By the Rev. J. Wilkinson. 



61 



Avon (so called to distinguish it from the upper or Warwickshire 

 river, though not happily, for there is another Avon in Wilts, lower 

 still) does not belie its ancient British designation. The stream 

 is not anywhere rapid : except at Monkton ford, it passes on, with 

 a gentle current of a mile an hour, at a depth of 10 or 15 feet, 

 between banks 3 feet high which it has cut for itself through the 

 rich alluvial soil. 



" Rura, quae Liris quieta 

 Mordet aqua, taciturnus amnis." 

 The easiness of its flow may be estimated from the fact, that 

 between Bradford and Bath, about 12 miles, the Canal which runs 

 by the river side is without a lock. The water is apt, whenever 

 increased by freshets or floods, to cover the level meadows by its 

 side. In 1852 the floods were unprecedented, both in height and 

 frequency. That of June 9 was the highest within memory. This 

 was followed by others, on August 11, September 6, November 8 

 which lasted till the 16th, being at its highest on the 12th at 11 

 p.m. when the water ran into the Bear Inn at Melksham. On the 

 24th the river again rose to an extraordinary height. These floods 

 lay about 80 acres in this parish under water. 



As to its source, our Avon, a North Wiltshire river, rises very 

 appropriately in the territory of Mr. Sotheron Estcourt, one of our 

 North Wiltshire members. There are two small streams, often 

 dry in summer, one coming from Weston-Birt, the other from the 

 hollow below the town of Tetbury ; they meet at the head of the 

 lake in Estcourt Park, where they are joined by a copious source 

 of water always running. The lake, a picturesque piece of orna- 

 mental water, about a mile long, was formed by damming up the 

 lower extremity of the valley, about 60 years since, by the grand- 

 father of the present proprietor. This may be taken to be the 

 source of the river Avon. The boundary line between the two 

 counties of Gloucester and Wilts passes through the middle of the 

 lake, and follows the right bank of the stream for about a mile till 



Though deep, yet clear ; though gentle yet not dull ; 

 Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full." Sir John Denham. 

 Pliny drew the comparison between life and a river. Sir H. Davy has "beau- 

 tifully extended it in prose (Salmonia), Mrs. Hemans in verse. 



