Thames Head

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The monument at the official source of the Thames. Dry at the time of taking the picture, the Thames would otherwise flow towards the camera.
The monument at the official source of the Thames. Dry at the time of taking the picture, the Thames would otherwise flow towards the camera.

Thames Head, near Cirencester, England, is traditionally identified as the source of the River Thames. However, this claim is disputed. The Environment Agency, the Ordnance Survey and other authorities have the source of the Thames as Trewsbury Mead. Others hold that the true source of the Thames is at Seven Springs, some eleven miles further north, and south of Cheltenham. Officially however, Seven Springs is the source of the River Churn, a tributary of the Thames that joins at Cricklade.

The Thames Head source is about a quarter of a mile from the A433 outside Kemble. A monument beneath an ash tree bears the inscription:

THE CONSERVATORS OF THE RIVER THAMES
1857-1974
THIS STONE WAS PLACED HERE TO MARK THE
SOURCE OF THE RIVER THAMES

A nearby basin of stones marks the spring. However, there is usually only water during a wet winter.

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