Water quality of the River Team in 2019: {| class="wikitable" |- ! Section !! Ecological<br/>Status !! Chemical<br/>Status !! Length !! Catchment !! Channel |- | {{waterqual_title |desc= Team from Source to Tyne |asset= GB103023075670}} | {{waterqual_mod}} | {{waterqual_fail}} | {{convert| 23.158 |km|mi|abbr=on}} | {{convert| 85.064 |km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} | Heavily modified |}

==Geology== Prior to the last ice age, the lower part of the River Team actually formed the lower part of the River Wear, with a combined Tyne-Wear river continuing to the coast from Dunston. The ice diverted the River Wear to its current course towards the coast at Sunderland, with the smaller River Team flowing along its former course towards the River Tyne.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

==References== {{reflist}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161220072535/http://217.205.94.37/pdf/ne-casestudies-riverteamcorridor.pdf/$FILE/ne-casestudies-riverteamcorridor.pdf The River Team Corridor Project] (Archived) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20170314104710/http://www.communityforest.org.uk/resources/river_team.pdf Reviving the River Team] (Archived)

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