Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for SEVERN (The)

SEVERN (The), a river of North Wales, Salop, Worcester, Gloucester, and Monmouth. It is the Sabrina of the Romans, the Sæferne of the Saxons, and the Hafren of the Welsh; and it was the boundary between Britannia Secunda and Flavia Cæsariensis. It issues from a small lake on the E side of Plinlimmon, at the S W boundary of Montgomeryshire; runs east-south-eastward, with the vehemence of a torrent, to Llanidloes; receives there the Clwyedog, and loses there its pristine fury; goes thence north-eastward, past Newtown and the neighbourhood of Montgomery, to welshpool, receiving by the way the Carno and the Rhiw; becomes navigable at Welshpool; proceeds north-north-westward to the boundary with Salop at Melverley, and there receives the Vyrnwy; goes thence eastward, with many beautiful curves, past Shrawardine and Shrewsbury, to Atcham, and there receives the Tern; proceeds thence east-south-eastward, past Cressage and Ironbridge, to Coalport; goes thence south-ward to Bridgnorth, and there receives the Worf; proceeds, in a similar direction, past Bewdley, to Stourport, where it receives the Stour; becomes averagely about 150 feet wide and more than 6 feet deep at Stourport; goes still southward, past Holt, Worcester, and Upton, to Tewkesbury; receives the Teme 1½ mile below Worcester, and the Upper Avon at Tewkesbury; proceeds thence south-south-westward to Gloucester, and there receives the Leadon, and becomes tidal; goes thence, in serpentine curves, south-westward, past Minsterworth and Newnham, to Awre; widens considerably in the neighbourhood of Newnham, and becomes decidedly estuarial at Awre; proceeds thence, with a width of from ¾of a mile to 2 ½ miles, south-westward, past Berkeley and Oldbury, to Aust; narrows there by projection of a small peninsula on its right side, and immediately afterwards receives the Wye; proceeds thence, with rapidly increasing width, to the influx of the Lower Avon at the boundary with Somerset; and there becomes identified with Bristol channel. It makes a total run of about 180 miles; drains upwards of 4, 500 square miles; is subject to great freshets; brings down vast quantities of sand and silt; and, over its tidal portion, is swept by a bore or "eagre, "3 or 4 feet high at the influx of the tide. See Bristol Channel.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a river"   (ADL Feature Type: "rivers")
Administrative units: Gloucestershire AncC       Monmouthshire AncC       Shropshire AncC       Worcestershire AncC
Place names: SEVERN     |     SEVERN THE     |     THE SEVERN

Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.