Avon, the name of several English rivers. The word is British, meaning water. The Upper Avon rises near Naseby, Northampton. It forms the border of Leicester. It passes through Warwickshire and Worcestershire to the Severn at Tewkesbury. Its valley is one of the most beautiful in England. Rugby, Warwick, and Stratford-on-Avon are situated on its banks. It is about 100 miles in length. This is the Avon of Shakespeare, the stream from which he is called the "Avon Bard." Lower Avon, or Bristol Avon, flows into the Severn after it has become so broad that it is known rather as Bristol Channel. Bath and Bristol are on its banks. It is about eighty miles in length. This is the Avon on which the ashes of Wyclif were cast. The East Avon flows into the English Channel. It is about sixty-five miles in length. Salisbury, with its ancient cathedral, is situated at the junction of the Wily and Bourne with the East Avon.