The River Tern is a river in Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It rises north-east of Market Drayton

Market Drayton

Market Drayton is a small market town in north Shropshire, England. It is on the River Tern, between Shrewsbury and Stoke-on-Trent, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" and earlier simply as "Drayton" ....

 in the north of the county. The source of the Tern is considered to be the lake in the grounds of Maer Hall

Maer Hall

The large 17th century stone built country house and estate of Maer Hall dominates the village of Maer, Staffordshire. Its location in the district of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, is attractively rural, but fairly close to the pottery manufacturing area around Stoke-on-Trent which...

, Staffordshire. From here it flows for about 30 miles (48 km), being fed by the River Meese and the River Roden

River Roden, Shropshire

The River Roden is a river in Shropshire, England, which rises near Wem Moss and meets the River Tern at Walcot.Villages and towns it flows through or near to include:*Wem*Lee Brockhurst*Shawbury*Roden*Rodington-Wildlife:...

, until it joins the River Severn

River Severn

The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...

 near Attingham Park

Attingham Park

Attingham Park is a country house in Shropshire, England, which is owned by the National Trust. It is a Grade I listed building.- Location :It is located near to the village of Atcham, on the B4380 Shrewsbury to Wellington road.- History :...

, Atcham

Atcham

Atcham is a village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is situated on the B4380 , 5 miles south east of Shrewsbury. The River Severn flows around the village...

.

At Longdon-on-Tern

Longdon-on-Tern

Longdon-on-Tern is a village in east central Shropshire, England. It is in the unitary district of Telford and Wrekin, and is approximately east of Shrewsbury and north-west of Telford....

, the Tern is spanned by the world's first large-scale cast iron

Cast iron

Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

 navigable aqueduct

Aqueduct

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

, designed by Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...

 to carry the Shrewsbury Canal

Shrewsbury Canal

The Shrewsbury Canal was a canal in Shropshire, England. Authorised in 1793, the main line from Trench to Shrewsbury was fully open by 1797, but it remained isolated from the rest of the canal network until 1835, when the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal built the Newport Branch from...

. The 62 yards (57 m) long structure still stands today, but is marooned in the middle of a field.

External links

• Tern Views - a detailed description with photographs