By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 119 
on the right it is joined by the Nadder, which rises close to the 
Dorsetshire border near Shaftesbury. 
The Bourne rises just within the northern boundary of the south- 
ern chalk district, and flows southward by Collingbourn Kingston 
to Shipton, where it crosses a corner of Hampshire, Cholderton, 
Allington, Idminster, the Winterbournes, and Laverstock near 
Salisbury, below which it joins the Avon. Its whole length is 
about 23 miles. 
A yery small part of the county about Mere, in the south west- 
ern corner, is drained by the upper waters of the Dorsetshire Stour 
which rises at Stourhead. The Stour and the Salisbury Avon unite 
just above their outfall into the English Channel at Christchurch. 
That part of the county which belongs to the basin of the Severn 
is drained by the Bristol or Lower Avon, the sources of which are 
in the Cotswold Hills, at Horton near Chipping Sodbury in Glou- 
cestershire, and in the hilly districts in the northern part of Wilt- 
shire, the united stream is joined at Malmesbury by a stream eight 
miles long from Tetbury and Brokenborough. From Malmesbury the 
Avon flows in a winding channel south-west by Lacock, Melksham, 
Bradford, and Limpley Stoke to the border of the county, and en- 
ters Somersetshire between Bradford and Bath. 
The Marden rises in the Green sand hills, Compton hill above 
Compton Basset, flows by Calne, and after a course of 9 miles flows 
into the Avon. 
The Were is formed by the junction of several streams, which rise 
in the escarpment of the chalk down about Westbury. 
The Frome belongs to Somersetshire, but some part of its course 
is on the borders of the county. Few of the rivers of Wiltshire 
are navigable, and only for a short distance, which is owing to its 
central position and comparative elevation. This is partially sup- 
plied by canals, of which three are connected with the county. 
Ist. The Thames, and Severn Canals, which in its course from 
the Thames at Lechlade, to the Stroudwater Canal at Stroud, con- 
necting the rivers Thames and Severn, crosses the northern part of 
the county near Castle Eaton and Cricklade. 
2nd. The Kennet and Avon Canal, which also connects the Thames 
with the Severn, by means of their respective tributaries, the Ken- 
