The River Frome is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

. It rises near Witham Friary

Witham Friary

Witham Friary is a small village and civil parish located between the Somerset towns of Frome and Bruton. It is in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the ancient Forest of Selwood.- History :...

, flows north through the town of Frome

Frome

Frome is a town and civil parish in northeast Somerset, England. Located at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, the town is built on uneven high ground, and centres around the River Frome. The town is approximately south of Bath, east of the county town, Taunton and west of London. In the 2001...

 and joins the River Avon

River Avon, Bristol

The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...

 at Freshford

Freshford

Freshford is a village and civil parish in the Avon valley south-east of Bath, in the county of Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 530...

, south of Bath.

The name Frome comes from the Old British word ffraw meaning fair, fine or brisk and describing the flow of the river.

There are many weir

Weir

A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...

s on the river. Several stretches, particularly below Farleigh Hungerford

Farleigh Hungerford

Farleigh Hungerford is a village within the civil parish of Norton St Philip in Somerset, England, 9 miles southeast of Bath, 3½ miles west of Trowbridge on A366, in the valley of the River Frome....

 are used for coarse fishing

Coarse fishing

Coarse fishing is a term used in the United Kingdom and Ireland for angling for coarse fish, which are those types of freshwater fish other than game fish . The sport and the techniques used are particularly popular in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe.-History:The term "coarse fishing"...

 and some trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

 fishing.

In April 2007 the Mendip Power Group

Mendip Power Group

The Mendip Power Group is a group of owners installing micro-hydroelectric turbines in a number of historic former watermills in the Mendip area of Somerset, England...

 started electricity generation

Electricity generation

Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...

 at Tellisford Mill, and it is ultimately expected to produce 75 kW

Watt

The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...

.

External links

• Friends of the River Frome