01 March 2013

From Little Acorns

Rising at just over 2,000 feet on Plynlimon, the highest point in the Cambrian Mountains, the Severn - Hafren in Welsh - is, at 220 miles, the longest British river.

































It is difficult to conceive, from its upper reaches - the Blaen Hafren falls pictured above is close to the source - that it is also, by its end, the river of greatest discharge in England and Wales.


The river's drainage basin covers over 4,400 square miles, and is extensively studied by hydrologists, who have installed numerous measuring weirs. The first waterfall of note is Severn Break-Its-Neck, just a couple of miles from the source.

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