River Boyd

Boyd
The River Boyd at Doynton, South Gloucestershire, England
Diagrammatic map of the River Boyd and tributaries in South Gloucestershire
Etymology	British Celtic virtue, favour, blessing or benefit
Location
Country	England
Region	West Country
District	South Gloucestershire
City	Bristol
Physical characteristics
Source	Springs Farm
• location	Dodington, South Gloucestershire, England
• coordinates	51°30′04″N 2°22′02″W / 51.5011°N 2.3673°W / 51.5011; -2.3673
• elevation	427 ft (130 m)
Mouth	Bristol Avon
• location	Bitton, South Gloucestershire, England
• coordinates	51°25′01″N 2°27′39″W / 51.4170°N 2.4608°W / 51.4170; -2.4608
• elevation	49 ft (15 m)
Length	7 mi (11 km), south
Discharge
• average	19.8 cu ft/s (0.56 m3/s)
• minimum	0.35 cu ft/s (0.0099 m3/s)
• maximum	979 cu ft/s (27.7 m3/s)
Basin features
Tributaries
• right	Feltham Brook
River system	Bristol Avon

The River Boyd is a river of some 7 miles (11 km) in length which rises near Dodington in South Gloucestershire, England. It is a tributary of the Bristol Avon, running in a southerly direction and joining near Bitton. The flow rate at Bitton is an average 19.8 cubic feet per second (0.56 m³/s). It was immortalised in the 1613 poem by John Dennys of Pucklechurch The Secrets of Angling, the earliest English poetical tract on fishing:

And thou sweet Boyd that with thy watry sway
Dost wash the cliffes of Deington and of Weeke
And through their Rockes with crooked winding way
Thy mother Avon runnest soft to seeke
In whose fayre streames the speckled Trout doth play
The Roche the Dace the Gudgin and the Bleeke
Teach me the skill with slender Line and Hooke
To take each Fish of River Pond and Brooke.^[1]

In common with other rivers of the area, watermills were used for various industrial undertakings, most notably the Wick Golden Valley Ochre Works. The former works site is now a local nature reserve and the river and valley form part of a Site of Nature Conservation Interest.