The River Somer is a small river in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England.

Course

The river rises at

Chilcompton Chilcompton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the Mendip Hills two miles south of Midsomer Norton and 3.0 miles south-west of Westfield. It is situated on the B3139 road between Radstock and Wells, close to the A ...

and flows to

Midsomer Norton Midsomer Norton is a town near the Mendip Hills in Bath and North East Somerset, England, south-west of Bath, north-east of Wells, north-west of Frome, west of Trowbridge and south-east of Bristol. It has a population of around 13,000. ...

where it joins the

Wellow Brook The Wellow Brook is a small river in Somerset, England. It rises near Ston Easton Park in the village of Ston Easton and flows east to Midsomer Norton. West of Radstock, it is joined by the River Somer and a tributary from Kilmersdon (formed ...

, which flows through Wellow and joins the

Cam Brook The Cam brook is a small river in Somerset, England. It rises near Hinton Blewitt, flows through Cameley, Temple Cloud, Camerton, Dunkerton and Combe Hay. It then joins the Wellow Brook at Midford to form Midford Brook before joining the Ri ...

Midford Midford is a village approximately south-south-east of Bath, Somerset, England. Although relatively small, it extends over 2 counties (Wiltshire and Somerset), is part of two unitary authorities (Wiltshire and Bath and North East Somerset) and i ...

to form

Midford Brook Midford Brook is a small river in Somerset, England. It is formed by the convergence of the Wellow Brook and Cam Brook at Midford. It passes Tucking Mill and joins the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon close to the Dundas Aqueduct and the remains ...

before joining the River Avon close to the

Dundas Aqueduct Dundas Aqueduct () carries the Kennet and Avon Canal over the River Avon (the Somerset / Wiltshire border) and the Wessex Main Line railway from Bath to Westbury. The aqueduct is near Monkton Combe, Somerset, and is about southeast of the ci ...

and the remains of the

Somerset Coal Canal The Somerset Coal Canal (originally known as the Somersetshire Coal Canal) was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800. Its route began in basins at Paulton and Timsbury, ran to nearby Camerton, over two aqueducts at Dunkerton, through a ...

Midsomer's name, spring floods and rough roads

There is some debate as to the origin of the name "Midsomer". Different schools of thought include the difficulty in travelling to the area in times of flooding as opposed to the town's position at the branch of the river Somer.

Eilert Ekwall Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall (born 8 January 1877 in Vallsjö (now in Sävsjö, Jönköpings län), Sweden, died 23 November 1964 in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden), known as Eilert Ekwall, was Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 to ...

wrote that the village "is said to be so called in allusion to the festival held at midsummer on the day of St. John, the patron saint."

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

wrote of the appalling local road conditions which ensured it was reachable "only in midsummer." As

Simon Winchester Simon Winchester (born 28 September 1944) is a British-American author and journalist. In his career at ''The Guardian'' newspaper, Winchester covered numerous significant events, including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. Winchester has ...

notes in his book ''

The Map that Changed the World ''The Map that Changed the World'' is a 2001 book by Simon Winchester about English geologist William Smith and his great achievement, the first geological map of England, Wales and southern Scotland. Smith's was the first national-scale geol ...

'', "...the roads on this part of Somerset were atrocious, thick with mud and as rough as the surface of the moon".

Flood and water quality management

In 1974 and 1975 the Midsomer Norton Flood Alleviation Tunnel was constructed which carries water away from the town centre at times of high rainfall. Concerns about the state of the river and the potential for flooding lead to the creation of the locally based management team in 2007. They have worked with the

Bath and North East Somerset Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a unitary authority district in England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. It is part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. Th ...

council and other stakeholders within the

Riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...

to improve the flow and appearance of the river. This involved the removal of

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

s, construction of a new channel, removal of silt from the bed of the river and creating beds for plants along the sides of the river. Reviews following the work follow up studies have looked at the effects on the environment and wildlife. Improvements have been seen for fish, aquatic invertebrates, birds, mammals (potentially including otters) and bees and terrestrial invertebrates. The water quality is assessed as moderate in terms of ecology and good in relation to chemical pollutants, which is an improvement made on the measurements made in 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somer Bath and North East Somerset Rivers of Somerset 3Somer