 Thought to begin at the confluence of Hurstwood Brook (draining Wether Edge, Hameldon and supplying the Hurstwood Reservoir) and Rock Water at Foxstones Bridge near the village of Hurstwood, the river runs northwest towards the town of Burnley.Rock Water only begins a sort distance to the southeast, where Cant Clough Beck (from that reservoir) meets Shedden Clough.Heading northwest, the river passes Omerod, the Hollins, the hamlet of Brownside and through the Rowley Lake near Rowley Hall before collecting Swinden Water and then the River Don at Netherwood Bridge and turning west.