Nen, river, in E. of England; rises near Naseby, in NW. of Northamptonshire, flows SE. to Northampton, thence NE. past Wellingborough, Higham Ferrers, Thrapston, and Oundle, to Elton, at boundary with Huntingdonshire, flows along the boundary N. to Wansford, thence E. to Peterborough, runs along the N. border of Cambridgeshire to Wisbech, thence N. across E. border of Norfolk and partly within border of Lincolnshire to the Wash, 3 miles N. of Sutton Bridge; is 70 miles long.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))