An etymology has been proposed, which signifies that 'Severn' is an anglicised version of an ancient Celtic phrase signifying 'a gap (in the coastline)', referring to the estuary.[6]
Milton's 1634 masqueComus makesSabrina anymph who had drowned in the river.[10]InShrewsbury, there is now a statue of Sabrina in the Dingle Gardens at theQuarry, as well as a metal sculpture erected in 2013.[11]
There is a different deity associated with the Severn Estuary:Nodens, represented as mounted on aseahorse, riding on the crest of theSevern bore.[12]
The English form of the name ("Severn") is derived fromOld EnglishSæfern.[f][g] However the name is also influenced by English dialectseave ("sedge, rush") hence the origin of the nameSeaverne recorded in the 16th–17th century.[16][h]
Common club-rush (Schoenoplectus lacustris) prefers to grow in shallow water such as that found in ponds, streams and river margins.[i] TheHwicce people used the club-rush growing along the banks of the River Severn to makewicker baskets.[j][k]
In the Summer of 893 a coalition of all of the Danish armies in England made a determined attempt to annex western Mercia to Danish Mercia.[t] TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC)[u] recorded an account of theBattle of Buttington, and included this description of the route taken by theDanes:
"... Foron þa up beTemese oþþæt hie gedydon ætSæferne, þa up beSæferne.[v][w][x]
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Post marked as thesource of the River Severn onPlynlimon, Wales. The wording is in both English and Welsh.
The River Severn's current form is the result of a multi-million year history and complex underlying geology but is in part the result of glaciation during the lastice age in thePleistoceneepoch of theQuaternary period.[24] Within Wales, the river runs through a landscape formed inOrdovician andSilurian rocks. As it enters the Shropshire Plain, these lowerPalaeozoic rocks are replaced byPermian andTriassic age strata though largely unseen beneath a thick cover of Quaternary deposits. Certain stretches also run acrossCarboniferous strata as at Shrewsbury and for much of the distance between Ironbridge and Bewdley. Permo-Triassic bedrock then continues until the Severn moves intermittently onto theJurassic outcrop from Tewkesbury southwards. Only in the SSW-NNE aligned valley either side of Welshpool is there any obvious relationship to geological structure where the valley follows the lines of the Severn Valley Fault Belt.[25] For much of the rest of its course it runs directly across geological structures.
It was first proposed in the 1900s that the former northerly course of the upper Severn was disrupted during the course of theice age by the blocking of its access to theIrish Sea throughCheshire causing a large lake to develop across much of Shropshire. It was supposed that this lake, named asLake Lapworth, overtopped its southern margin and rapidly cut down to form theIronbridge Gorge providing the Severn with a southerly exit to the sea as remains the case today.[26] An alternative theory which has gained favour in recent years does away with Lake Lapworth, suggesting that the upper Severn flowed beneath the icesheet in a bedrock hollow known as the Severn Trench eastwards from Melverley to the Ironbridge Gorge. It is possible that the trench and gorge were cut over successive ice ages.[27]
Over its length, there are a large number of tributaries, but the three largest feeding the non-tidal river are theVyrnwy, theTeme and theWarwickshire Avon. TheWye, theBristol Avon and theUsk all flow into the estuarine section of the Severn. The main tributaries are described in sequence below.[citation needed]
The first tributary of significance is theAfon Dulas, joining from the south immediately upstream ofLlanidloes, with theAfon Clywedog joining in the town. TheAfon Cerist, bolstered by theAfon Trannon, and theAfon Carno join as left bank tributaries immediately upstream of Caersws. Mochdre Brook enters on the western edge of Newtown, followed by the Bechan Brook just northeast of the town.The Mule enters atAbermule, and theRiver Rhiw east ofBerriew, followed shortly by theCamlad which rises aboveChurchstoke and by the Luggy Brook. The left bank Sylfaen Brook enters atWelshpool, and the Bele Brook via the New Cut east ofArddlin.
The River Vyrnwy, which begins atLake Vyrnwy, flows eastwards throughPowys, gathering the waters of theBanwy,Cain andTanat, before forming part of the border between England and Wales, and joining the Severn nearMelverley, Shropshire. TheRiver Perry joins on the left bank aboveShrewsbury, while both theRad Brook and theRea Brook, which flows northeast from its source atMarton Pool near the Welsh border, join the Severn within the town. The left bank tributary, theRiver Tern, after flowing south fromMarket Drayton and being joined by theRiver Meese and theRiver Roden, meets the Severn atAttingham Park.
