longest UK rivers

Longest UK Rivers 🇬🇧

Longest UK Rivers List 🇬🇧 Rivers in the United Kingdom

The longest UK rivers are not in the same league as the truly great rivers around the world but what British rivers lack in length is made up for in fame. For example the river Thames and the river Mersey feature in literature, folklore and songs so punch well above their weight. Britain’s longest river, the River Severn, nor any of the longest UK rivers make it into ADDucation’s list of the top 20 longest rivers in Europe let alone the world.

  • ADDucation’s list of the longest UK rivers was originally compiled by Robert Junker and last updated Sep 10, 2022 @ 5:37 pm.

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Longest UK Rivers 🇬🇧 Length (miles) Length (km) Country River Source River Mouth Points of interest each of the longest UK rivers flows through… #
River Severn 220 354 󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Plynlimon Severn Estuary Bristol, Gloucester, Shrewsbury and Worcester. The river Severn is Britain’s longest river. 1
River Thames 215 346 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Thames Head North Sea Dartford, Gravesend, London, Maidenhead, Oxford, Reading, Southend and Windsor. The river Thames is the longest river in England. 2
River Trent 185 297 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Biddulph Moor Trent Falls, Humber Burton-upon-Trent, Gainsborough and Newark-on-Trent. The river Trent is the third longest river in the UK. 3
River Great Ouse
East Anglia		 143 230 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Syresham The Wash Bedford, Buckingham, Ely, Huntingdon, King’s Lynn, Milton Keynes and Newport Pagnell. 4
River Wye 134 215 󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Plynlimon Severn Estuary Builth, Wells, Chepstow, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford and Rhayader. The river Wye is the 5th longest river in the UK. 5
River Ure + River Ouse
Yorkshire		 129 208 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England High Abbotside River Trent Wensley, Jervaulx Abbey, Mickley, Ripon, Boroughbridge, at Linton-on-Ouse the River Ure turns into the River Ouse, York, Cawood Bridge, Selby, Goole, Trent Falls and Faxfleet. 6
River Tay 119 192 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland Allt Coire Laoigh Firth of Tay Aberfeldy, Dunkeld, Kenmore and Perth. The River Tay is the longest river in Scotland. 7
River Spey 107 172 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland Loch Spey Moray Firth Aviemore, Kingussie and Newtonmore. 8
River Clyde 106 172 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland Lowther Hills Firth of Clyde Bothwell, Glasgow, Greenock and Lanark. 9
River Tweed 96 155 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Tweed’s Well North Sea Berwick-upon-Tweed, Birgham and Carham. 10
River Avon
Warwickshire		 96 154 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Naseby Severn Estuary Evesham, Pershore, Rugby, Stratford-upon-Avon, Welford, Wolston and Warwick. 11
River Nene 92 148 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Arbury Hill The Wash Benwick, Cogenhoe, Northampton, Sutton Bridge, Wellingborough and Wisbech. 12
River Eden
Cumbria		 90 145 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England High / Hugh Seat Solway Firth Carlisle, Kirkby, Mallerstang, Penrith, Stephen and Wetheral. 13
River Dee
Aberdeenshire		 87 140 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland Cairngorms North Sea Aberdeen, Aboyne, Ballater, Banchory and Braemar. 14
River Tees 85 137 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Cross Fell North Sea Cow Green Reservoir, High Force waterfall, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Barnard Castle, Croft-on-Tees, Hurworth-on-Tees, Yarm, Egglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees, Durham University Queen’s Campus, Tees Barrage white water rafting centre, Port Clarence, Riverside Stadium, the port of Middlesbrough and into the North Sea south of Hartlepool, north of Redcar. 15
River Witham 82 132 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England South Witham The Wash, East Midlands Boston and Grantham. 16
River Teme 81 130 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Dolfor River Severn Knighton, Ludlow, Powys, Tenbury, Wells and Worcester. 17
River Don
Aberdeenshire		 80 129 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland Ladder Hills North Sea, Bridge of Don Aberdeen, Alford, Dyce, Inverurie, Kintore and Kemnay. 18
River Bann 76 122 Northern Ireland Mourne Mountains Atlantic Ocean Bannfoot, Castlerock and Toome. 19
River Ribble 75 120 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Cam / Gayle Beck Irish Sea Clitheroe, Preston, Ribchester, Settle, Southport, Walton-le-Dale and Wigan. 20
River Avon
Bristol		 75 120 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Acton Turville Severn Estuary Bath, Bristol, Bradford on Avon and Chippenham. 21
River Tyne 73 118 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England South Tyne Tynemouth Bellingham, Gateshead, Hebburn, Hexham, Jarrow and Newcastle upon Tyne. 22
River Derwent 72 115 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Fylingdales Moor Barmby Barrage Lang, Dale, Norton-on-Derwent, West/East, Ayton and Yorkshire Moors. 23
River Aire 71 114 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England Malham Tarn River Ouse Aire Head, Castleford, Bingley, Leeds, Shipley and Skipton. 24
River Nith 71 114 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland Enoch Hill Solway Firth Carronbridge, New Cumnock, Kirkconnel, Sanquhar, Mennock, Thornhill, Dumfries and Glencaple. 25
More Rivers Lists: ▶ Rivers in USA & Canada… 🇺🇸🇨🇦 | ▶ Rivers in Europe… 🇪🇺 | 🌍 World’s Longest Rivers…

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4 responses to “Longest UK Rivers 🇬🇧”

  1. David says:
    January 5, 2022 at 9:41 am

    River stour not mentioned?

    Reply
    • Joe Connor says:
      January 7, 2022 at 10:38 am

      Hi David, The River Stour, in East Anglia is only 47 miles (76 km) long so it doesn’t make ADDucation’s list of the top 25 longest rivers in the UK.

      Reply
  2. Eleanor Ayres says:
    May 26, 2019 at 9:15 am

    The River Ure + Ouse (Yorkshire) entry is wrong. The River Ouse joins with the River Trent at Trent Falls to become the Humber. The ‘cities’ it flows through are not cities; Mickley and Wensley are tiny hamlets and you’ve omitted York! Hawes, Bainbridge, Boroughbridge, Cawood and Selby which are all more notable places.

    Reply
    • JC says:
      May 27, 2019 at 5:02 pm

      Hi Eleanor, thanks for pointing out our mistakes. We’ve made changes to take account of your comment. Our original entry was for the River Ure so there was no information about the River Ouse, that’s now sorted. We’ve also omitted cities from the column heading so we can include any notable features each river flows through. We’ll update the other entries in due course.

      Reply

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