Seven Springs, Gloucestershire
| Seven Springs | |
 Seven Springs |
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  Seven Springs |
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| Civil parish | Coberley |
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| District | Cotswold[1] |
| Shire county | Gloucestershire |
| Region | South West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Cheltenham |
| Postcode district | GL53 |
| Dialling code | 01242 |
| Police | Gloucestershire |
| Fire | Gloucestershire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
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Coordinates: 51°51′06″N 2°02′52″W / 51.8516°N 2.0479°W
Seven Springs is a hamlet in the parish of Coberley in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire in England, 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Cheltenham. Located at the intersection of the A435 and the A436 roads, it is the source of the River Churn which flows south across the Cotswold through Cirencester and joins the River Thames near Cricklade. It is regularly argued as the real source of the River Thames. There is a plaque to this effect where the combined stream emerges from under the Andoversford–Gloucester road, reading Hic tuus O Tamesine Pater septemgeminus Fons (Here, Father Thames, is your seven-fold source).[2]
Source of the River Thames
Seven Springs is regularly argued as the real source the River Thames as it is further from the mouth than the conventional location of Thames Head near Kemble. Additionally the River Churn flows all year round whereas the Winterbourne from Thameshead to Cricklade is often dry throughout the summer. The 29 miles of the River Churn would add 14 miles (23 km) to the Thames, making it 229 miles (369 km) long, 9 miles (14 km) longer than the River Severn, (354km) 220 miles the longest river in England and Wales and longer than the River Shannon at 360.5 km (224 miles) the longest river in the British isles.[3][4] The stream from Seven Springs is, however, joined at Coberley by a longer tributary which could claim to add further to the length of the Thames, with its source in the grounds of the National Star College at Ullenwood.
References
- ↑ "Neighbourhood Statistics: Full dataset view: Area selected: Cotswold (Non-Metropolitan District)". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
- ↑ Christopher Winn: I Never Knew That about the Thames (London: Ebury Press, 2010), p. 11.
- ↑ BBC News, Gloucestershire. 15 May 2012 Could the River Thames be longer than the River Severn? by David Bailey
- ↑ Dorothy Hart (9 May 2004). "Seven Springs and the Churn". The-river-thames.co.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Seven Springs. |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Coberley. |
- Location map (Ordnance Survey)
- GENUKI: Coberley, Gloucestershire - UK genealogy page
- Coberly/Cubberley/Cobley/Cobleigh DNA Project