River Chew

The River Chew is a small river in North Somerset that winds for about 27 kilometres through quiet countryside before it joins the River Avon. It begins near Chewton Mendip and grows larger as Strode Brook and Winford Brook flow into it from the left. The river passes through or beside villages such as Litton, Chew Valley Lake, Chew Stoke, Chew Magna, Stanton Drew, Publow, Woollard, Compton Dando, and Chewton Keynsham. Two long-distance paths run alongside the Chew, including the Two Rivers Way and part of the Monarch’s Way. The name ‘Chew’ may come from an old word meaning ‘moving, gushing water’ in Celtic. Ancient spellings appear in places like Chew Stoke as Estoca and Chew Magna as Chiu. Some think it could mean ‘winding water’ or even ‘the river of the chickens’ from Welsh. Others link it to Viking or Old English words for fish gills, ravens, or even the war god Tiw. The river’s course changed after the last ice age when ice in the Bristol Channel pushed it north instead of west. Visitors can walk or cycle along the Two Rivers Way to see the Chew’s gentle bends and open fields. At Chew Valley Lake the water widens into a broad stretch popular for fishing and watching water birds. Three fish ladders have been built at weirs in Keynsham and Chewton Keynsham so fish can travel upstream. Anglers fish for chub, roach, perch, rudd, gudgeon, dace, grayling, trout, and eels in the Mill Ground stretch near Keynsham. The river’s quiet villages and leafy banks offer a peaceful place to follow its gentle course.