NRA Severn-Trent 65 THE RIVER SEVERN NRA National Rivers Authority E n v ir o n m e n t Ag e n c y NATIONAL LIBRARY & INFORMATION SERVICE HEAD OFFICE Rio House. Waterside Drive. Aztec West. Almondsbury. Bristol BS32 4UD EnvrfofHtteM Agency Ktfdrmation C aitre H ead G ltioe Glass N o................. Accession No .b.M.l. ENVIRONMENT AGENCY 0 5 5 5 4 1 National Rivers Authority THE RIVER SEVERN The River Severn’s name is said to have been receive water taken from the River Severn. Bending north-easterly, about eight derived from Sabrina - a tragic water nymph Water is also piped to Liverpool from its kilometres funher on the river reaches reputed to have drowned in its waters. In its tributary, the Vyrnwy. Principal tributaries Llandinam where the river is crossed by an upper reaches of Powys it is known by its of the Severn are the Vyrnwy, Tern, iron bridge. The rivers Trannon and Carno Welsh name of Afon Hafren. Worcestershire Stour, Teme, Warwickshire join the Severn upstream of Caersws, where A unique river in many ways, the clcan Avon, Lcadon Fromc, Salwarpc and the river is crossed by a stone bridge. fast-flowing Severn is a first class riveralong W orfe. Caersws is the meeting place of five roads its whole length. Set in a pastoral A HISTORIC RIVER and so was an im p o rtan t R om an station. background of picturesque countryside and The source of the River Severn is on the Flowing past Newtown in the Vale of rolling hills, its natural drainage area, river basin or catchment covers 11,420 square kilometres (4,410 square miles) with a population of only 2.5 -? million. Most of the population live in larger towns, particularly Wolverhampton and Dudley in the western half of the Black Country. Other large towns and cities within the catch­ ment include Telford, Shrewsbury, Rugby, Worcester, Coventry, Cheltenham, Gloucester, The source of the River Severn Kidderminster and Stroud. Although the 338 kilometres of the north-eastern slopes of Bryn-Cras, one of Powys, the Severn receives the only river River Thames make it the longest river the peaks of Pumlumon Fawr (Plynlimon) which flows from England into Wales, the flowing entirely in England, the Severn, on the western border of Powys just 25 kms Camlad near Forden. from its Welsh source to its outflow in the from Aberystwyth. It is only three kms The Severn travels on past Welshpool to Bristol Channel, is 354 kilometres long, from the source of the River Wye and 610 Buttington. Here, Offa’s Dyke approaches level. the river before disappearing for eight kms Severn reaches Llanidloes, and then reappearing near Llandrinio. From for the to\Vns, citics and** surrounding ^£^>£ut 19 km farther on, it has dropped 457 Llandrinio the river turns east towards the areas of Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, metres. Here the river is joined by the Dulas English border. One of the Severn’s most Birmingham^ ^Cpventry, . Worcester, and the Clywedog from the beautiful tributaries, the Vyrnwy, enters the Gloucester a&d Bristol. Six million p c ^ p je ^ ■ Severn just over the border. A number of __-■» - + ...................... National Rivers Authority THE RIVER SEVERN other tributaries join the Severn in worship before a church was built. toll bridge ranged from two shillings (1 Op) Shropshire, of which the main ones are An iron bridge over the river at Buildwas for every coach and six, to one old halfpenny the Perry, Tern and Worfe. was built by Thomas Telford. Buildwas for a pedestrian. Practically the w hole area is Almost completely encircled by the Severn, Abbey was founded in 1195 by Cistercians now under the guardianship of the Shrewsbury was an ideal site for a settlement and much of it still remains. The Abbey Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and because it was naturally defended from acquired loading facilities for barges at ironwork can still be seen in windowsills and attackers. Called Pengwern around 300 AD, Cressage as well as permission for the frames, chimney pots and railings. it grew and became the capital of the area of monks to dip their sheep. The gorge is prone to landslips and one Wales called Powis. So important was it, After the Ice Age the rising waters of Lake in the late 1880’s blocked the river at that in the Domesday Buildwas. Book it was called a city. Down the river at Shrewsbury became a C oalport there is a wealthy and important wooden bridge which was town thanks to its built in 1770 and has position, navigable river been strengthened several and close business links times with cast-iron ribs. with Wales. Roger de Before it enters Montgomery, who was Bridgnorth the Severn is created 1st Earl of joined by the Worfe. Set Shrewsbury by