I. River Thames

List of rivers of the United Kingdom

Longest Rivers in the United Kingdom

River	Length (miles)	(km)
1. River Severn
2. River Thames
3. River Trent
4. River Great Ouse
5. River Wye
6. River Ure / River Ouse, Yorkshire
7. River Tay
8. River Spey
9. River Clyde
10. River Tweed
11. River Avon, Warwickshire
12. River Nene
13. River Eden, Cumbria
14. River Dee, Aberdeenshire
15. River Witham
16. River Teme
17. River Don, Aberdeenshire
18. River Bann
19. River Ribble
20. River Avon, Bristol
21. River Tyne
22. River Aire
23. River Tees
24. River Medway
25. River Mersey
26. River Dee, Wales
27. River Don, Yorkshire

I. River Thames

The Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several of towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor.

The river gives its name to the Thames Valley, a region of England centred around river between Oxford and West London, the Thames Gateway, the area centred around the tidal Thames, and the Thames Estuary to the east of London.

Summary

The River Thames is the second longest river in the United Kingdom and the long river entirely in England, rising at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, and flowing into the No Sea at the Thames Estuary. It has a special significance in flowing through London, the capital the United Kingdom, although London only touches a short part of its course. The river is tidal London with a rise and fall of 7 metres (23 ft) and becomes non-tidal at Teddington Lock. The river is fed over 20 tributaries. The river contains over 80 islands, and having both seawater and freshwater stretches supports a variety of wildlife.

The river has supported human activity from its source to its mouth for thousands years providing habitation, water power, food and drink. It has also acted as a major highway both for international trade through the Port of London, and internally along its length andconnecting to the British canal system. The river's strategic position has seen it at the centre many events and fashions in British history, earning it a description by John Burns as "Liquid History". It has been a physical and political boundary over the centuries and generated a area of river crossings. In more recent time the river has become a major leisure area support tourism and pleasure outings as well as the sports of rowing, sailing, ski fling, kayaking, andpunting. The river has had a special appeal to writers, artists, musicians and film-makers and well represented in the arts. It is still the subject of various debates about its coin nomenclature and history.

Physical and natural aspects

Course of the river

The Thames has a length of 215 miles (346 km). Its usually quoted source is at Than Head (at grid reference ST980994), about a mile north of the village of Kemble and near town of Cirencester, in the Cotswolds. This makes it the longest river entirely in England, although the River Severn, which is partly in Wales, is a longer river in the United Kingdom.

The Thames flows through or alongside Ashton Keynes, Cricklade, Lechlade, Oxford, Abingdon, Wallingford, Goring-on-Thames, Reading, Henley-on-Thames, Marlow, Maidenhead, Windsor, Eton, Staines, Sunbury, Weybridge and Thames Ditton before entering the Greater London area. The present course is the result of several minor redirections of the main channel around Oxford, Abingdon and Maidenhead and more recently the creation of specific cuts ease navigation.

From the outskirts of Greater London, the river passes Hampton Court. Kingston, Teddington. Twickenham, Richmond (with a famous view of the Thames from Richmond Hill), Syon House before flowing through central London. In central London, the river forms one of the principal axes of the principal axes of the city, from the Palace of Westminster to the Tower of London and was the southern boundary of the mediaeval city, with Southwark on the opposite bank.

Once past central London, the river passes between Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs before flowing through the Thames Barrier, which protects central London from flooding in event of storm surges. Below the barrier, the river passes Dartford, Tilbury and Gravesend bet entering the Thames Estuary near Southend-on-Sea.

The tidal section

London, capital of Roman Britain, was established on two hills, now known as Cornhill and Ludgate Hill. These provided a firm base for a trading centre at lowest possible point on the Thames. A river crossing was built at the site of London Bridge. London Bridge is now used as the basis for published tide tables giving the times of high tide.

This part of the river is managed by the Port of London Authority. The flood threat here comes from high tides and strong winds from the North Sea, and the Thames Barrier was built in the 1980’s to protect London from this risk.

Wildlife

Various species of bird feed off the river or nest on it, some being found both at sea and inland. These include Cormorant, Black-headed Gull, and Herring Gull. The Swan is a familiar sight on the river but the escaped Black Swan is more rare. The annual ceremony of Swan upping is an old tradition of counting stocks. Non-native geese that can be seen include Can; Geese, Egyptian Geese, and Bar-headed Geese, and ducks include the familiar native Mallard plus introduced Mandarin Duck and Wood Duck. Other water birds to be found on the Thames. In addition there many types of British birds that live alongside the river, although they are not specific to river habitat.

The Thames contains both seawater and freshwater, thus providing support for seawater and freshwater fish. The salmon, which inhabits both environments has been reintroduced. Some of the freshwater fish to be found in the Thames and its tributaries include brown trout, chub, dace, roach, barbel, perch, pike, bleak, and flounder. Colonies of short-snouted seahorses have also recently been discovered in the river.

In addition the Thames is host to some invasive crustaceans including Signal crayfish and Chinese Mitten Crab.

On 20 January 2006 a northern 16-18 ft (5 m) bottle-nosed whale was spotted in Thames and was seen as far upstream as Chelsea. This is extremely unusual because this type whale is generally found in deep sea waters. Crowds gathered along the riverbanks to witness extraordinary spectacle. But it soon became clear there was cause for concern, as the animal came within yards of the banks, almost beaching, and crashed into an empty boat causing slight bleeding. Approximately 12 hours later, the whale was believed to be seen again n Greenwich, possibly heading back to sea. There was a rescue attempt lasting several hours, but it eventually died on a barge.

