The River Teme (pronounced ; ) 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 Bucknell and continuing east to Ludlow in Shropshire. From there, it flows to the north of Tenbury Wells on the Shropshire/Worcestershire border on its way to join the River Severn south of Worcester. The whole of the River Teme was designated as an SSSI by English Nature in 1996.
The river is crossed by a number of historic bridges including one at Tenbury Wells that was rebuilt by Thomas Telford following flood damage in 1795.Teme Valley Times, Spring 2007, p2 It is also crossed, several times, by the Elan aqueduct.Bing aerial imagery; OpenStreetMap
Etymology The first known mention of the River Teme is in an eleventh-century manuscript containing a copy of a charter from around 770, where the name takes the forms Tamede and Temede.A. Mawer and F. M. Stenton, The Place-Names of Worcestershire, English Place-Name Society, 4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1927). This name is similar to those of many other rivers in England - testament to their ancient origin - including River Team, River Thames, River Thame, River Tame and River Tamar. Scholars now believe that these and the older names Temese and Tamesis derive from Brythonic Tamesa, possibly meaning 'the dark one'.Ekwall, E., English Place-Names (4th ed), OUP, 1960, , pp 459, 463, 464
Geography
The river source is in Mid Wales, on the western side of Bryn Coch in the hills near the village of Kerry, Dolfor to the south of Newtown, Powys. Two other rivers - the River Ithon and the River Mule - rise within 500 metres. It is roughly coincident with the border between England and Wales for several miles downstream from the Powys village of Felindre, passing Beguildy, Lloyney and Knucklas on the Powys side and Llanfair Waterdine on the Shropshire side before flowing past the small Powys town of Knighton. It continues to shadow the border eastwards as far as the vicinity of Bucknell and Brampton Bryan.
The Teme is joined by the River Clun at Leintwardine in north Herefordshire, then embarks on a circuitous course southeast then northeast to Bromfield, where it is joined by the River Onny. From there to its confluence with the River Severn, about 40 miles/65 km downstream at Worcester, it flows through the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire. The upper reaches of the river are usually steep with fast flowing but relatively shallow waters. There are some water mills, and a number of weirs, including several at the historic town of Ludlow. Below Tenbury Wells the river is more tranquil but still shallow, with strong cross currents.
During its journey the river flows over Upper Ludlow shales and Devonian sandstones.The Teme Valley a blog on the Herfordshre & Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust website Water levels in the Teme are highly variable, something which has been made worse in recent years through increases in water extraction for agriculture use.Wendy Thompson Improving access for canoeing on inland waterways: A study of the feasibility of access agreements for the Countryside Agency September 2003 However, the Teme has also often burst its banks too. June and July 2007 saw serious floods in a number of areas, including Leintwardine,YouTube - video of flooding Tenbury Wells and Ludlow, although the watercourse that flooded the last location was a tributary, the River Corve.Ludlow Advertiser The Lower Teme has a deep channel cut in a wide alluvial plain across which it meanders. It responds rapidly to rainfall and cut-offs have been numerous along the river's course, where backchannels and old oxbows can clearly be seen.Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark
The River Corve flows into the Teme just outside Ludlow and the Ledwyche Brook flows into the Teme at Burford, close to the Herefordshire/Shropshire/Worcestershire tripoint. The Kyre Brook flows into the Teme at Tenbury Wells, and the River Rea flows into the Teme at Newnham Bridge, Worcestershire, a few miles south of Cleobury Mortimer.
The Teme is the second largest tributary to the River Severn,The Teme Catchment Partnership, p.3 falling from a height of about 450 metres above sea level at its source to just 14 metres above sea-level at its downstream confluence.Ordnance Survey: Worcester & Droitwich Spa A Site of Special Scientific Interest throughout its length, it is a clean river and after many years of decline the population of otters is recovering,S. M. Macdonald, C. F. Mason, I. S. Coghill The Otter and Its Conservation in the River Teme Catchment The Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Aug., 1978), pp. 373-384 but obstructions keep salmon numbers at a low level.Local Environment Focus: Focus Local environmental issues in Bishop's Castle, Church Stretton, Craven Arms, Knighton, Ludlow, Cleobury Mortimer, Tenbury Wells, Whitbourne, Colwall and Worcester | issue 2.Tales From The Teme Bloor's Barbel Bulletin - December 2001
Recreational use
Fishing
Fishing is a popular sport on many parts of the River Teme, with its barbel fishing being particularly noted.Tenbury Wells and the Teme Valley, 2007, p2
Leisure boating Leisure boats have long been used on the river and rowing boats can still be hired at The Linney Park, Ludlow.Ludlow "England's finest market town" - Country Life An annual coracle regatta has been held on the Teme. In June 2005 it was held at Leintwardine. In June 2006, the 12th regatta was held at Mortimer's CrossLeintwardine Coracle Society Annual Regatta
A Countryside Agency report in September 2003 entitled Improving access for canoeing on inland waterways: A study of the feasibility of access agreements stated:
Information on canoeing on the Teme in the Ludlow area is available here and on the Tenbury Wells to Broadwas area here.
