ald-reche

Updated: August 3, 2026

But men told him that between him and those trees lay a black abyss of mud and peat and reeds, Haddenham fen and Smithy fen, with the deep sullen West water or "Ald-reche" of the Ouse winding through them. The narrowest space between dry land and dry land was a full half-mile; and how to cross that half-mile, no man knew. What were the approaches on the west? There were none.

Charles Kingsley - Hereward, the Last of the English