River Avon, Warwickshire

Etymology

"Avon" derives from the British language abona, "river", which also survives as a number of other English and Scottish river names, and as modern Welsh afon and Cornish avon, "river". This makes "River Avon" an example of a tautological place name.

Course

The source of the Avon is from a spring near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. For the first few miles of its length from the village of Welford it forms the border between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, on this section, it has been dammed to create Stanford Reservoir. Upon reaching Dow Bridge on Watling Street it enters Warwickshire. It then flows in a generally west-southwesterly direction, passing through the towns and villages of Rugby, Wolston, (bordering Leamington Spa), Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, Welford-on-Avon, Bidford-on-Avon, Evesham and Pershore, before it joins the River Severn at Tewkesbury.

The river has a total length of 85 mi and a catchment size of 1032 sqmi. The Avon's tributaries include the Rivers Swift, Leam, Stour, Sowe, Dene, Arrow, Isbourne and Swilgate as well as many minor streams and brooks.

A long distance footpath has been created which follows the river from its source to the River Severn at Tewkesbury. The route is marketed as Shakespeare's Avon Way, and is 88 mi long. It uses existing footpaths and tracks to stay as close to the river as is reasonably possible.

Prehistory

Before the last glacial period about 50,000 years ago, the Warwickshire Avon was a small river which drained northwards to the River Trent. During the Wolstonian glacial period, ice advanced into the Midlands from the north, east and west blocking the flow of the Avon to its former confluence with the Trent. The waters were thus trapped: on the north, east and west by the glacier, and by the Cotswolds to the south, resulting in the formation of a large glacial lake, which has been called Lake Harrison. At its maximum, it is considered that this glacial lake covered the whole of Warwickshire and was over 200 ft deep. After about 10,000 years, when the glacier finally retreated, the water was able to cut through the previous watershed and to escape to the southwest, so forming the present day route of the river.

Navigation

From Alveston weir, which is 2 mi upstream of Stratford-upon-Avon, downstream to Tewkesbury and the River Severn, the river has been rendered navigable by the construction of locks and weirs. The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal links to the Avon through a lock in the park in front of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The River Avon can be used by boats with a maximum length of 70 ft, beam of 13 ft, height of 10 ft and draught of 4 ft from Tewkesbury to Evesham. Above Evesham, beam is restricted to 12 ft and draught to 3 ft.

The river is crossed by two manually operated pedestrian chain ferries, these being the Hampton Ferry in Evesham and the Stratford-upon-Avon Ferry in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Traffic is now exclusively leisure-oriented. Overnight moorings are available at Stratford-upon-Avon, Luddington, Welford-on-Avon, Barton, Bidford-on-Avon, Harvington, Offenham, Evesham, Craycombe, Wyre, Pershore, Defford, Comberton, Birlingham, Eckington, Strensham and Tewkesbury. There are boatyards at Stratford-upon-Avon, Welford-on-Avon, Barton, Bidford-on-Avon, Evesham, and Tewkesbury.

The river forms part of the Avon Ring, a circular cruising route which is 109 mi long, and includes 129 locks. From Tewkesbury it follows the course of the River Severn, the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal to arrive back at the Avon at Stratford-upon-Avon.

History

The navigation works on the Avon were originally authorised by an Order in Council and letters patent of Charles I in 1635, which named William Sandys as the grantee, with powers to improve both this river and the River Teme. He had already bought a number of mills on the river, but there were few objections from millers at those he did not own, for he built pound locks with two sets of gates, to enable vessels to pass by without the large loss of water associated with flash locks. The only objections were from Sir William Russell, who owned Strensham mill, and whose grievance was about land purchase, rather than the navigation works. By 1641 it was reported that the river was navigable to within 4 mi of Warwick.

After a period of decline, navigation rights along the river were confirmed by a clause in the Rivers Stour and Salwarpe Navigation Act 1662 (14 Cha. 2. c. 14 Pr.). Further improvements were made to the river above Evesham from 1664 by a syndicate led by Andrew Yarranton. He was working for Lord Windsor and others, and the work included the construction of three navigation weirs, which were a type of flash lock with a single barrier. These were used to enable boats to pass over shoals, and with the exception of the one at Pensham, were not built adjacent to mills. The Pensham watergate did at times hinder the proper operation of the mill, when the water levels rose above the gate.

Ownership of the navigation was formally divided into the Upper and Lower Avon in 1717, with Evesham being the dividing point. The Lower Avon Navigation between Evesham and the River Severn was leased by George Perrott in 1758, who spent over £4,000 upgrading the locks and weirs to enable 40-ton barges to navigate the river. The work was completed by 1768.

Meanwhile, the Upper Avon Navigation between Stratford and Evesham was owned by relatives of Lord Windsor, who had died in 1758, and its condition gradually deteriorated.

The Lower Avon Navigation never quite fell into total disuse. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal renewed their lease in 1851 for a further 21 years, but traffic was severely hit by the opening of a railway link from Ashchurch to Evesham in 1864. Receipts had dropped to £139 in 1872, and the canal company did not renew their lease again. Somehow the navigation remained open, and as the commercial traffic declined, there was a gradual increase in pleasure usage. By the end of the Second World War only one barge was plying the stretch between Tewkesbury and Pershore, and the river above Pershore became unnavigable.

