77 
of Shropshire and parts adjacent . 
miles ; the perpendicular descent is 50 feet 8 inches, being at the rate 
of about 2 feet 5 inches per mile. The greater part of this space is 
a sandy alluvial tract, terminated by a ridge of limestone, called the 
Wenlock Edge, the beds of which rising directly opposite to the 
course of the stream, no doubt contribute in some degree to hold up 
the water. It is through a breach in this limestone ridge that the 
Severn escapes out of the plain of Shrewsbury, and at the same time 
changes its easterly course for one nearly due south, which it retains 
to its junction with the sea. From Goalport to Bridgenorth, a 
distance of seven miles, it descends 14 feet 6 inches, being at the 
rate of almost 2 feet 1 inch per mile. From Bridgenorth to Stour- 
port, the fall is 41 feet 9 inches during a course of eighteen miles,, 
being at the rate of 2 feet 4 inches per mile. In the next thirteen 
miles, between Stourport and Worcester, a fall of 23 feet takes 
place, being at the rate of 1 foot 9 inches per mile ; and, lastly, from 
Worcester to tideway at Gloucester, a distance of thirty miles, the 
fall is only 10 feet, or about 4 inches per mile. 
From the autumn of the year 1789 to the end of 1800, a register 
was kept at Goalport, exhibiting the depth of water in the Severn 
every day (except Sundays) ; as however no pains were taken to 
render the banks of the river at this place perpendicular, it is obvious 
that equal increments in height imply more than equal increments 
of water, even not taking into consideration the greater rapidity of 
the stream in times of flood. I shall however make a few extracts 
from this document* for the purpose of shewing the quickness with: 
which remarkable changes in the quantity of water discharged take 
place. 
On January 8, 1793, the depth of water was 7 feet ; on the 9th 
it rose to about 17 feet, and on the next day had subsided to 3 feet.. 
* See Archdeacon Plymley’s Agricultural Survey of Shropshire. 
