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Thames Head is a group of seasonal springs that arise near the village of Coates in the Cotswolds, about three miles south-west of the town of Cirencester, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. The spring water comes from the limestone aquifers of the Cotswolds.
Thames Head in flood in March 2020. Thames Head is a group of seasonal springs that arise near the village of Coates in the Cotswolds, about three miles south-west of the town of Cirencester, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. The spring water comes from the limestone aquifers of the Cotswolds.
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The River Thames is 215 miles long from its (official) source to the sea. That makes it the second-longest river in Britain after the River Severn. From 1958 to 1974 a statue of a river god dubbed ' Old Father Thames ' stood at the Thames Head site. It was then moved to St John's Lock near Lechlade.
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- Physical features
River Thames, chief river of southern England. Rising in the Cotswold Hills, its basin covers an area of approximately 5,500 square miles (14,250 square km). The traditional source at Thames Head, which is dry for much of the year, is marked by a stone in a field 356 feet (108.5 metres) above sea level and 3 miles (5 km) southwest of the town of Ci...
The Thames is some 205 miles (330 km) long, running 140 miles (226 km) from the source to the tidal waters limit—i.e., from Thames Head to Teddington Lock—and, as an estuary, a further 65 miles (104 km) from there to The Nore sandbank, which marks the transition from estuary to open sea. Its basin, which receives an annual average precipitation of 27 inches (688 mm), has a complex structure. In its upper course the river drains a broadly triangular area defined by the chalk escarpment of the Chiltern Hills and the Berkshire Downs to the east and south, the Cotswolds to the west, and the Northamptonshire uplands to the north. At Goring Gap it cuts through the chalk escarpment and then drains the land lying north of the dip slope of the North Downs. Its last great tributary, the River Medway, drains much of the low-lying Weald area of Kent and Sussex to the south of London.
Flowing through gently rolling lowlands, the distinctive character of the Thames is pastoral and undramatic. Its average fall between Lechlade and London is less than 20 inches per mile (32 cm per km). The tides and surges of the sea, moreover, have a profound effect on the water level of the river’s lower course. This tidal influence begins to be felt intermittently, for some three hours during a high tide, at Teddington in the west suburbs of London. The transition from freshwater to estuarine reaches occurs closer to central London, around Battersea. At London Bridge, in the heart of the metropolis, the river rises 22 feet (7 metres) on the spring tides and 18 feet (5.5 metres) on the neap tides.
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Water and its Varying Forms
Thames Head is a site in Gloucestershire, very close to the border with Wiltshire, which is traditionally identified as the source of the River Thames. Thames Head lies between the villages of Coates, Gloucestershire and Kemble, Wiltshire. The town of Cirencester lies a little to the north.
Dec 6, 2023 · Thames Head, located in a serene Cotswold meadow called Trewsbury Mead near Kemble, and approximately 3 miles southwest of Cirencester, is traditionally recognised as the river's source. Situated about 360 feet above sea level, this site marks the official beginning of the Thames' 215-mile journey through England. The Contender: Seven Springs.