Restoration

The first moves to return the waterway to a navigable condition occurred in March 1949, when the Evesham Journal published an article on its history and decline. Robert Aickman started a correspondence with the editor of the article, suggesting that the river could be restored. C. Douglas Barwell sought legal advice on how best the proposal could be managed, out of which the Lower Avon Navigation Trust Ltd (LANT) was constituted as a charity in 1950, By 1962, LANT had raised over £50,000, the seven locks from Tewkesbury to Evesham were restored to working order, re-opening the Lower Avon, and plans were already being made to rebuild Evesham Town Lock and press on towards Stratford. Mrs Barwell, the wife of Douglas Barwell, formally opened the waterway in June 1962. Mr. Barwell received an OBE for his work on the navigation.

An anonymous benefactor was about to give £80,000 in 1963 towards the restoration on the Upper Avon, while a donation of £5,000 enabled Evesham lock to be rebuilt and opened on 11 June 1964.

The concept of building new locks and weirs, with most of the work being undertaken by volunteers, was new. Negotiation with the Severn River Authority led to an agreement that such works could be constructed, which was eventually formalised when a private bill

Proposed extension

There have been proposals to extend the navigation upstream from Alveston to a link with the Grand Union Canal at either Warwick or Leamington Spa. This was first considered by the Severn Trent Water Authority in 1974, who conducted a survey, the cost of which was partly funded by the Inland Waterways Association. This would open up a stretch of river that has never previously been navigable, but the proposal has not been universally welcomed. Landowners at Warwick Castle and Charlecote Park have attempted to claim the river as private property, although the 1636 Orders of Council state that the river was free to Coventry. Despite much local support, there is still some opposition to the scheme.

Commercial traffic

Commercial traffic returned to the Avon in May 2010, as part of a scheme to build flood defences at the town of Pershore, following flooding in 2007, which caused damage to a number of properties. Clay banks were constructed, with most of the material coming from Birlingham, further downstream. Some 15,000 tonnes of clay was excavated and transported by barge to the construction works. At Birlingham, the excavation was managed to create a wetland reserve for wildlife, with 32 acre of wet grassland and 5 acre of open water and reed beds. Worcestershire Wildlife Trust worked with the landowner to create the reserve, which is called the John Bennett Reserve. The use of barges to transport the clay was estimated to save 3,000 lorry trips between the two sites.

Water quality

The Environment Agency measure the water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.

The water quality of the River Avon was as follows in 2022.

Reasons for the water quality being less than good include run off from agricultural land and discharge from sewage treatment plants, both private and public, while the lower river is also affected by physical modification of the channel. Like most rivers in the UK, the chemical status changed from good to fail in 2019, due to the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) and mercury compounds, none of which had previously been included in the assessment.

Sporting achievements

At 01:18 on Sunday 18 July 2021, 41 year old Craig Openshaw from Tewkesbury became the first person in the world to swim the entire length of the 47.1 mile Navigable River Avon; known as the 'Swim The Avon' project. Craig was supported by a four man land and boat crew consisting of Robert Stringer, Bob Bain, Joe Bawdon and Phil Leibrandt.

Despite being an ex-competitive pool swimmer, Craig had never taken part in open water swimming previously and the crew had never embarked on any similar challenges.

The team set off from Alveston Weir in Stratford-Upon-Avon at 20:00 on Friday 16 July 2021 and swam through the day and night to complete the 47.1 mile swim. The challenge was completed in 29 hours and 18 minutes.

Bob Bain also rowed the entire course as lead kayak, in memory of his late wife Gail Bain.

The swim captured the imagination of local communities along the river, with hundreds of spectators turning out to encourage the team.

Craig finished the world first swim following an intensive 3 month long training programme and completed all of his training in the river Avon. Permission to complete the swim was granted by the Avon Navigation Trust who verified the swim had never been previously completed.

The team raised a total of £17,800 for Cancer Research UK, with the challenge featuring on various news outlets such as BBC News.

Bibliography

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References

References

1. {{harvnb. Owen. 2005
2. {{harvnb. Marsh. Hannaford. 2008
3. "River Avon {{!}} England, Map, & Facts {{!}} Britannica". Encyclopedia Britannica.
4. "Avon - Etymology, Origin & Meaning".
5. "Route". Shakespeare's Avon Way Association.
6. "Warwickshire". Natural England.
7. {{harvnb. Nicholson. 2006
8. {{harvnb. Cumberlidge. 2009
9. {{harvnb. King. 2006
10. Hadfield. 1985
11. Hadfield. 1985
12. Hadfield. 1985
13. {{harvnb. Squires. 2008
14. {{harvnb. Squires. 2008
15. {{harvnb. Edwards. 1985
16. National Trust]] and was opened by [[Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Squires. 2008
17. was put before Parliament, which became the '''{{visible anchor. 17. mi. km. Squires. 2008
18. "Pershore Flood Alleviation Scheme sod cutting ceremony". Environment Agency.
19. "Glossary (see Biological quality element; Chemical status; and Ecological status)". Environment Agency.
20. (2023). "Chemical Status". Environment Agency.