River Wylye facts for kids
Quick facts for kids River Wylye |
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River Wylye at Norton Bavant
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| Country | England |
| Cities | Maiden Bradley, Warminster, Codford St Peter, Wilton |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Main source | Rodmead Farm Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire, England 148 m (486 ft) 51°07′25″N 2°18′11″W / 51.12361°N 2.30306°W |
| River mouth | Confluence with River Nadder Wilton, Wiltshire, England 69 m (226 ft) 51°04′45″N 1°51′45″W / 51.07917°N 1.86250°W |
| Length | 45 km (28 mi) |
| Basin features | |
| Basin size | 470 km2 (180 sq mi) |
| Tributaries |
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The River Wylye ( WY-lee) is a southern England chalk stream, with clear water flowing over gravel. It is popular with anglers for fly fishing. A half-mile stretch of the river and three lakes in Warminster are a local nature reserve.
Contents
Course
The Wylye rises below the White Sheet Downs just south of Maiden Bradley in the west of Wiltshire, then flows north through the Deverill valley. A tributary which feeds the man-made Shearwater lake joins near Crockerton. On the southern edge of Warminster the river turns to head generally east south east, forming the Wylye Valley, into which the A36 road and the Wessex Main Line are also squeezed. The river passes through the parishes of Norton Bavant, Heytesbury, Knook, Upton Lovell, Boyton, Codford, Wylye and Wilton, near the southern edge of Salisbury Plain. It is fed by ephemeral, winterbourne streams so water flow can vary.
The river forms part of the River Avon catchment. At Wilton it joins the River Nadder and eventually drains to the sea at Christchurch as part of the Avon.
Features
Two SSSIs are associated with the river: Steeple Langford Down and Wylye and Church Dean Downs.
A vineyard is located near the river's source.
The Wylye valley is dotted with small chocolate box villages composed of thatched cottages and stone-built pubs.
Name
Wilton, and hence Wiltshire (which was originally Wiltonshire), are named after the river. There is also a village of Wylye.
In literature
The River Wylye forms one of the five rivers referred to in the novel Sarum.
Villages
Villages on or near the Wylye include (source to confluence):
- Kingston Deverill
- Monkton Deverill
- Brixton Deverill
- Longbridge Deverill
- Crockerton
- Norton Bavant
- Heytesbury
- Sutton Veny
- Upton Lovell
- Boyton
- Sherrington
- Codford
- Stockton
- Bapton
- Wylye
- Hanging Langford
- Steeple Langford
- Great Wishford
- Stoford
- South Newton
- Wilton
