Rivers of Wales

This is a list of rivers of Wales, organised geographically, taken anti-clockwise, from Hoylake on Wirral through to the M48 Bridge that separates the estuary of the River Wye from the River Severn.

Tributaries are listed down the page in an upstream direction, starting with those closest to the sea. The main stem (or principal) river of a catchment is given, left-bank tributaries are indicated by (L), right-bank tributaries by (R). Note that in general usage, the 'left (or right) bank of a river' refers to the left (or right) hand bank, as seen when looking downstream. Where a named river is formed by the confluence of two differently named rivers, these are labelled as (Ls) and (Rs) for the left and right forks. A prime example is the formation of the River Taff from the Taf Fawr and the Taf Fechan at Cefn Coed-y-cymmer.

The list is essentially a list of the main rivers of Wales (as defined by the Environment Agency) and which more or less includes every watercourse named on Ordnance Survey mapping. Difficulties arise otherwise in determining what should and what should not be included.

Certain names are encountered frequently and particular care should be taken to differentiate between the various occurrences of Clydach, Clywedog and of Dulas for example as well as those whose names refer perhaps to the colour of their waters e.g. Afon Goch (red river), Afon Ddu (black/dark river ) and Afon Wen (white/light river).