The River Rea is a small river that flows through south east

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Course

It passes just to the east of the small

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

Cleobury Mortimer Cleobury Mortimer (, ) is a market town and civil parish in southeast Shropshire, England, which had a population of 3,036 at the 2011 census. It was granted a market charter by Henry III in 1226.''Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in Turri Londinensi ...

and just south of the

Hamlet (place) A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a la ...

Neen Savage Neen Savage is a civil parish and a hamlet in south east Shropshire, England. It is situated north of the small market town of Cleobury Mortimer. The River Rea, which was historically known as the River Neen, flows past the hamlet, and a nota ...

, before entering the

Teme The River Teme (pronounced ; cy, Afon Tefeidiad) rises in Mid Wales, south of Newtown, and flows southeast roughly forming the border between England and Wales for several miles through Knighton before entering England in the vicinity of ...

at Newnham Bridge in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

. Its waters eventually reach the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Se ...

, via the

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 ...

. The upper stretch of the river is known as the Rea Brook (not to be confused with the

Rea Brook The name Rea Brook can refer to either of two brooks in Shropshire, England. One of the brooks, which eventually becomes the River Rea, is in southern Shropshire. It is to the east of Brown Clee Hill. The other, described here, is a minor r ...

which flows from Marton Pool to the River Severn in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

). For a short stretch between Cleobury Mortimer and

Neen Sollars Neen Sollars is a village and civil parish in south east Shropshire, England. It is situated close to the border with Worcestershire, three miles south of the small market town of Cleobury Mortimer. Other large local centres of population i ...

the river forms part of the Shropshire-Worcestershire border. It is crossed (at ) by the Elan aqueduct.

Etymology

The name of the river derives from a root found in many Indo-European languages and means "to run" or "to flow". The historic or alternative name for the river is the River Neen and there are three settlements along its course which take its name:

Neenton Neenton is a civil parish and small village in south east Shropshire, England, which is situated on the B4364 southwest of the market town of Bridgnorth. The Rea Brook/River Rea, which was historically known as the River Neen, flows by the vill ...

and

.Raven, Michael (2005) ''A Guide to Shropshire'' p 144

References

External links

* Rivers of Shropshire 1Rea {{England-river-stub