river in the eastern Midlands, England. The Welland River rises in the county of Leicestershire and flows eastward past Market Harborough and Stamford for about 70 miles (110 km) into Lincolnshire to enter the southwestern corner of the shallow North Sea inlet called The Wash. From Market Deeping past Spalding its course across the drained Fens has been embanked. It was formerly canalized upstream to Stamford. A left-bank tributary, the Eye Brook, has been dammed to form a reservoir for the new town of Corby, 4 miles (6.5 km) southeast.