Page:Walker (1888) The Severn Tunnel.djvu/32



River Severn, after a long course from its source in Plynlimmon, widens out just below Gloucester into a broad estuary, which has formed a great obstacle to traffic passing between Bristol and the South-West of England and South Wales.

The Severn, as a river, may be said to end at Gloucester, at the point where the turnpike-road is carried, by Telford’s famous bridge of only 150 feet span, over it, for almost directly below it opens into a tidal estuary, which spreads out till, at the point where the tunnel passes under it, it is 2¼ miles wide. The tides in the Severn estuary are known to be the highest in England or in Europe. They are only surpassed in height by the tides which run