River · United Kingdom
River Severn
River Severn is the longest river in the United Kingdom. It begins high on the boggy slopes of Plynlimon in Wales and ends in the wide Severn Estuary of the Bristol Channel.
Picture credit: Christian David (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Rosser1954 (CC BY 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the River Severn?
The river starts here: Plynlimon in the Cambrian Mountains of Wales.
It ends in the the Severn Estuary in the Bristol Channel.
Countries on the river: the United Kingdom.
The story behind it
The Severn starts in Welsh hills where sheep graze between wet moss and peat, then loops through England past Shrewsbury, Ironbridge, Worcester and Gloucester. Near Ironbridge stands the first big iron bridge in the world, built when factories were new and the river carried coal and pottery in flat barges. The Severn is famous for flooding: after long rain it climbs over quays and into streets, and towns have learned to raise barriers quickly. Its estuary has one of the largest tidal ranges on earth, and twice a day the incoming tide pushes a wave upstream that surfers ride for kilometres. Salmon, eels and lampreys travel through the same water, and birds gather on the mudflats in winter. Two long bridges carry motorways across the estuary between England and Wales.
Questions children ask
How long is the River Severn?
The Severn is about 354 km long. No other river in the United Kingdom is longer, not even the Thames, which flows through London.
Which countries does the River Severn flow through?
The whole river lies in the United Kingdom. It rises in Wales and spends most of its course in England before reaching the sea.
Where does the River Severn flow into?
It flows into the Bristol Channel through a long, funnel-shaped estuary. The tide there rises and falls more than in almost any other place in the world.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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