PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 141 



North-West Shropshire, and after passing Shrewsbury 

 it receives the Tern, and the Worf from the North-East 

 and East of the same county, the Tern extending for 

 some miles along the border of the county of Stafford. 

 The Meol Brook and the Cound are small streams from 

 Mid-Salop, but a large district in the South and South- 

 West of this county including, the Wenlock Edge and 

 Clce districts, and extending over the borders of Hereford- 

 shire, is drained by numerous brooks into the Teme, 

 which forms a large tributary to the Severn below Wor- 

 cester. On the other side at Slourport is the Stour 

 which comes out of Staffordshire, its branch the Smeston 

 extending nearly to Wolverhampton. On the same side 

 before reaching Worcester is the Salwarp from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Droitwich, and besides the Teme already 

 mentioned below Worcester we have the Upper or 

 Warwickshire Avon, a tributary 85 miles in length, which 

 rises beyond the borders of Northamptonshire and drains 

 a tract of country over lOOO square miles in area. 



Up to the junction of the Severn and Vyrnwy the 

 geological character of the river basin is that of imperme- 

 able Silurian and altered rocks that yield very little to 

 water. The rainfall in Montgomeryshire averages 36 in. 

 per annum, but at the head of the Vyrnwy it is 76 inches, 

 and the result is a very large yield of very pure water to 

 the river. After 2 or 3 days heavy rain in these upper 

 stations the river above Shrewsbury rises rapidly to 

 a flood, but it requires a very large local rainfall to 

 materially affect the height of the river at Worcester and 

 Tewkesbury, as the effect of local storms in Montgomery- 

 shire is, so to speak, spread out over the whole river. 

 Thus about a week ago the storm of wind which was 

 experienced throughout the West of England was accom- 

 panied by a very heavy rainfall in the Upper Severn Basin 

 and resulted in the water rising 9 feet over the river banks 

 below the junction of Severn and Vyrnwy, no such flood 



