SEVERN. The Severn is the finest, and, next to the Thames, the largest and most important of British rivers. The original name of the Severn was Ilafren, of which Severn is only a corruption. It was subsequently called by the Romans Sabrina, a name given to it, as is said, in consequence of the fate of Sabra, or Sabrina, who was the daughter of Locrine, king of Britain, by Estrildis, a captive virgin, in order to unite himself to whom Locrine had divorced his former queen Owendolen. On the death of the king, Gwendolen assumed command, and caused Sabrina and her mother to be drowned in the Hafren, which from that time received her name. Milton, in his Conine,' has made Sabrina the goddess of the river.
The Severn rises on the western border of MONTGOMERYSHIRE, from a chalybeate spring on the eastern side of Plinlimmon, at a very con siderable elevation, and within a very short diatance from the sources of the rivers Wye and Rhiedol. It flows eastward about 12 miles to Llanidloes, as far as which place it still retains the original British name of Hafren. At Llanidloes the Severn receives the waters of the Clywedog; and thence it inclines to the north-east by Newtown and Welshpool; near the latter place it becomes navigable for small boats and barges. Some distance below Welshpool it is joined by the Vyrnwy, and about a mile lower quite Montgomeryahire.
Previous to entering SHROPSHIRE, the Severn inclines to the cast, and this is its general direction through the vale of Shrewsbury. From the town of Shrewsbury, which it nearly surround; it takes a south-eastern course through Coalbrookdalo to Bridgenorth, and euters Worcestershire a short distance above the town and port of Bewdley. The principal tributaries of the Severn in Shropshire are—on the right bank, the Meelo or Red-Brook, which enters at Shrewsbury, the Conud, Mar-Brook, and Bore-Brook; and on the left, the Perry, Tern, Bell-Brook, and Worf. The Severn receives the whole of tho waters of the interior of Shropshire, and its course through-that county is between 60 and 70 miles. From Bawdley the river runs southward to Stourport, where it receives the Stour on the left, and about 8 miles lower down the Salwarpe joins it on the same side. Five miles farther it reaches Worcester. Two miles below this
city the,Severn receives a considerable accession of water from the right bank by the junction of the river Teme, the principal part of whose course is in Worcestershire, but which rises in Radnorshire, and flows through portions of Herefordshire and Shropshire. Still flowing nearly south, the Severn passes Upton, and quits Worcestershire at Tewkesbury, where it receives the Avon, and enters Gloucestershire. [Avow, Upper.] From Tewkesbury the river again changes its direction, and gradually inclines to the Booth-south-west, which direction it chiefly follows for the remainder of its course. A mile above the city of Gloucester the stream divides into two channels, which unite a little below Gloucester, forming the rich tract of land called Alney Island. The it before reaching Newnham. A short distance below No the channel widens considerably ; and although it retains the name of river as far as the mouth of the Bristol, or Lower Avon, it is rather the 'estuary than the river. The total length of the Severn, from its source in Montgomeryshire to the Bristol Channel, is about 200 miles.
In the ancient division of Britain, the Severn appears to have formed the boundary between the territories of the Silures and the Orderless on the west, and the Dobuni on the east. In the subsequent divisions of counties, it has scarcely anywhere been employed as a line of separation.
In the commencement of its course, the valley of the Severn is narrow, and supplier little pasturage; below Lknidloes it gradually opens, and is from one to two miles wide, and tolerably productive. The range of the Plinlimmon Hills, which, extending west, comprises the Long Mountain, and terminates in the Breidden Hills. separates the drainage of the Severn from that of the Wys, Tome, Clun, &c. By this range also the course of the Severn is to the north. On the west and north-west the Berwyn Mountains separate the tributaries of the Severn from those of the Doyey and the Dee.