River Severn

The River Severn (Welsh: Afon Hafren, Latin: Sabrina) is the longest river in Great Britain, at 220 miles (354 km). It rises at an altitude of 2,001 feet (610 m) on Plynlimon ne Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales. It then flows through Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, with the county towns of Shrewsbury, Worcester, and Gloucester on its banks. With an average discharge of 107 m³/s at Apperley, Gloucestershire, the Severn is England's greatest river in terms of water flow, and is considered one of the ten major rivers of the United Kingdom.

The river becomes the Severn Estuary after the Second Severn Crossing between Severn Beach, South Gloucestershire and Sudbrook, Monmouthshire. The river then discharges into the Bristol Channel which in turn discharges into the Celtic Sea and kilometres (4.409 sq mi), excluding the River Wye and Bristol Avon which flow into the Bristol Channel. The major tributaries to the Severn are the Vyrnwy, Teme, Warwickshire Avon and Stour.

Mythology

According to some sources, the name "Severn" is derived from the name Sabrina (or Hafren), based on the mythical story of a nymph who drowned in the river. Sabrina is also the goddess of the River Severn in Brythonic mythology. The story of Sabrina is featured in Milton's Comus. There is a statue of 'Sabrina' in the Dingle Gardens at the Quarry, Shrewsbury.

As the Severn becomes tidal the associated changes to Noadu (Romanized as Nodens), who is represented mounted on a seahorse, riding on the crest of the Severn bore.

Major settlements

Below is a list of major towns and cities that the Severn flows through (from north to south:

• Newtown

• Shrewsbury (county town)

• Bewdley

• Stourport

• Worcester (county town)

• Upton

• Gloucester (county town)

Transport

Bridges

The Severn is bridged at many places, and many of these bridges are notable in their c right, with several designed and built by the engineer Thomas Telford.

Disasters

There have been many disasters on the Severn, making it Britain's most dangerous river. It has claimed many lives (figures vary depending on how it is recorded, circa 300 people especially during the 20th century.

River Trent

The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire between Biddulph and Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands (forming a oh significant boundary between the North and South of England) until it joins the River Ouse Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.

The name "Trent" comes from a Celtic word possibly meaning "strongly flooding". More specifically, the name may be a contraction of two Celtic words, tros ("over") and hynt ("way). This may indeed indicate a river that is prone to flooding. However, a more likely explanation may be that it was considered to be a river that could be crossed principally by means of fords, i.e. the river flowed over major road routes. This may explain the presence of the Celtic element rid (c.f. Welsh rhyd, "ford") in various placenames along the Trent, such as Hill Ridware, as well as the Saxon□ derived ford. Another translation is given as "the trespasser", referring to waters flooding over the land.

It is unusual amongst English rivers in that it flows north (for the second half of its route and is also unusual in exhibiting a tidal bore, the "Aegir". The area drained by the river inch most of the northern Midlands.

Prehistory

In the Pliocene epoch (1.7 m years ago) the River Trent rose in the Welsh hills flowed almost east from Nottingham through the present Vale of Belvoir to cut a gap through limestone ridge at Ancaster and thence to the North Sea. At the end of the Wolstonian Stag 130,000 years ago) a mass of stagnant ice left in the Vale of Belvoir caused the river to d: north along the old Lincoln river, through the Lincoln gap. In a following glaciation (Devensian 70,000BCE) the ice held back vast areas of water - called Lake Humber - in the current lower Trent basin and when this retreated the Trent adopted its current course into the Humber.

Migration of course in historic times

Unusually for an English river, the river channel has occasionally altered significant) historic times. An abandoned channel at Repton is described on an old map as ‘Old Trent Water’. Further downstream, archaeologists have found the remains of a Medieval bridge across and abandoned channel. The course of the river was altered in the area of Ingleby in Derbyshire when 300 acres (1.2 km²) was "moved" from one side of the river to another. This is recorded Shakespeare's play Henry IV - Part 1.

"Methinks my moiety, north from Burton here,

In quantity equals not one of yours:

See how this river comes me cranking in.

And cuts me from the best of all my land

A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out.

I'll have the current in this place damm'd up;

And here the smug and silver Trent shall run

In a new channel, fair and evenly;

It shall not wind with such a deep indent.

To rob me of so rich a bottom here."

The literal North/South divide

The Trent historically marked the boundary between Northern England and South England, for example the administration of Royal Forests was subject to a different Justice Eyre north and south of the river, and the jurisdiction of the medieval Council of the North started at the Trent. Although the rise of the “Midlands” has moved the boundary slightly (the modern idea of the "North" now usually starts at the boundary of Yorkshire) some slight traces of the old division do remain: the Trent marks the boundary between the provinces of two English Kings of Arms, Norroy and Clarenceux. Although little heard these days, phrase "born North of the Trent" is one means of expressing that someone hails from the North of England.

Places alone the Trent

Cities and towns on or close to the river include:

· Stoke-on-Trent

· Stone

· Rugeley

· Lichfield

· Burton upon Trent

· Castle Donington

· Rampton

· Derby

· Beeston

· Nottingham

· Newark-on-Trent

· Dunham Bridge - A57 Swing Toll bridge

· Gainsborough

· Gunness

· Scunthorpe

Tributaries

Among its tributaries are:

· River Devon

· River Greet

· River Derwent, Derby

· River Dove

· River Erewash

· River Idle, Nottinghamshire - meets the Trent at West Stockwith

· River Leen

· River Mease

· River Soar, Leicester - meets the Trent at Trentlock

· River Sow

· River Tame, Birmingham

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