Below Gloucester, the river is esturial and the services of a pilot should be considered as there are many mud flats and sand banks plus some considerable flow at peak tide times.
Passage north of the Stourport Basin becomes difficult quite quickly.
Lock Gates
Tunnel AqueductThe source of the River Severn lies in Wales at Plynlimon, Powys and is some 2000 feet above sea level. The river's estuary is in the Bristol Channel. Fed by no less than ten rivers: Vyrnwy, Tern, Stour, Warwickshire Avon, Bristol Avon, Teme, Leadon, Usk, Afon Dulas and the Wye plus many streams make the River Severn a big river when it comes to navigable waterways in Great Britain.
The average water discharge in the Bristol Channel is 2160 cubic feet per second but can peak at a massive 18840 cubic feet per second. It's this massive variance in flow that made it a difficult river to navigate river.
As far as cargo carrying was concerned, it was a free waterway. No charges made to boats which carried as much as 100,000 tons of coal in the middle of the 18th century.
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