Flowing north after passing through Nottingham, the river Trent is only some 30 m above sea level so that the river falls very gradually meandering through a broad shallow valley. The river here is in its mature stage, moving slowly but powerfully. At times of flood the volume increases ten fold, spilling over onto the vital floodplains.

Ashcroft Mill in Gainsborough was the location for George Eliot's novel The Mill on the Floss. arial sketch

King Swein of Denmark with his son Cnut sailed up the rivers Humber and Trent to Gainsborough in 1013 and was accepted as king in Danelaw. By Christmas, all England had submitted to Swein and Ethelred fled to Normandy. When Swein died in 1014, the Danish army choose Cnut to succeed but the English invited Ethelred to return and Cnut withdrew to Denmark. Cnut invaded England in 1015 and conquered Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria. After the death of Ethelred and his son Edmund, Cnut was chosen as king of England and married Ethelred's widow Emma, who was the daughter of Duke Robert of Normandy. Cnut placed the local control of the shires into the hands of several powerful earls: Leofric of Mercia (Lady Godiva's husband), Siward of Northumbria and Godwin of Wessex.

Trent is a Celtic word which has survived as a river name.

Trent and Belvoir Vales description of landscape