The River Teme flows eastwards from its source inMid Wales, straddling the border betweenShropshire andHerefordshire; it is joined by theRiver Onny,River Corve andRiver Rea before it finally joins the Severn on the southern edge ofWorcester. Bushley Brook joins just upstream of the confluence of theWarwickshire Avon with the Severn atTewkesbury. One of several Avons, this one flows west throughRugby,Warwick andStratford-upon-Avon. It is then joined by its tributary theRiver Arrow, before joining the Severn. The riversSwilgate andChelt also join the Severn's left bank, as do theHatherley andHorsbere brooks, before it reaches Gloucester. TheRiver Leadon enters the tidal West Channel of the Severn at Over, immediately west of Gloucester. TheRiver Frome is the second significant tributary to enter the tidal stretch of the Severn, doing so at Framilode. Bideford Brook drains the easternmost part of theForest of Dean, entering the Severn estuary east ofBlakeney. On the opposite (southeast) bank the flow of theRiver Cam is usurped by theGloucester and Sharpness Canal before reaching the estuary.The Lyd enters the west bank of the estuary atLydney Harbour, opposite the place where Berkeley Pill carries the waters of theLittle Avon River into it. The final tributary before the Severn Bridge is the collection of streams which enter via Oldbury Pill.
The River Wye, from its source inPlynlimon in Wales (2 miles (3 km) from the source of the Severn), flows generally south east through the Welsh towns ofRhayader andBuilth Wells. It entersHerefordshire, flows throughHereford, and is shortly afterwards joined by theRiver Lugg, before flowing throughRoss-on-Wye andMonmouth, and then southwards where it forms part of the border between England (Forest of Dean) andWales. The Wye flows into the Severn estuary south of the town ofChepstow.
The river's course within Wales lies wholly within the county ofPowys. The first town it encounters downstream of its source isLlanidloes where it is joined by the Dulas and the Clywedog. It flows past the villages ofLlandinam andCaersws before reachingNewtown. It then runs byAbermule andCilcewydd before flowing besideWelshpool, the last town on its course in Wales.
EnteringShropshire and England, a few villages such asShrawardine sit back from the river as it meanders eastwards towards the county town ofShrewsbury. More villages, notablyAtcham,Wroxeter andCressage sit beside the river as it turns southeast and heads for the gorge atIronbridge before turning south forBridgnorth. The Shropshire villages ofQuatford andHampton Loade and the Worcestershire village ofUpper Arley follow, before the Severn runs throughBewdley and Stourport-on-Severn in quick succession. The river then passes the villages ofAstley Burf andHolt Fleet before entry into the city ofWorcester. Several villages sit back from the river before it runs byUpton-upon-Severn and then entersGloucestershire as it joins with theWarwickshire Avon outside ofTewkesbury. A few more villages intervene, notable amongst which isMaisemore before the river enters the city ofGloucester from which point it is tidal.
The Severn is bridged at many places, and many of these bridges are notable in their own right.The Iron Bridge atIronbridge was the world's first iron arch bridge. Several other bridges crossing the river were designed and built by the engineerThomas Telford.
The two major road bridges of theSevern crossing link south eastern Wales with the southern counties of England.
Cars could also be transported through the Severn Tunnel. In the 1950s three trains a day made round trips betweenSevern Tunnel Junction andPilning. The vehicles were loaded onto open flat bed carriages and pulled by a smallpannier tank locomotive, although sometimes they were joined to a scheduled passenger train. The prudent owner paid to cover the vehicle with a sheet, as sparks often flew when thesteam locomotive tackled the slope leading to the tunnel exit. A railway coach was provided for passengers and drivers. Reservations could be made and the fee for the car was about thirty shillings (£1.50) in the early 1950s.
There have been manydisasters on the Severn, which have claimed perhaps 300 lives, depending on sources, especially during the 20th century. TheSevern Railway Bridge was badly damaged by the collision of two river barges in 1960, which led to its demolition in 1970. Five crew members of both theArkendale H andWastdale H died in the accident.[28] There have been frequentfloods in Shrewsbury, Bewdley and elsewhere. More recently the river flooded during the2007 United Kingdom floods and the2019–20 United Kingdom floods.
There is a public right of navigation betweenPool Quay, nearWelshpool, and Stourport. However this stretch of the river has little traffic, other than small boats, canoes and some tour boats in Shrewsbury. Below Stourport, where the river is more navigable for larger craft, users must obtain permits from theCanal & River Trust, who are thenavigation authority. During springfreshet the river can be closed to navigation.
