Thames Head
Group of seasonal springs in Gloucestershire, England
Thames Head is a group of seasonal springs that arise in the Cotswolds, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Their location is in fields near the villages of Coates and Kemble, on either side of the A433 road, about three miles south-west of the town of Cirencester. The spring water comes from the limestone aquifers of the Cotswolds. One or more of these springs are traditionally identified as the source of the River Thames.
In actuality, the source of the River Thames does not have a fixed location – rather, it changes according to the level of the groundwater in the limestone. In dry periods, the groundwater level falls, causing the Thames Head springs to dry up and the river to begin lower down in its course. In wet conditions, the groundwaters rise and the river can begin at one of the Thames Head springs. The spring known as Lyd Well, located south of the A433 (grid reference ST989984), is often where the river starts. In 2011, the lowest recorded start of the Thames was just upstream of Ashton Keynes, which is over six miles (ten kilometres) downstream from Thames Head. During the 2022 United Kingdom heat wave, the source dried up completely, shifting five miles (eight kilometres) downstream to Somerford Keynes.
“Thames Head” enters the record as group of seasonal springs in Gloucestershire, England. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thames, Head and Group can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Thames Head” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Thames, Head and Group provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3519485. Authority coordinates are 51.694, -2.030. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011 and 2022.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Thames Head”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Thames Head primary sources, Thames Head archive and Thames research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thames Head”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Thames Head” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.