[Picture missing from opening - sound only]
The film uses a voice over to describe features along the route of the River Severn beginning at its source near the town of Llanidloes in Wales. We see shots of the town as well as a steam train crossing the river at Llandinam, and the larger Newtown and Welshpool. We then see an explanation of the high hump bridges over the river designed to allow sail barges to pass and the river moves into England where we see it winding past a church at Melverley and the remains of a fortress at Shrawadine in Shropshire. At Shrewsbury we see the town including several examples of black and white houses as well as an old and new bridge side-by-side at Atcham. Next at the Roman site of Wroxeter our guide is John Hobbs, the curator of the Roman Museum at Shrewsbury. At Ironbridge we meet Harry Rogers who is seen paddling in a coracle. He is interviewed and talks about the famous bridge, building his own house and the decline of local customs and traditions. We next cross the border into Worcestershire where we see the wide river passing Worcester Cathedral and the town of Upton-upon-Severn. At Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire we meet the local novelist John Moore who describes an accident which destroyed the Haw Bridge at Tirley as well as a murder in 1938. Moore talks to Mr Davis who is the landlord of the Haw Bridge Inn about the Haw Bridge disaster of 1958 and to Bill Gaskin of the Severn River Board about fishing for eels and lampreys. A bream is also landed from a boat by Cecil Walker who is the keeper of the Cheltenham boat house. Finally we see shots of Gloucester docks and the mouth of the River Severn looking out to the Bristol Channel.
No credits specified
The voice over says that the Haw Bridge accident near Tewkesbury which killed a boat captain was Christmas 1959 however it was reported on Midlands News on 21 December 1958 (story 1567) and those pictures are used here. John Moore (1907-1967) was one of the founders of the Cheltenham Festival.