Source of the Leven

A rarely seen view of the upper reaches of the River Leven, that tributary of the Tees, before it begins its winding journey through the lowlands south of Middlesbrough. Beginning high on Warren Moor at the edge of Cleveland Hills, this river is unique as the only one north of the Humber that flows westward for most of its course. Only when it’s in its final lower stretches does it turn north to its confluence with the Tees downstream from Yarm.

The shape of the Leven above Kildale hints at a past course where it once flowed east into the Esk river system. However, glaciation happened, and a large lake formed in the Esk valley, dammed by the Tees glacier at Kildale. When the ice retreated, the Leven found an alternative route with an acute angle into the Cleveland plain. Below Kildale, the Leven gathers a bunch of tributaries that flow northward from the Cleveland Hills. The watershed between these tributaries and the southward-bound ones of the River Rye sits near the very edge of the Cleveland Hills, making the Leven’s upland catchment mostly concentrated on the moors around Kildale.