River Trym
Encyclopedia
The River Trym is a short river, some 4.5 miles (7.2 km) in length, which rises in Filton
, South Gloucestershire
, England
. The upper reaches are culvert
ed, some underground, through mostly urban landscapes, but once it emerges into the open it flows through a nature reserve and city parks before joining the tidal River Avon at Sea Mills
. 18th-century water mills near the mouth gave the area its name.
Portus Abonae was a Roman
port at the mouth which provided an embarkation point for journeys across the River Severn
to South Wales
. In the 18th century there were short lived attempts at creating a port and a whale fishery here. The name Trym appears to have Anglo-Saxon roots. In recent years silt
ing problems, caused by urban development have caused some difficulties, but alleviation works have helped reduce the problem.
in South Gloucestershire, in the area of Filton Golf Club. and much of its upper course is culverted underneath 20th century housing. It surfaces in the Bristol suburb of Southmead
, then flows open through Badock's Wood nature reserve
. Just south of here is Henleaze Swimming Lake, a former quarry fed by springs, the overflow running into the Trym. The river is culverted through Westbury-on-Trym village. A sluice
here is used to divert water into a storm drain in times of high rainfall to save the village centre from flooding.
The Trym then disappears into culverts, re-emerging at Henbury
Golf Club before entering the Blaise Castle
estate where it is joined on the right bank by the Hazel Brook
above
Coombe Dingle. The remains of Coombe Mill, which was fed by both the Hazel Brook and the Trym can be seen here. Passing under Dingle Road bridge, the river then flows through Sea Mills
river park, passing under the Portway
and the Severn Beach railway line
before joining the river Avon. A weir under the Portway prevents flooding upstream, except during the highest spring tides.
. Areas of beech, oak and ash woodland support a range of other bushes and shrubs, including hazel, maple, hawthorn and blackthorn. Badock's Meadow, a former prefab
housing estate has been reseeded with native meadow plants including oxeye daisies, yellow rattle, wild carrot and
knapweed. Wildlife includes native woodland birds including woodpeckers and owls, also pipistrelle bats.
The Blaise Castle estate contains a variety of trees and plant life, also providing cover for birds and small mammals. Further downstream, just above Sea Mills, Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed, both invasive
riverside plants have established themselves. Ducks and moorhen can be found along many stretches of the river, with gulls and estuary birds near the mouth.
A pollution incident by Wessex Water
which allowed sewage to flow into the Trym in 2001, killing eels, sticklebacks and invertebrates, resulted in a fine following prosecution by the Environment Agency
. Other pollution incidents have followed.
port and small town of Portus Abonae, which took its name from the main river Avon which simply means 'river' in British Celtic
. Abona was a staging point for the Roman invasion of Wales
and was at the western end of the Roman road from Silchester
.
In the 15th century there were tide mill
s at Millpill, near the mouth. An attempt was made in 1712 by the entrepreneur Joshua Franklyn to open a commercial dock at the mouth of the Trym, on the Roman site, but the venture foundered after a few decades. A whale fishery enterprise set up in 1752 was equally short lived. Parts of the dock walls can still be seen.
, which sends a good deal of silt into the system, slowing the flow and creating a risk of flooding downstream. This problem has now been partially alleviated by the construction of the Catbrain attenuation reservoir near Cribbs Causeway. Measurements of pollution by the city council show the water to be relatively clean.
Filton
Filton is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Bristol, about from the city centre. Filton lies in Bristol postcode areas BS7 and BS34. The town centres upon Filton Church, which dates back to the 12th century and is a grade II listed building...
, South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire is a unitary district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.-History:The district was created in 1996, when the county of Avon was abolished, by the merger of former area of the districts of Kingswood and Northavon...
, 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...
. The upper reaches are culvert
Culvert
A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...
ed, some underground, through mostly urban landscapes, but once it emerges into the open it flows through a nature reserve and city parks before joining the tidal River Avon at Sea Mills
Sea Mills, Bristol
Sea Mills is a suburb of the English port city of Bristol. It is situated some 3.5 miles north-west of the city centre, towards the seaward end of the Avon Gorge. Nearby suburbs are Shirehampton, Sneyd Park, Combe Dingle and Stoke Bishop...
. 18th-century water mills near the mouth gave the area its name.
Portus Abonae was a Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
port at the mouth which provided an embarkation point for journeys across 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...
to South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
. In the 18th century there were short lived attempts at creating a port and a whale fishery here. The name Trym appears to have Anglo-Saxon roots. In recent years silt
Silt
Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...
ing problems, caused by urban development have caused some difficulties, but alleviation works have helped reduce the problem.
Course
The Trym rises near FiltonFilton
Filton is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Bristol, about from the city centre. Filton lies in Bristol postcode areas BS7 and BS34. The town centres upon Filton Church, which dates back to the 12th century and is a grade II listed building...
in South Gloucestershire, in the area of Filton Golf Club. and much of its upper course is culverted underneath 20th century housing. It surfaces in the Bristol suburb of Southmead
Southmead
Southmead is a northern suburb and council ward of Bristol, in the southwest of England. The town of Filton , and the Bristol suburbs of Monks Park, Horfield, Henleaze and Westbury on Trym lie on its boundaries....
