summer. (In recent dry winters - writing at summer 2007 - this section remained dry. Even more unusually, as of July 2007, it was running which has not happened during the summer for many years. The bourn section had been running continuously for long enough to have taken on the appearance of a river, with a scoured bed and water plants.) River Between this road crossing and the paired villages of Eastleach Martin and Eastleach Turville is the point at which the bourn becomes an all year river. Here it is crossed by a stone slab clapper bridge on a footpath close to a wide marshy area. A small spring rises close to the bridge. By the time the river passes between the Eastleach villages, each with their parish churches just a few hundred yards apart, the Leach has become a "proper" river, several yards (metres) wide. Between the villages a road bridge and another "clapper" footbridge cross the river. It passes another old mill between the Eastleaches and Southrop (pronounced "Suth-er-op") then skirts the hamlet of Fyfield. At the bridge at Southrop it divides into several channels, making a very attractive effect. From Southrop, the Leach forms the border between Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Final section and confluence There are three large watermills (none working) on the river in fairly quick succession, firstly at Little Faringdon close to Lechlade the second town named after the river, then at Lechlade Mill, and finally Priory Mill which is situated on the Kelmscott road. A few hundred yards (metres) later the Leach discharges from the northern bank into the Thames on the reach above Buscot Lock. It joins at the corner of the camping field behind The Trout Inn. Water quality The Environment Agency measure water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail. Water quality of the River Leach in 2019: See also Tributaries of the River Thames List of rivers in England References Leach Cotswolds 1Leach