River Tone

The River Tone winds through the gentle hills and farmland of Somerset for about 33 kilometres before joining the River Parrett near Burrowbridge. It rises at Beverton Pond in the Brendon Hills and is dammed at Clatworthy Reservoir, then flows past villages such as Clatworthy and Wellington. The river passes through steep wooded sections and wide floodplains, with several weirs and old bridges along its course. The Tone was made navigable as far as Taunton by an act of 1699, though profits meant for the poor were withheld for over a century. A later canal and legal disputes shaped its use, and by the 1960s most navigation features were removed. Today the river is valued for its wildlife and scenery, especially the Curry and Hay Moors, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Visitors walking the riverside paths pass weirs at Greenham and Nynehead, the French weir in Taunton, and the County Ground beside the river. The Tone also meets the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal at Firepool weir, where a pumping station built in the 1840s once supplied water to steam trains. Further downstream, the river crosses under road and rail bridges before reaching its junction with the Parrett beneath Burrow Mump.