Thames River : In News
A video of an Indian man washing his feet in London’s River Thames has gone viral recently.
- It is a 346-km river that flows through southern England.
- It is the longest river in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom, right after the River Severn.
- Its source is at Thames Head, near Kemble in the Cotswold Hills, Gloucestershire County.
- It flows into the North Sea via the Thames Estuary.
- The Nore is the sandbank that marks the mouth of the Thames Estuary and the confluence point of the Thames and the North Sea.
- The Thames’ basin covers an area of approximately 16,130 sq.km.
- The Thames is tidal a few miles upstream from London. Past London it becomes an estuary.
- Main Tributaries: Lea, Leach, Churn, Coln, Windrush, Kennet, Evenlode, Ock, and Loddon.
- The River Kennet is the largest one at 45 miles long.
- The river passes numerous popular cities along its way, such as London, Reading, Hendley-on-Thomas, Windsor, and Oxford, where it is also called the Isis River.
- It provides two-thirds of London’s drinking water.
- It has been a vital transportation route since ancient times, facilitating trade and commerce between London and other parts of England.
- There are 16 bridges that cross the River Thames in Greater London alone, most prominently the Golden Jubilee Bridges and the Millennium Bridges for pedestrians.
