Longest rivers of the United Kingdom Facts for Kids

The Severn Bridges crossing near the mouth of the River Severn.

The River Thames in London.

The River Tay in Perth, by measured flow the largest in Great Britain.

Rank	River	Length (miles)	Length (km)	Country
1	River Severn	220	354	Wales/England
2	River Thames	215	346	England
3	River Trent	185	297	England
4	River Great Ouse	143	230	England
5	River Wye	134	215	Wales/England
6	River Ure/River Ouse, Yorkshire	129	208	England
7	River Tay	117	188	Scotland
8	River Clyde	109	176	Scotland
9	River Spey	107	172	Scotland
10	River Nene	100	161	England
11	River Bann / Lough Neagh	99	159	Northern Ireland
12	River Tweed	96	155	Scotland/England
13	River Avon, Warwickshire	96	154	England
14	River Eden, Cumbria	90	145	England
15	River Dee, Aberdeenshire	87	140	Scotland
16	River Witham	82	132	England
17	River Teme	81	130	Wales/England
18t	River wensum,Norfolk	80	129	England
18t	River Foyle	80	129	Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland
20t	River Teifi	75	122	Wales
20t	River Towy	75	121	Wales
20t	River Ribble	75	120	England
20t	River Avon, Bristol	75	120	England
24	River Tyne	73	118	England
25	River Derwent, Yorkshire	72	115	England
26t	River Aire	71	114	England
26t	River Nith	71	114	Scotland
28t	River Tees	70	113	England
28t	River Medway	70	113	England
28t	River Mersey	70	113	England
31t	River Dee, Wales	70	112	Wales/England
31t	River Don, South Yorkshire	70	112	England

There seems to be little consensus as to the lengths of rivers in published sources, nor much agreement as to what constitutes a river. Thus the River Ure / River Ouse can be counted as one river system or two rivers. If it is counted as one, the River Aire / Yorkshire Ouse / Humber system would come fourth in the list, with a combined length of 161 miles (259 km) and indeed, the River Trent / Humber system would top the list with their combined length of 222 mi (357 km). Also, the Thames tributary, the River Churn, sourced at Seven Springs adds 14 miles to the length of the Thames (from its traditional source at Thames head). The Churn/Thames' length at 229 mi (369 km) is therefore greater than the Severn’s length - 220 mi (354 km). Thus, the combined Churn/Thames river would top the list. Sue Owen et al. in their book on Rivers generally restrict the length to the parts that bear the correct name. Thus the River Nene is quoted at 100 miles (160 km), but would be around 5 miles (8.0 km) more if the variously named sources were included. Many of the above lengths are considerably different from Sue Owen's list, some longer and some shorter.

Where a river ends in an estuary the conventional British approach has been to use the end of the administrative zone. Thus the Severn ends at the mouth of the Bristol Avon and the Thames to the Yantlet Line. The currently accepted end of the Severn Estuary is nearly about 18.5 miles (29.8 km) further and the PLA's authority stretches now to Margate, 30 miles (48 km) further. Other countries have different conventions, making comparisons of limited value.

Longest rivers of the United Kingdom facts for kids

See also