Tetbury Avon
The Tetbury Avon, also known as the Little Avon or the Ingleburn is a tributary of the River Avon of Gloucestershire and Somerset. The Tetbury Avon flows through Gloucestershire and Wiltshire for 7 miles and enters the Avon itself at Malmesbury in the latter county.
It rises near Tetbury in Gloucestershire and flows in a generally south easterly direction, joining the Sherston Avon at Malmesbury in Wiltshire. The water flow has been reduced by public water extraction form its source aquifer in the Cotswold Hills. In the past watermills were used for fulling wool and grinding corn. One working mill survives.
Name
The river is known by a number of names. "Tetbury Avon" is a name taken from the little town of Tetbury in Gloucestershire through which it flows, and from the same origin is the occasional label "River Avon (Tetbury Branch)". The "Little Avon" is of like origin, both referring to the greater River Avon to which it is a tributary.
The "Ingleburn" is a name given to the river in Tetbury, and aprt from the suffix's coming from the Old English burna ("stream") its original meaning cannot safely be determined.
Course
The Tetbury Avon rises at Wor Well to the north east of Tetbury in the Cotswold Hills. It flows first in a southerly direction, joined on the right bank by the Cutwell Brook at the south east of the town. The river now turns in south easterly direction into a steep valley through Estcourt Park, where it is joined on the right by the Wormwell Brook, which has its origin at Westonbirt. Passing through Shipton Wood the river forms a lake, created as part of the Estcourt Estate in the late 18th century.[1]
The river then enters Wiltshire near the village of Brokenborough, flowing to the north of Malmesbury where it joins the Sherston Avon at the eastern edge of the town. The augmented river then flows through the town of Malmesbury and down to the River Avon at the foot of the town.
History
As is common amongst Cotswold streams many watermills were established from early times for fulling wool and grinding corn. Shipton Mill in the wood of the same name still produces organic wheat and rye flours.[2] A mill at this site was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086.[3]
Natural history
A population of white-clawed crayfish in the Tetbury Avon has been eradicated by fungi hosted by the inasive North American signal crayfish.[4]
Water
The Environment Agency has a gauging station at Brokenborough and reports a mean flow of 24.4 ft3/s}} with a maximum of 141 ft3/s and a minimum of 1 ft3/s.[5] It is believed that abstraction of public water supplies from the Great Oolite aquifer of the Cotswolds has reduced flows in the Tetbury Avon, making it difficult to maintain high water quality and having a negative effect on the ecology.[6]
Outside links
References
- ↑ Shipton Moyne – Introduction - University of London & History of Parliament Trust
- ↑ "Shipton Mill - Home of Organic Flour". Shipton Mill. http://www.shipton-mill.com/. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
- ↑ Shipton Moyne - Economic history
- ↑ Staff writer (22 November 2008). "Saving British crayfish". Bristol Evening Post (Bristol News and Media). http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/bristolzoo/Saving-British-crayfish/article-491771-detail/article.html. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
- ↑ "53024 - Tetbury Avon at Brokenborough". Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. http://www.nerc-wallingford.ac.uk/ih/nrfa/station_summaries/053/024.html. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
- ↑ "The Bristol Avon Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy". Environment Agency. April 2005. p. 14. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Research/ba__cams_1_1038339.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-30.