GWASH (THE), a river of Leicester, Rutland, and Lincoln. It rises on the east border of Leicester; runs eastward through the centre of Rutland, past Normanton, Empingham, and Great Casterton; and falls into the Welland, in Lincolnshire, a little E of Stamford. Its length of run is about 20 miles. A proverb, referring to the parts of Holland, in Lincolnshire, says, -' ' The Gwash and the Welland shall drown all Holland."

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))