Ouse

Ouse, a river of Yorkshire, formed by the union of the Swale and the Ure in the immediate vicinity of the village of Boroughbridge, and flowing southward past York, Selby, and Goole. About 8 miles below the last town it joins the Trent, and forms the estuary of the Humber (q.v.). The length of its course from Boroughbridge is 60 miles, for the last 45 of which (from York) it is navigable for large vessels. Its principal affluents are the Wharfe and the Aire from the west, and the Derwent from the north-east. The basin of the Ouse, or the Vale of York, commences about the northern boundary of the county near the river Tees, from whose basin it is separated by a low ridge of hills, and extends southward, including almost the whole of Yorkshire (q.v.).—The GREAT OUSE, rising close to Brackley, in the south of Northamptonshire, flows north-eastward through the counties of Buckingham, Bedford, Huntingdon, Cambridge, and Norfolk, till it falls into the Wash, 2½ miles below Lynn. It is 160 miles in entire length, and is navigable for about 50 miles. It receives the Ivel, Cam, Lark, and Little Ouse.