At Upper Parting above Gloucester, the river divides into two, and flows either side ofAlney Island to Lower Parting. The West Channel is no longer navigable. The East Channel is navigable as far as Gloucester Docks, from where theGloucester and Sharpness Canal provides a navigable channel south. Between the docks and Lower PartingLlanthony Weir marks the Normal Tidal Limit (NTL) of the East Channel of the river.[29]
In the tidal section of the river below Gloucester, theGloucester Harbour Trustees are the competent harbour authority. The trustees maintain navigation lights at various points along the river (including on Chapel Rock and Lyde Rock, andleading lights at Slime Road, Sheperdine and Berkeley Pill).
There are locks on the lower Severn to enable seagoing boats to reach as far as Stourport. The most northerly lock is at Lincomb, about 1 mile (1.6 km) downstream from Stourport.
TheGloucester and Sharpness Canal connects the Severn at Gloucester to the Severn atSharpness, avoiding a stretch of the tidal river which is dangerous to navigate. TheStroudwater Navigation used to join the tidal Severn atFramilode, but since the 1920s has connected to the Severn only via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.
The section of the river between Tewkesbury and Worcester forms part of theAvon Ring, a 109-mile (175 km) circular cruising route which includes 129 locks and covers parts of three other waterways.
Paddle steamers were operated in the Severn Estuary from the mid 19th century to the late 1970s byP & A Campbell ofBristol. The vessels,Cardiff Queen,Bristol Queen,Glen Usk,Glen Gower andBritannia all operated on this route in the 1950s and 1960s. Since 1986 Waverley Excursions has operated occasional sailings to Sharpness and Lydney by theMV Balmoral.[30]
A number of ferries were also operated on the tidal river, for example atNew Passage,Purton andArlingham. The last ferry was theAust Ferry, which closed in 1966 when the Severn Bridge opened. One of the Aust ferries,Severn Princess, is still inChepstow although largely derelict.
Currently the only passenger boat operating between Shrewsbury & Gloucester is the 'River King' vessel that operates in Stourport. Worcester River Cruises used to run boat trips up and down the river betweenTewkesbury and Stourport, operating the boatsThe Pride of the Midlands andThe Earl Grosvenor.[31]
The Cathedral Ferry, a foot passenger ferry, also operates on summer weekends from the steps ofWorcester Cathedral.[32]
In Shropshire theHampton Loade Ferry used to operate across the river but has been closed since 2016.[33]
In Shrewsbury, boat trips around the loop of the town centre are at present provided by theSabrina and depart from Victoria Quay near theWelsh Bridge during the summer.[34]
TheSevern bridges crossing near the mouth of theRiver Severn
The river becomes tidal close toMaisemore, on the West Channel just north of Gloucester, and at Llanthony Weir on the East Channel. However, particularly high tides may overtop the weir atTewkesbury, and even the foot of the weir atWorcester may experience a rise in water level of 1 foot (30 cm) or so.[35]: 19–26
UntilTudor times the Bristol Channel was known as theSevern Sea, and it is still known as this in bothWelsh andCornish (Môr Hafren and Mor Havren respectively, withmôr meaningsea).
A phenomenon associated with the lower reaches of the Severn is thetidal bore,[35] which forms upstream of the port ofSharpness.
It is frequently asserted that the river'sestuary, which empties into theBristol Channel, has the second largesttidal range in the world—48 feet (15 m),[36][37] exceeded only by theBay of Fundy. However a tidal range greater than that of the Severn is recorded from the lesser knownUngava Bay in Canada.[38] During the highest tides, the rising water is funnelled up the Severn estuary into a wave that travels rapidly upstream against the river current. The largest bores occur in spring, but smaller ones can be seen throughout the year. The bore is accompanied by a rapid rise in water level which continues for about one and a half hours after the bore has passed.
