Below Gloucester the navigation was estuarial, and boating was helped by the fortnightly spring tides as far as Upton. Boats of 60 tons could reach the Ironbridge Gorge, and of 40 tons to Shrewsbury. In good conditions smaller boats could get up the river as far as Pool Quay, near Welshpool.
Traffic peaked in the mid-18th century, with some 100,000 tons of coal a year coming down from the collieries round Madeley and Broseley to the saltworks at Droitwich and the various riverside towns. Other significant traffic was pig iron from the Forest of Dean and the Ironbridge Gorge, salt from Droitwich, timber coming downriver and the goods needed by the towns going upriver.
It was not an easy river to navigate
Water flows could be too high, especially in the springtime, or too low in times of drought, a problem made worse when banks were made to protect farmland from flooding. Shoals impeded boats in several places, especially in the Gorge. Towing was by teams of men. There was no towpath suitable for horses until 1800 between Bewdley and Ironbridge, and a dozen years later for the full length between Gloucester and Shrewsbury.
Traffic on the river increased when canals from the Midlands opened: the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal in 1771 and the Worcester & Birmingham Canal in 1815.
It was not until the 1843–5 that any locks were built on the Severn, when the Severn Commission constructed four from Diglis Lock, just below Worcester, to Bevere Lock, below Stourport. Upper Lode Lock, below Tewkesbury, was added in 1858.
Although traffic on the river above Stourport had stopped by 1900, steam-powered boats and tugs provided an effective service on the lower part of the river. Grain imported through Sharpness became an important traffic, other significant traffics being imported ironstone and timber, and coal from the Forest of Dean. In the 20th Century oil and petrol became a major traffic, but this largely ceased in the 1960s.
The Severn today
The different sections of the River Severn are very different in character, offering something for everyone. We look after the River Severn from Stourport to Gloucester, a section which is ideal for pleasure-boating busy with narrowboats, motor cruisers and inland waterway boats. Above Stourport, canoes and rowing boats take over.