Leisure boating in the past Historical evidence of leisure boating mentions in Victorian publications. Old maps show a few boat houses along the river in Worcestershire.Ordnance Survey, six-inch maps (1st edition), various: accessible at www.old-maps.co.uk. Billings Directory 1855 mentions Boat House, evidently a farmhouse, five miles downstream of Tenbury Wells,"Eckley Vincent, farmer, Boat House" at Eastham and Boat House Farm still exists in Eastham.Internal framing of barn at Boat House farm, Eastham, Worcestershire In addition, the boathouse at Newnham Bridge (three miles downstream of Tenbury Wells) was large enough, and substantial enough, to be converted later into a house.Northern Area Development Control Committee Minutes of the Malvern Hills District Council, 6 October 2004.
At Tenbury Wells in 1886, people were rescued during floods using a boat that had broken loose from its mooring so there must have been at least one boat on the river at that time.F. Wayland Joyce, Tenbury - Some Record of its History (1931) The guide, Tenbury Wells and the Teme Valley includes a photograph taken at Little Hereford described as "Boating on the Teme in 1905". The author mentions two gentlemen from Oxford who in 1894 travelled up the Teme from Worcester to Ludlow in 17.5 hours, and returned (downstream) in 9 hours.Howard Miller, Tenbury Wells and the Teme Valley (1996). Another book, Down Along Temeside, includes an account of travelling by boat from Ludford Mill to Orleton (a couple of miles upstream of Stanford Bridge) in the early 20th century.Richard Holding, Down Along Temeside (1963).
Up at Leintwardine, a 'Teme coracle' has been locally made since the late 1980s and such craft may have been in existence earlier, near the start of that centuryThe Coracle Society - or earlier still, as a distant successor to the coracles once used to transport lead down to Worcester from Dre-fach Felindre in Roman times.Stuart Fisher, British River Navigations, Bloomsbury 2013, p.25
Travel
Navigation to Powick Mill The final from Powick bridge and Mill to its confluence with the river Severn that the Teme is (or was) navigable. There was a coal wharf near Powick Bridge, belonging with the mill, whose owner had the right to use a towing path to the river Severn. In the 18th century, pig iron was brought up the river to Powick forge (as the mill then was).H. Lloyd, The Quaker Lloyds in the Industrial Revolution (1975), 148-50. In 1810 it was reported that "The Teme is also navigable for barges from its junction with the Severn near Powick upwards to a small distance above Powick Bridge. The river having considerable declivity its navigation is soon interrupted by shoals and shallows"William Pitt, A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Worcester With Observations on the Means of Its Improvement (Board of Agriculture, Great Britain)
Above Powick Mill
Except for its lowest reaches, there is no substantial evidence that the river was navigable by barges. Claims have been made that traffic on the Teme began in Roman times and "continued in Norman times, when it is known the stone for the mill at Ashford Carbonel was brought from Caen in the 14th century, using water transport all the way".Colin Green. Severn Traders, Black Dwarf Publications (1999), . p.33. However no unequivocal documentary or archaeological evidence has been adduced in support of this.
William Sandys who between 1636 and 1639 made the Avon navigable from Tewkesbury to Stratford-upon-Avon was at the same time also authorised to improve the Teme between Worcester and Ludlow. There is however no evidence that he did so, perhaps due to his having used up all his resources on the Avon. Having failed to recover the Avon after the Restoration, Sir William Sandys and his son undertook work on the Wye and Lugg.I. Cohen 'The non-tidal Wye and its navigation' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists Field Club 34 (1955), 83-101; P. King, 'The River Teme and Other Midlands Navigations' Journal of Railway and Canal Historical Society 35(5) (July 2006), 350-1.
Ferries formerly existed at Rochford,A History of the County of Worcester: volume 4: 'Parishes: Rochford' (1924), pp. 317-19. Date accessed: 29 May 2007. at CotheridgeA History of the County of Worcester: volume 4: 'Parishes: Cotheridge' (1924), pp. 255-60. Date accessed: 29 May 2007. and at Clifton on Teme.A History of the County of Worcester: volume 4: 'Parishes: Clifton upon Teme' (1924), pp. 246-55. Date accessed: 29 May 2007. Some very local navigation is indicated by a newspaper advertisement in 1750 that the miller at Stanford-on-Teme had a boat for sale, capable of carrying 10 tons.C. Hadfield, Canals of the West Midlands (1969), 58-9. However, with no locks available, this vessel would have been unable to pass mill weirs.
Pictures, allegedly of Ludlow or its castle with a river and boats (thought to date from c. 1830), such as a painting allegedly of Dinham Bridge, Ludlow, "This painting of Dinham Bridge showing six Severn Trows moored and a square rigged boat sailing upstream below the Castle must have been produced before 1823 as this was when the multi arched bridge was demolished and the present bridge built. The trows on the right are unloading wheat and taking on board bags of flour." are probably at least partly derived from the artist's imagination.
This subject was debated at length in 2006 in the Journal of Railway and Canal Historical Society.Pat Jones 'Navigation on the river Teme' Journal of Railway and Canal Historical Society 35(4) (March 2006), 293-300.Peter King 'The River Teme and Other Midland Navigations' Journal of Railway and Canal Historical Society 35(5) (July 2006), 348-55. Correspondence about this also appears in the two subsequent issues.
Railway lines