A 3-mile (4.8 km) stretch of the River Severn inShropshire, is known asIronbridge Gorge. It was designated aWorld Heritage Site byUNESCO in 1986. Its historic importance is due to its role as the centre of theiron industry in the early stages of theIndustrial Revolution. The gorge and the village ofIronbridge get their name from theIron Bridge across the Severn, built in 1779, which was the first cast-iron arch bridge ever constructed.[39]
Two nuclear power stations are situated on the river, in the area of South Gloucestershire.Oldbury Nuclear Power Station andBerkeley Nuclear Power Station both made use of the River Severn as part of the power generation and nuclear cooling processes. Both are now decommissioned.[40]
Before the installation of the weirs,sturgeon andgrey seals would regularly reach as far upstream as Worcester.[42] In the winter of 2011/2012 a female grey seal spent several weeks on the river in Bewdley.[42] The same individual was seen at and around Worcester from October to December 2013.[42]
The River Severn is named several times inA. E. Housman'sA Shropshire Lad (1896): "It dawns in Asia, tombstones show/And Shropshire names are read;/And the Nile spills his overflow/Beside the Severn's dead" ("1887"); "Severn stream" ("The Welsh Marches"); and "Severn shore" ("Westward from the high-hilled plain...").
In Shakespeare'sHenry IV, Part 1,Henry "Hotspur" Percy recalls the valour ofEdmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March in a long battle against WelshmanOwain Glyndŵr upon the banks of the Severn, claiming the flooding Severn "affrighted with [the warriors'] bloody looks ran fearfully among the trembling reeds and hid his crisp head in the hollow bank, bloodstained with these valiant combatants."
The Severn was the inspiration for a number of works by Gloucestershire composerIvor Gurney, including the songs "Western Sailors" (1925) and "Severn Meadows" (1917).
Gloucestershire writer and poet Brian Waters publishedSevern Tide withJ. M. Dent in 1947 and followed it withSevern Stream in 1949. With anecdotal stories about his travels, both books tell of the lives of the people who lived and worked on and along the river, describing the landscape with a poet's eye. Waters linksNodens with the Severn Bore and the association of the Celtic deity with the river is explored at length by Rogers.[10]
Several 20th-century English composers wrote works inspired by the river.Gerald Finzi (1901–1956) wroteA Severn Rhapsody, his Opus 3, in 1923; taking the Severn River and its surrounding countryside as his inspiration.Edward Elgar (1857–1934) wroteThe Severn Suite, Opus 87, in 1930. Elgar lived much of both his early life and his later life nearWorcester, through which the Severn runs.Herbert Howells (1892–1983), born close to the Severn inLydney, wrote the complexMissa Sabrinensis (Mass of the Severn) in 1954, and an earlier hymn tune simply entitledSevern.
InJulian Barnes' 2011 novel,The Sense of an Ending, Tony, the main character, recalls "a river rushing nonsensically upstream, its wave and wash lit by half a dozen chasing torchbeams," an allusion to a visit to the Severn Bore.
In the song "The Last Bristolian Pirate" byThe Longest Johns, a disgruntled farmer decides to become a pirate on the Severn, attacking innocent travellers down the river.[44]
^Common club-rush orBulrush.Schoenoplectus lacustris (Richard Mabey) ...."Club-rush is a stoutperennial found in shallow water in lakes, ponds, canals, slow rivers ... It can reach heights of up to ten feet in height with a thickness of nearly an inch at its base ...."[17]
^SeeHwicce >Name > ... It is also likely that "Hwicce" referred to the native tribes living along the banks of the River Severn, ... who were weavers using rushes ... growing profusely to create baskets.
^ North-West Mercia (Wainwright) ... "It has been suggested that these raids were a deliberate attempt to annex western Mercia to Danish Mercia ... "[19]
^ North-West Nercia (Wainwright) . . "In the Summer of 893 the two Danish Armies, supported by considerable reinforcements from the East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes, moved fromShoebury ... "up along the Thames until they came to the Severn and then up along the Severn ..."[19]
^Viking Britain (Thomas Williams) "it was the exploration of England's river routes ... made possible by their light and shallow-draughtedships ... that provided Viking armies with a means of swift and efficient movement through Britain's interior ... increased the range of ther attacks ... able to destabiliseAnglo-Saxon kingdoms ..."[20]
^"Glaciation and drainage evolution in the southern Welsh Borderland".Proceedings of the Shropshire Geological Society.13. Shropshire Geological Society:92–99.CiteSeerX10.1.1.616.8048.ISSN1750-855X.
^Welshpool (Map). 1:50,000. England and Wales Geology. Keyworth, Nottingham: British Geological Survey. 2008.ISBN9780751834710.
^"The Ice Age Legacy in North Shropshire"(PDF).Proceedings of the Shropshire Geological Society.13. Shropshire Geological Society:86–91. 2008.Archived(PDF) from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved16 February 2020.
^Toghill, Peter (2006).Geology of Shropshire (Second ed.). Marlborough: The Crowood Press. pp. 240–243.ISBN1861268033.
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