Monks Brook

Monks Brook is a river in the English county of Hampshire. It is a tributary of the River Itchen, which it joins at a medieval salmon pool in Swaythling. The brook is formed from seven streams that rise in the chalky South Downs, with the official source of Monks Brook being known as Bucket's Corner. Monks Brook drains a clay catchment of 49km2. The brook is designated a main river, which means the operating authority for managing it is the Environment Agency, not the local government authorities for the areas through which the river runs.The brook has given its name to a public house, a street in the town of Eastleigh, a junior football team and a petrol station among other things.In 2007, a 250m stretch of a tributary to the brook that had been culverted in the 1970s to make way for a golf course was uncovered as part of a £2.5 million community regeneration project.HistoryMonks Brook was documented in a charter in 932, in which King Athelstan granted the estate of North Stoneham to a man named Alfred. In this charter, Monks Brook was used as the boundary of the estate. It is thought the brook was created in Saxon times to prevent flooding of a field associated with South Stoneham.