A longer tributary, however, starts to the north-west of Cornish Hall End, flowing into the other sources just south of Great Yeldham.

Somewhat to the south of Colchester North railway station, the river passes under a bridge and into a concrete-lined area that was used as an open-air bathing facility until the 1970s, and is now used by canoeists.

It then meanders under a road bridge at the bottom of North Hill, and tumbles down a weir used for discharge control at Middlemill, the site of a now-demolished mill.

The river encircles one side of a small lake, and then turns south-east, and then south, before falling over a large weir and becoming tidal.

However, the river is no longer deep enough to support ships large enough to make this viable, and water trade is now non-existent.