The River Towy (, ; also known as the River Tywi)
Route
The Towy rises within of the source of the
River Teifi on the lower slopes of Crug Gynan in the Cambrian Mountains. Flowing through the steep hills of the Tywi Forest, it forms the boundary between
Ceredigion and
Powys. The river flows generally south-westwards through
Carmarthenshire, passing through the towns of
Llandovery and
Llandeilo.
Its total length is .[Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel; Baines, Menna; & Lynch, Peredur I. (eds). "River Towy". Cardiff: University of Wales Press (2008). pg. 894; ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.] with numerous tributaries that include the River Cothi, River Gwili, Brân, and Afon Doethie.["First Water Resources Survey : Report", South West Wales River Authority (1970), pg. 41; Table 1.]
In Carmarthen, it is joined by a substantial tributary, the River Gwili, at Abergwili. The estuary meets Carmarthen Bay east of the Pendine Sands along with the River Taf and both branches of the River Gwendraeth. The estuary was guarded by Llansteffan Castle, a 12th-century Norman castle.
Damming of the Towy
About from its source, the swift flow of the Towy is interrupted by the
Llyn Brianne reservoir, created in 1972 by
a section of the river to store winter rain for release into the river during dry periods. The reservoir supports the new abstraction at
Nantgaredig which supplies a large swathe of south-east
Wales with
drinking water. The flow in the River Towy would have been unable to sustain such an abstraction were it not for the release of water from the upland reservoir.
Ecology
Fish
The Towy is a national draw for big
sea trout (local name
sewin), the seagoing form of the brown trout,
Salmo trutta. These fish enter the river each spring and early summer to breed in the tributaries. The river is thought to produce more double-figure (10 lbs plus, or about 5 kg or more) sea trout than any other in Britain. Anglers and estuary netsmen have taken these fish to over in weight. In summer and autumn there is also a substantial run of Atlantic salmon (
Salmo salar). In May the Towy has a run of the rare and protected
twaite shad and
allis shad. The Towy also contains brown trout, eels, pike, and a variety of small fish species, and is home to brook lampreys, river lampreys and sea lampreys.
The Towy has the distinction of having accidentally produced by far the biggest fish ever taken on rod and line in fresh water in Britain. This was a sturgeon ( Acipwienser sturio) weighing 388 lb (176 kg) and in length which was caught in the river near Nantgaredig by Alec Allen on 28 July 1932.
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Mammals
The Towy has a thriving population of
Eurasian otter, as well as many commoner mammal species.
are common in the lower reaches and sometimes penetrate several miles up river in pursuit of sea trout and salmon.
Birds
The Towy and surrounding valley () are home to a very large variety of water and wetland birds. Among the more distinctive species found along the river are
,
, little ringed plovers, dippers, kingfishers and
.
and
common buzzard are numerous.
and
great cormorant prey on sea trout and salmon.
Plants
The prevalence of
in the Towy valley provides some spectacular shows through the year. In summer at Bishop's Pond in Abergwili (an oxbow lake formed when the river flooded in 1802) there is a spectacular show of yellow
Nymphaeaceae on the pond when the water level drops and
Glyceria maxima fringes the edges – a species also found nearby in the
River Teifi further west in
Pembrokeshire, in
Gower Peninsula, in Powys (especially along the
Montgomery Canal), on
Anglesey and in several sites along the North Wales coast.
Glanrhyd Bridge disaster
On 19 October 1987, three days after the Great Storm of 1987, four people were killed when a train plunged off Glanrhyd Bridge near Llangadog into the flooded river.
Notes and references
Explanatory notes
Further reading
-
-
Lillicrap, R. J. The Llyn Brianne Dam and the River Towy Scheme. Llandovery: Llandovery Publications, 1998.
External links
