River Wye

, showing the castle and the road bridge linking Monmouthshire (on the left) with Gloucestershire]] The Romans constructed a bridge of wood and stone just upstream of present-day Chepstow, some remains of which were found in the river bed during an archaeological dig in 1911. The River Wye is tidal from its junction with the River Severn for about 15 mi to Bigsweir, where a band of hard rock forms a natural weir across the river. The tidal range on this lower section is huge, with water levels rising by up to 50 ft on some spring tides, but despite the risks of navigating such a river, it has been used since Roman times to transport coal from the Forest of Dean, cider from Hereford,…

The source of the Wye is in the Cambrian Mountains at Plynlimon. It flows through or past several towns and villages, including Rhayader, Builth Wells, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford (the only city on the River Wye), Ross-on-Wye, Symonds Yat, Monmouth and Tintern, meeting the Severn estuary just below Chepstow. The lower 16 mi of the river from Redbrook to Chepstow form the border between England and Wales.