Exploring the UK’s longest rivers

Have you ever looked at a river and wondered where all the water has come from? Or where it is going to? My name is Seren and today I’m investigating the UK’s longest rivers.

This is the River Severn, and at 354km long, it’s the longest river in the UK. It starts here in Wales, where we call it Afon Hafren.The place where a river starts is called its source. The source of the Severn is at a place called Pumlumon or Plynlimon in English.

When rain falls on the mountains, and it rains a lot in Wales, it flows down to the valley below and becomes a river. The River Severn then flows into England and goes in a big curve through three counties and then out into the sea. This is called the river mouth.

The UK’s second longest river is the Thames, which is 346km long, and you’ll probably know it as the river that flows through London. The source of the Thames is different to the Severn. It begins as a tiny trickle of water, called a spring, in the middle of a field.

Rivers are often used as boundaries. So where I am standing is in Wales, but over there on the other side of the Severn, that’s England. In the past, people liked to live nearby a river, because that is where they got their water from and they could use the river’s flow to turn machinery like water mills.

And before there were motorways and railways, people used the rivers as the main way of getting the things they’ve bought and sold from place to place. But, the downside of living near a river is that it can flood and you might end up with a home full of water. So a lot of money is spent on flood defences to keep people and their houses safe, like the barrier at the River Thames mouth.

What river is nearest to where you live? Where does it start? Where does it end?

Go exploring!

Since it’s well over 300km to the source of the River Severn from here, I think I’ll get a lift.

Bye!