The River Key is a tributary of the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
in England which flows through
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
.
Course
The river rises at
Braydon Forest
The Forest of Braydon (anciently Bradon) is an historic royal forest, royal hunting forest in Wiltshire, England, the remnant of which lies about 6 miles north-west of Swindon. In medieval times it encompassed about 30,000 acres.
History
In the ye ...
near
Purton and runs north-east through
Purton Stoke
Purton Stoke is a small village in north Wiltshire, England, within the civil parish of Purton. The village is located along a side road off the Purton to Cricklade road, approximately north of Purton village. A small country lane gives acce ...
, joining the Thames on the southern bank near
Cricklade, just upstream of the
A419 Road Bridge
The A419 road is a primary route between Chiseldon near Swindon at junction 15 of the M4 with the A346 road, and Whitminster in Gloucestershire, England near the M5 motorway. The A419 is managed and maintained by a private company, Road Mana ...
.
The river was crossed by the now-derelict
North Wilts Canal
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
a few hundred yards south of Cricklade. In December 2000, as part of regeneration of the canal, rescue work was started on the River Key Aqueduct. The river was also crossed by a bridge of the
Midland & South Western Junction Railway.
Water quality
The Environment Agency measures the water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of
invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chorda ...
s,
angiosperm
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants ...
s and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.
[ Text was copied from this source, which is available under a]
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright.
Water quality of the River Key in 2019:
See also
*
Tributaries of the River Thames
This article lists the tributaries of the River Thames from the sea to the source, in England. There are also secondary lists of backwaters of the river itself and the waterways branching off.
Note: the River Medway shares the saline lower Th ...
*
List of rivers in England
References
Rivers of Wiltshire
1Key
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