This runs northeast for 40 kilometres (25 mi)[3] past the villages of Minsterley, Pontesbury, Hanwood, Hook-a-Gate and Bayston Hill to Shrewsbury, where it joins the much larger River Severn at Coleham Head.

[6] Alternatively, the name of Cruckmeole could come from the Common Brittonic words found today in modern Welsh as crug ("hillock") and moel ("bare").

[7]: 326 Rea Brook has changed dramatically since the start of the 21st century with a downturn in the recorded numbers of coarse fish.

When the brook reaches Shrewsbury, it flows through a local nature reserve designated in 1994 as the Reabrook Valley Country Park.

[9] After the flooding in 2000, it was suggested that a tunnel and culvert be created to divert water away from Rea Brook eastwards where it would enter the River Severn a point further downstream and out of the environs of Shrewsbury.

[10] The 2007 flooding destroyed a bridge which was rebuilt in 2008 with additional archaeological excavations on the leat that ran alongside the Rea Brook in the valley at Shrewsbury.