, then flows open through Badock's Wood nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
. Just south of here is Henleaze Swimming Lake, a former quarry fed by springs, the overflow running into the Trym. The river is culverted through Westbury-on-Trym village. A sluice
Sluice
A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at its head by a gate . For example, a millrace is a sluice that channels water toward a water mill...
here is used to divert water into a storm drain in times of high rainfall to save the village centre from flooding.
The Trym then disappears into culverts, re-emerging at Henbury
Henbury
Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately 5 mi northwest of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle estate Blaise Hamlet and Lawrence Weston to the west...
Golf Club before entering the Blaise Castle
Blaise Castle
Blaise Castle is an 18th century mansion house and estate near Henbury in Bristol , England. Blaise Castle was immortalised by being described as "the finest place in England" in Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey....
estate where it is joined on the right bank by the Hazel Brook
Hazel Brook
The Hazel Brook, also known as the Hen, is a tributary of the River Trym in Bristol, England. It rises at Cribbs Causeway in South Gloucestershire. From there, its course takes it south, passing the western end of Filton Aerodrome on its left bank, through Brentry and Henbury before dropping...
above
Coombe Dingle. The remains of Coombe Mill, which was fed by both the Hazel Brook and the Trym can be seen here. Passing under Dingle Road bridge, the river then flows through Sea Mills
Sea Mills, Bristol
Sea Mills is a suburb of the English port city of Bristol. It is situated some 3.5 miles north-west of the city centre, towards the seaward end of the Avon Gorge. Nearby suburbs are Shirehampton, Sneyd Park, Combe Dingle and Stoke Bishop...
river park, passing under the Portway
Portway, Bristol
The Portway is a trunk road, approximately long, which links central Bristol, England, with its port at Avonmouth. It is part of the A4 road, which was the primary east west highway in Southern England before the construction of the M4 motorway....
and the Severn Beach railway line
Severn Beach Line
The Severn Beach Line is a local railway in Bristol, UK. It runs from Narroways Hill Junction to Severn Beach, and is the successor to the Bristol Port Railway and Pier, which ran from a Bristol terminus in the Avon Gorge to a station and pier on the Severn Estuary.Passenger trains run from Bristol...
before joining the river Avon. A weir under the Portway prevents flooding upstream, except during the highest spring tides.
Natural history
Badock's Wood in Southmead is a nature reserve managed by Bristol City CouncilPolitics of Bristol
The city of Bristol, England, is a unitary authority, represented by four MPs representing seats wholly within the city boundaries. As well as these, Filton and Bradley Stoke covers the northern urban fringe in South Gloucestershire and the north eastern urban fringe is in the Kingswood constituency...
. Areas of beech, oak and ash woodland support a range of other bushes and shrubs, including hazel, maple, hawthorn and blackthorn. Badock's Meadow, a former prefab
Prefabricated home
Prefabricated homes, often referred to as prefab homes, are dwellings manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled....
housing estate has been reseeded with native meadow plants including oxeye daisies, yellow rattle, wild carrot and
knapweed. Wildlife includes native woodland birds including woodpeckers and owls, also pipistrelle bats.
The Blaise Castle estate contains a variety of trees and plant life, also providing cover for birds and small mammals. Further downstream, just above Sea Mills, Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed, both invasive
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
riverside plants have established themselves. Ducks and moorhen can be found along many stretches of the river, with gulls and estuary birds near the mouth.
A pollution incident by Wessex Water
Wessex Water
Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of the south west of England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, most of Wiltshire and parts of Gloucestershire and Hampshire...
which allowed sewage to flow into the Trym in 2001, killing eels, sticklebacks and invertebrates, resulted in a fine following prosecution by the Environment Agency
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
. Other pollution incidents have followed.
History
At the confluence of the Trym with the Avon was the RomanAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
port and small town of Portus Abonae, which took its name from the main river Avon which simply means 'river' in British Celtic
Brythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
. Abona was a staging point for the Roman invasion of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and was at the western end of the Roman road from Silchester
Silchester
Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading....
.
In the 15th century there were tide mill
Tide mill
A tide mill is a water mill driven by tidal rise and fall. A dam with a sluice is created across a suitable tidal inlet, or a section of river estuary is made into a reservoir. As the tide comes in, it enters the mill pond through a one way gate, and this gate closes automatically when the tide...
s at Millpill, near the mouth. An attempt was made in 1712 by the entrepreneur Joshua Franklyn to open a commercial dock at the mouth of the Trym, on the Roman site, but the venture foundered after a few decades. A whale fishery enterprise set up in 1752 was equally short lived. Parts of the dock walls can still be seen.
Etymology
Linguistics sources indicate that the name Trym may derive from the Anglo-Saxon, meaning 'firm' or 'strong' one'.Hydrology
The flow of the river has decreased in power in recent years, partly because of surface run-off in the upper catchment of the Hazel Brook, especially from the large retail centre at Cribbs CausewayCribbs Causeway
Cribbs Causeway is a road in South Gloucestershire, England, just north of Bristol, which has given its name to a large out-of-town shopping centre, including retail parks and an enclosed shopping centre known as The Mall...
, which sends a good deal of silt into the system, slowing the flow and creating a risk of flooding downstream. This problem has now been partially alleviated by the construction of the Catbrain attenuation reservoir near Cribbs Causeway. Measurements of pollution by the city council show the water to be relatively clean.
Further reading
- Mogford, Ernest H. (1954) The history, survey and description from earliest times of Westbury-on-Trym. [Privately published.]
- Smith, A.H. (1964) The place-names of Gloucestershire.'Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, vol. 3.