The River Thames is famous for more than being the longest in England or just a landmark that flows across London. For over 2000 years, the River Thames has played a central role in making British history since the Roman empire.

The Thames is both tidal and non-tidal, depending which spot you’re looking at – it becomes tidal after Teddington Lock. The river is home to over 119 species of fish, as well as otters, voles, and eels. The Thames Path is 184 miles long, which makes it the longest river walk in Europe.

A river delta is a landform that if formed at the mouth of a river, where the river flows out in to the ocean. Instead of a delta the River Thames has an estuary. As it looks in the picture, a estuary is a tidal mouth of a large river were the tide meets the sea.

Back to the Ice Age The story of the River Thames goes back to over 30 million years ago when the river was once a tributary of the River Rhine because Britain was not an island.

The River Thames has some of the highest recorded levels of microplastics for any river in the world. Scientists have estimated that 94,000 microplastics per second flow down the river in places.

Where Can You Swim? The PLA allows swimming to take place upriver of Putney Bridge through to Teddington. It is permitted in this area only but be reminded that it is still a busy section of the tidal Thames for leisure and recreational activities.

One of the main risks is cold-water shock, causing you to breathe in water, weakening your muscles, and causing immediate heart problems. Unseen currents and reeds beneath the surface could pull you under.

“One of the main risks is cold-water shock, causing you to breathe in water, weakening your muscles, and creating immediate heart problems. “Unseen currents and reeds beneath the surface could pull you under.” There are other risks associated with swimming in the Thames.

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Andrew Mitchell, CEO of Tideway, said even once the sewer is completed, the Thames will still look brown. He said it is because it is a muddy river, owing to the silt on the riverbed. But he added new water that enters the system will be clean “almost overnight”.

In 1957, the Natural History Museum declared the Thames biologically dead. News reports from that era describe it as a vast, foul-smelling drain. “The tidal reaches of the Thames constitute a badly managed open sewer,” the Guardian, then called the Manchester Guardian, reported in 1959.

Thanks to its rumored 100 percent mortality rate for those unlucky enough to fall in, the Bolton Strid is known as the most dangerous stretch of water in the world.