River Avon, Bristol

The River Avon [ˈeɪvən] is a 121 km long river in the southwest of England. The lower section of the river is navigable and is therefore called the Avon Navigation. Because there are several rivers named Avon in England, the river is often referred to as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon.

The Avon rises near Chipping Sodbury in the county of Gloucestershire. It then runs first eastwards, later southwards through the county of Wiltshire. The river then turns north-west and flows through Bradford-on-Avon, Bath and Bristol before joining the Severn estuary at Avonmouth near Bristol. For much of its length, the River Avon forms the border between the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire.

In the centre of Bristol, the River Avon is tidal and is diverted from its original riverbed into a canal called the New Cut, built between 1804 and 1809. In the original riverbed, the water level is kept at a constant level by lock gates (built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel). This area forms Bristol Harbour and is called Floating Harbour. The constant water level prevents ships moored in the harbour from having to go dry at low tide. Downstream, the Avon to Bristol cuts through the Avon Gorge, spanned by the Clifton Suspension Bridge built by Brunel.

The Avon is navigable throughout from its mouth at Avonmouth to Pulteney Bridge in the centre of Bath. Just before the weir at the bridge, the Kennet and Avon Canal branches off the river. Together with the Kennet Navigation canal and the Thames, there is thus a continuous route for canal boats, the so-called narrowboats, from Bristol to London.

From Avonmouth to Bristol through the Avon Gorge, the river is tidal and is only passable for seagoing vessels at high tide. This ultimately led to the port facilities at Bristol no longer being used today; new ones were built at Avonmouth.

Name

Avon is a word from the Welsh language and means "river". There are therefore other rivers that bear the name Avon, see for this Avon.