About the River Lark

The river was, in the 19th Century, a navigation between Bury St Edmunds and King's Lynn. The arrival of the railways meant that the use of the river for trade was short-lived. Many of the challenges faced in maintaining and restoring the river are a result of historic cannalification and dredging of the river.

The River Lark is classified as a chalk stream below Bury St Edmunds. This makes it one of only a couple of hundred chalk streams in the world. Those of you familiar with the gravel bottomed chalk streams of the South will be interested to know Southampton University recently classified the Lark as a sand bottom chalk stream, further adding to it’s uniqueness.

The River Lark has been designated as East Anglia’s flagship chalk stream, one of twelve in the country. This will hopefully lead to increased habitat restoration and less pollution.

Despite the troubles the river has faced, nature shows its resilience and sections of the river boast excellent wildlife spotting opportunities. Its sandy banks offer an excellent home to many kingfishers and the river near Mildenhall is a great otter sighting location.

The club regular performs routine maintenance on the river. This generally involved removing fallen willows before the root into the river and managing weed caused by excessive nitrate pollution. We’ve also been involved in larger habitat restoration projects around the River Lark catchment area.