Avon Water, Hampshire
The Avon Water is a little river nine miles long draining some of the south-west of the New Forest in the south-west of Hampshire, flowing from the forest to the Solent. It is not the only river of the name "Avon" in Hampshire: the larger River Avon does not join it but reaches the sea some miles to the east.
The Avon Water rises at many sources close to, south of, Burley (50°48’54"N, 1°43’19"W), and curves from south-east to south over its course of nine miles.[1] It flows through the populous railway village of Sway.
Along with the Beaulieu River and the Lymington River, Avon Water is one of the three main rivers which drain the New Forest southward directly into the Solent,[2] although it is smaller than the other two rivers.[3] It rises in the south-western part of the New Forest, near Holmsley Lodge, and flows south-eastward, in a fairly straight course for about nine miles.[4]
The river flows into the Solent at Keyhaven, close to the shingle bank that leads to Hurst Castle.[4]
Name
The name 'Avon Water' is applied to this little river today, but it is a name thought to have been little-used before modern times.[5] It dates from at least the 1790s as it is labelled on Thomas Milne's map of Hampshire published by William Faden in 1791.[6] Cary's New Itinerary of 1810 also gives its name but confounds it with the stream ending at Keyhaven Harbour immediately to the west of the lower part (the Dane(s) stream draining Ashley, Hordle, and Milford).[7]
Outside links
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References
- ↑ Samuel Lewis, (1855), The book of English rivers: an account of the rivers of England, page 31
- ↑ Colin Rodney Tubbs, (1968), The New Forest: an ecological history, pages 19-20. David & Charles
- ↑ Terry R. Healy, Ying Wang, Judy-Ann Healy (editors), (2002), Muddy coasts of the world: processes, deposits, and function, page 413. Gulf Professional Publishing
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Samuel Lewis, (1855), The book of English rivers: an account of the rivers of England, page 31
- ↑ Old Hampshire Gazetteer - Sway
- ↑ Milne's Hampshire 1791, section 22, Old Hampshire Mapped, retrieved 15 October 2013
- ↑ John Cary, (1810), Cary's New itinerary, R. 195 Lymington to Poole