The River Browney rises from a spring in Head Plantation, on the eastern slope of Skaylock Hill, about a mile south east of Waskerley.
Continuing eastwards past Langley Park and Witton Gilbert, the river then turns south and skirts the western edge of Durham.
[1] Until the last ice age, the Browney entered the River Wear just north of Durham City, in Pelaw Woods.
[2] Legend has it that following his defeat at Neville's Cross in 1346, King David II of Scotland was captured having sought shelter under a bridge over the Browney at Bearpark, close by where his Scottish soldiers had camped overnight beneath Beaurepaire Priory.
[citation needed] Andrew Breeze has argued that the river name forms the first element of 'Brunanburh', in the Battle of Brunanburh.