The River Somer is a small river in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England.

Course

The river rises at Chilcompton and flows to Midsomer Norton where it joins the Wellow Brook, 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 t ...

at Midford to form Midford Brook before joining the River Avon close to the Dundas Aqueduct 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, throug ...

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 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 cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

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 (1972), Bloody Sunday and the Watergate S ...

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 geo ...

'', "...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 authorities of England, unitary authority district in Somerset, South West England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. ...

council and other stakeholders within the

Riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripari ...

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 water 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