Avon

Avon, a word of Celtic origin, meaning 'river' or 'stream,' which seems allied to Aa (q.v.), and which is the name of several of the smaller British rivers. Of these may be noticed—(1) The Upper or Warwickshire Avon, which rises at Naseby in Northamptonshire, runs south-west through Warwickshire and Worcestershire, passing Rugby, Warwick, Stratford, and Evesham, and joining the Severn at Tewkesbury. It has a course of 96 miles, and receives several tributaries, including the Swift from Lutterworth. Its pretty peaceful course, whose waves rolled Wyclif's ashes towards the sea, and saw the first flights of the 'sweet Swan of Avon,' is finely depicted in twenty-one etchings by Mr Heywood Sumner (Lond. 1881).—(2) The Lower, or Bristol Avon, which rises in North-west Wiltshire, and runs about 70 miles, first south in Wiltshire, and then west and north-west between Gloucestershire and Somersetshire. It traverses an oolitic basin, passing Bradford, Bath, and Bristol, and empties itself into the Bristol Channel. It is navigable for large vessels up to Bristol. It runs generally between deep banks in a rich valley. A canal through the middle of Wiltshire connects it with the Thames.—(3) The Wiltshire and Hampshire, or East Avon, which rises in the middle of Wiltshire, and runs south 70 miles through Wiltshire and Hampshire, passing Amesbury, Salisbury, and Ringwood, and entering the English Channel at Christchurch. It is navigable up to Salisbury. It abounds in the small delicate loach. In Wales, two rivers named Avon—one rising in Monmouthshire, the other in Glamorganshire—fall into Swansea Bay. In Scotland there are several of the same name, affluents of the Spey, Clyde, and Forth.