The River Leadon () is a river in

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England, a tributary of the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

. It rises just south of the village of Acton Beauchamp, and flows south past

Bosbury Bosbury is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, approximately north of Ledbury. The small River Leadon flows through the parish, passing along the west side of the village.Ordnance Survey mapping Bosbury shares a parish cou ...

to the town of Ledbury, which takes its name from the river.Mills, A.R. and Room, A. ''A Dictionary of British Place-Names'' Oxford University Press It then flows south and east past

Dymock Dymock is a village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, England, about four miles south of Ledbury. In 2014 the parish had an estimated population of 1,205. Dymock is the origin of the Dymock Red, a cider appl ...

, Upleadon and Highleadon to join the Severn at Over, just west of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. The river is approximately long. The name is of Celtic origin, and means "broad stream". In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the Leadon flowed in two branches for the last two miles. The main stream, known as the New Leadon, flowed south of Over to join the river south of

Over Bridge Over may refer to: Places *Over, Cambridgeshire, England *Over, Cheshire, England * Over, South Gloucestershire, England *Over, Tewkesbury, near Gloucester, England ** Over Bridge * Over, Seevetal, Germany Music Albums * ''Over'' (album), by P ...

. The river was prone to flooding, and to alleviate the problem the river was diverted in 1867 to flow along the branch previously known as the Old Leadon, and now the only course of the river, flowing into the Severn north of Over.Victoria County History of Gloucestershire: Churcham
/ref> The

Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal (sometimes known as the Hereford and Gloucester Canal) is a canal in the west of England, which ran from Hereford to Gloucester, where it linked to the River Severn. It was opened in two phases in 179 ...

was built through the valley of the Leadon in 1795, and converted into the

Ledbury and Gloucester Railway The Ledbury and Gloucester Railway (also known as the Daffodil Line), was a railway line in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, England, running between Ledbury and Gloucester. It opened in 1885 and closed in 1964. History Most of the line was ...

in the 1880s.

References

External links

Rivers of Gloucestershire Rivers of Herefordshire Tributaries of the River Severn 1Leadon {{England-river-stub