The River Severn, at 220 miles (354 km) long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of 107 m3/s (3,800 cu ft/s) at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in the Cambrian Mountains in mid Wales, at an altitude of 2,001 feet (610 m), on the Plynlimon massif, which lies close to the Ceredigion/Powys border near Llanidloes. The river then flows through Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. The county towns of Shrewsbury, Gloucester and the City of Worcester lie on its course.
Worcester is a cathedral city and the ceremonial county town of Worcestershire, in England, 30 miles (48 km) south-west of Birmingham, 101 miles (163 km) north-west of London, 27 miles (43 km) north of Gloucester and 23 miles (37 km) north-east of Hereford. The estimated population in 2019 was 102,791. The River Severn flanks the western side of the city centre, which is overlooked by Worcester Cathedral. The Battle of Worcester in 1651 was the final one in the English Civil War, where Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army defeated King Charles II's Royalists. Worcester is the home of Royal Worcester Porcelain, composer Edward Elgar, Lea & Perrins, makers of traditional Worcestershire sauce, University of Worcester, and Berrow's Worcester Journal, claimed as the world's oldest newspaper.
The River Avon in central England flows generally southwestwards and is a major left-bank tributary of the River Severn, of which it is the easternmost. It is also known as the Warwickshire Avon or Shakespeare's Avon, to distinguish it from several other rivers of the same name in the United Kingdom.
The Trent and Mersey Canal is a 93+1⁄2-mile (150 km) canal in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire in north-central England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities to the east of Burton upon Trent and north of Middlewich, it is a wide canal.
The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is 46 miles (74 km) long, linking the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywood Junction by Great Haywood.
Upton-upon-Severn is a small town and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England. Lying on the A4104, the 2011 census recorded a population of 2,881, making it the smallest town in the county.
Stourport-on-Severn, often shortened to Stourport, is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of North Worcestershire, England, a few miles to the south of Kidderminster and downstream on the River Severn from Bewdley. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 20,292.
The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales.
Benjamin Williams Leader was an English landscape painter.
The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is 29 miles (47 km) long. There are 58 locks in total on the canal, including the 30 Tardebigge Locks, one of the largest lock flights in Europe. The canal climbs 428 feet (130 m) from Worcester to Birmingham.
The Droitwich Canal is a synthesis of two canals in Worcestershire, England; the Droitwich Barge Canal and the Droitwich Junction Canal. The Barge Canal is a broad canal which opened in 1771 linking Droitwich Spa to the River Severn at Hawford Bottom Lock, Claines. The Droitwich Junction Canal is a narrow canal, opened in 1854, which linked Droitwich to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. Both were built to carry salt, and were abandoned in 1939. They have been the subject of a restoration plan since 1973, and the Barge Canal was officially reopened in 2010, while the Junction Canal reopened in July 2011. Following the opening of the canal, ownership transferred to the newly created Canal and River Trust
The Stourbridge Canal is a canal in the West Midlands of England. It links the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal with the Dudley Canal, and hence, via the Birmingham Canal Navigations, to Birmingham and the Black Country.
The Dudley Canal is a canal passing through Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The canal is part of the English and Welsh connected network of navigable inland waterways, and in particular forms part of the popular Stourport Ring narrowboat cruising route.
The Stourport Ring is a connected series of canals forming a circuit, or canal ring, around Worcestershire, The Black Country and Birmingham in The Midlands, England. The ring is formed from the River Severn, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, the Stourbridge Canal, the Dudley Canals, the Birmingham Canal Navigations and the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.
Tardebigge Locks or the Tardebigge Flight is the longest flight of locks in the UK, comprising 30 narrow locks on a two-and-a-quarter-mile (3.6 km) stretch of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Tardebigge, Worcestershire. It raises the waterway 220 feet (67 m), and lies between the Tardebigge tunnel to the North and the Stoke Prior flight of six narrow locks to the South. The Tardebigge Engine House is also on this stretch.
Kings Norton Junction is the name of the canal junction where the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal terminates and meets the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Kings Norton, Birmingham, England.
The Avon Ring is a canal ring which is located to the south west of Birmingham in England, and connects the major towns of Stratford-upon-Avon, Evesham, Tewkesbury, Worcester and the southern outskirts of Birmingham. It consists of stretches of four waterways, and is heavily locked, with a total of 129 locks on its route of 109 miles (175 km).
Diglis Basin is a canal basin on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. It is situated in Diglis in the centre of Worcester, England, near The Commandery.
The River Sow Navigation was a short river navigation in Staffordshire, England, which connected the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal to the centre of Stafford. There was a coal wharf in Stafford, and a single lock to connect it to the canal. It opened in 1816, and closed in the 1920s. There are proposals to restore the navigation as the Stafford Riverway Link.
The Butts Spur was a freight railway line constructed around 1860 with the aim of linking Worcester Foregate Street railway station to Diglis where the Worcester and Birmingham canal joined the river Severn. From around 1892 the line was worked by a small wheeled 0-6-0 saddle tank locomotive No. 2007 constructed in Wolverhampton. It was hoped that goods arriving at Diglis from the river Severn would be transhipped to the railway. The line was used by Dent's factory and Stallards's distillery and brought cattle to the cattle market.
