The River Avon /ˈeɪvən/ is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, this river is often also known as the Bristol Avon. The name ‘Avon’ is a cognate of the Welsh word afon, ‘river’.
The Avon rises just north of the village of Acton Turville in South Gloucestershire, before flowing through Wiltshire. In its lower reaches from Bath to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth near Bristol, the river is navigable and known as the Avon Navigation.
The Avon is the 19th longest river in the UK at 83 miles (134 km) although there are just 19 miles (31 km) as the crow flies between the source and its mouth in the Severn Estuary. The catchment area is 2,220 square kilometres (860 sq mi).
The name “Avon” is a cognate of the Welsh word afon [ˈavɔn] “river”, both being derived from the Common Brittonic abona, “river”. “River Avon”, therefore, literally means “river river”; several other English and Scottish rivers share the name.[2][3] The County of Avon that existed from 1974 to 1996 was named after the river, and covered Bristol, Bath, and the lower Avon valley.
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