William on sandstone cliffs, High the Conqueror, erected Town towers over Low Shrewsbury Castle. Town set on the river. The river enters Caves in the cliff were Shrewsbury under the once used to store Welsh Bridge, rebuilt in Bridgnorth’s famous 1791, and leaves it on the Cave Ale. eastern side under the The Severn Valley The Iron Bridge English Bridge, which was Railway links Bridgnorth rephccd in 1769 by John Gwynne. That Lapworth, on what is now the Shropshire to Bewdley and keeps close to the banks of same year he also built a bridge at Atcham Plain, overspilled the hills of Ironbridge and the river for much of the distance. The line on the site of many previous bridges. The cut a gorge. This laid bare coal, limestone, crosses the Severn downstream of Upper River Tern joins the Severn at Atcham. clay and ironstone in the rocks - all the Arley by the Victoria Bridge. Twice as long At Cressage, Thomas Telford’s timber ingredients which were to make as the Iron Bridge, this cast-iron bridge was bridge has been replaced with a ferro­ industrialisation of the valley possible. designed by Thomas Telford and built by concrete one. Cressage was a Saxon settle­ At Ironbridge the river flows under the the designer of the Forth Bridge in Scotland, ment with fishing rights in the river at famous bridge itself. The first iron bridge in Sir John Fowler. Domesday. Its name means “Christ’s Oak” the world, it was cast in Coalbrookdale, Bewdley was a sanctuary for fugitives from which is thought to indicate that it was a completed in 1779, erected in 1780 and has both Shropshire and Worcestershire for place where early Christians met for a span of 30 metres. Charges for this private many years. Because each of the counties 2 National Rivers Authority THE RIVER SEVERN laid claim to it, it was neutral territory until the eastern passing locks and docks around Worcester and Gloucester. The present finally allotted to Worcestershire in 1544. the basin of the Birmingham and Worcester Upton bridge was built in 1939. Telford’s stone bridge at Bewdley replaced a canal. Past Worcester the river is joined by Just downstream at Ripple, Prince Maurice, five arched bridge which succumbed to the its second longest tributary, the Teme, not the nephew of Charles I, defeated the great flood of 1795. The Staffordshire and far from Worcestershire County Cricket Parliamentarian General, Sir William Waller Worcestershire Canal, built in 1787, was Club’s ground. during the Civil War. It was to prove the last intended to go to Bewdley but the lack of In 1985 a new bridge was opened just below Royalist victor)' of the war. local interest resulted in it going to the where the Teme joins the Severn. At the The M50 motorway crosses the river a few hamlet of Stourmouth instead. eastern end of the bridge, which forms part kilometres further on and is known as the The hamlet grew and became Stourport, but by 1870 when the present bridge was built the town was in decline due to the coming of the railway and the opening of the Birmingham and Worcester Canal. At Stourport the Severn receives the Stour and r L j S i ' v - ' 'TO*- beiow Stourport the river is navigable at all tim es thanks to a series of weirs which hold up the water level. There are more locks and a weir at Holt Fleet and Bewdley another of Telford’s bridges, built in 1828. Grimlcy village of the southern link by-pass for Worcester, Queenhill Viaduct. contains the remains of a Roman Fort. a viewing platform has been built with At Tewkesbury the river passes under the Worcester grew up around the lowest panels describing the Battle of Worcester in Mythe Bridge which was built by Telford in Severn ford to be normally unaffected by the Civil War. 1826 to replace a ferry. the tide and Bore. It also lies on the old Until 1985, for the whole stretch of the river The Warwickshire Avon joins the Severn at Roman road from Glevum (Gloucester) to between Worcester and Upton there were Tewkesbury. The Avon has been divided by Salinae (Droitwich), where the Romans no bridges. During the Civil War, and in locks, islands and a weir so the northern obtained their salt. King John, who died in other emergencies, temporary construc­ branch, the Old Avon, flows down into the 1216, is buried in Worcester Cathedral. tions resting on boats were used to allow Severn above Upper Lode and the southern At Diglis the river divides around an island, people to cross. In the mid-!6th century a end, known as Mill Avon, at Lower Lode. the western branch going over the weir and bridge at Upton was the only one between Throughout the centuries, building in National Rivers Authority THE RIVER SEVERN Tewkesbury has been conditioned by the estuarine and tidal.