Purton Ship Graveyard, Cotswold Way

 

Views overlooking River Severn, UK’s longest river, are plentiful from the Cotswold Way.  However, an interesting feature near the Severn Estuary is the Purton Ship Graveyard where ships have been intentionally beached to protect the adjacent canal.

Following a 1909 riverbank collapse due to the river’s strong currents and erosive force, the vessels were beached to reinforce the riverbank.  As silt built the ground level up a few vessels can be seen lying on top of earlier ones.