The River Brit is a river in west Dorset in south-west England, which rises just to the north of Beaminster. It then flows south to Netherbury and Bridport, where it is joined by tributaries: the River Simene and River Asker. South of Bridport, it reaches Lyme Bay on the English Channel coast, at West Bay.[Frome, Piddle & West Dorset Fisheries Association Retrieved 22 May 2017.] The Brit has a length of .[Geoview Retrieved 9 June 2020.]
Name
The river takes its name from the town of Bridport, which in turn derives from the River Bride, the neighbouring
drainage basin to the east, which has connections with Bridport's early history. Before the establishment of Bridport, the Brit was named the River Wooth. This is still reflected in the names of settlements, such as Wooth Manor and Camesworth.
Natural history
The river has Indian balsam plants on its banks.
[ Dorset Life magazine - the flowers of Dorset's riversides] It was previously polluted by the local
hemp and
flax industries and by sewage discharges, but the environment of the river has improved in recent years. Fish species found include the
stone loach,
brown trout and
. These in turn support wildlife such as
and
. Conditions are healthy enough to support the parr of salmon and sea trout, which live in the river for two to five years before turning into smolt and returning to the sea;
have been installed to facilitate this.
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