Avon Water is a small river draining some of the southwest of the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

to The Solent. West of the upper part of its archetypally dendritic drainage basin, which has formed due to the forest's

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

soil, is the

due south ''Due South'' is a Canadian crime comedy-drama television series created by Paul Haggis, and produced by Alliance Communications from its premiere on April 23, 1994, to its conclusion after four seasons on March 14, 1999. The series starred P ...

, much larger River Avon, rising in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

Context

It is the smallest of three rivers (properly so called) which drain all but the north, west and east edges of the New Forest.Terry R. Healy, Ying Wang, Judy-Ann Healy (editors), (2002), ''Muddy coasts of the world: processes, deposits, and function'', page 413. Gulf Professional Publishing These flow south into the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit whi ...

: with the

Lymington River The Lymington River drains part of the New Forest in Hampshire in southern England. Numerous headwaters to the west of Lyndhurst, Hampshire, Lyndhurst give rise to the river, including Highland Water, Bratley Water and Fletchers Water. From Bro ...

then Beaulieu River, the furthest east.Colin Rodney Tubbs, (1968), ''The New Forest: an ecological history'', pages 19–20. David & Charles It rises at many sources close to, south of, Burley, and, quite minutely ribbled in places, curves from south-east to south over its course of 9 miles (14.5 km).Samuel Lewis, (1855), ''The book of English rivers: an account of the rivers of England'', page 31 It flows into the Solent at Keyhaven,William White, (1878), ''History, gazetteer and directory of the county of Hampshire'', page 56 close to the shingle bank that leads to

Hurst Castle Hurst Castle is an artillery fort established by Henry VIII on the Hurst Spit in Hampshire, England, between 1541 and 1544. It formed part of the king's Device Forts coastal protection programme against invasion from France and the Holy Roma ...

. The name thought to have been little-used or communicated outside of certain social circles;Old Hampshire Gazetteer - Sway
/ref> yet it dates from at least the 1790s. It is labelled on Thomas Milne's map of Hampshire published by

William Faden William Faden (1749–1836) was an English cartographer and a publisher of maps. He was the royal geographer to King George III. He replaced Thomas Jefferys in that role. The title of "geographer to the king" was given to various people in ...

in 1791. '' Cary's New Itinerary'' of 1810 also gives its name but confounds it with the stream ending at Keyhaven Harbour immediately to the west of the lower part (the Dane(s) stream draining Ashley, Hordle, and Milford).John Cary, (1810), ''Cary's New itinerary''
R. 195 Lymington to Poole
/ref> Notably it drains the populous railway village of Sway.

Notes and references

;Footnotes ;Citations

External links

{{Authority control New Forest Rivers of Hampshire