The River Avon, also known as the River Aune, is a
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
in the
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
of
Devon
Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
in the southwest of England. It
rises in the southern half of
Dartmoor National Park
Dartmoor is an highland (geography), upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National parks of England and Wales, National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers ...
in an area of
bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...
to the west of
Ryder's Hill. Close to where the river leaves Dartmoor a dam was built in 1957 to form the Avon reservoir (see
Dartmoor reservoirs). After leaving the moor it passes through
South Brent and then
Avonwick and
Aveton Gifford and flows into the sea at
Bigbury-on-Sea. Near
Loddiswell the valley flows through
Fosse Copse a woodland owned and managed by the
Woodland Trust.
The estuary lies within the
South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is part of the South Devon Heritage Coast.
From 1893 until its closure in 1963, the
Kingsbridge branch line railway line ran along the valley of the Avon between
Kingsbridge
Kingsbridge is a market town in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population ...
and
South Brent.
See also
*
Rivers of the United Kingdom
References
Rivers of Devon
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