Thames Head
Thames Head is a site in Gloucestershire, very close to the border with Wiltshire, which is traditionally identified as the source of the River Thames. Thames Head lies between the villages of Coates, Gloucestershire and Kemble, Wiltshire. The town of Cirencester lies a little to the north.
From this spring, the infant Thames runs southeast and very soon passes beneath the A433 and into Wiltshire. This earliest "reach" of the river often lies dry in summer.
The claim that Thames Head is the source of the River Thames is disputed. The Environment Agency, the Ordnance Survey and other authorities have the source of the Thames as the nearby Trewsbury Mead. Others hold that the true source of the Thames is at Seven Springs, some eleven miles further north, and east of Gloucester. Officially, however, Seven Springs is the source of the River Churn, a tributary of the Thames that joins at Cricklade. The claim of Seven Springs is that the Churn, by its distance, in rising further than Trewsbury Mead, is the true headwater of the Thames.
Monument
At Thames Head a monument beneath an ash tree bears the inscription:
THE CONSERVATORS OF THE RIVER THAMES
1857-1974
THIS STONE WAS PLACED HERE TO MARK THE
SOURCE OF THE RIVER THAMES
A nearby basin of stones marks the spring. However, there is usually only water during a wet winter.
Outside links
- The Thames Head Forum debates the true origin of the Thames.