The river's name derives from Welsh and means the river on which ash trees (Welsh: onnau) grew.[1]
Course
The river has its sources in the Shropshire Hills at White Grit,[2] located in Mid and South-west Shropshire. It has two branches, the East Onny and West Onny, which converge at Eaton, to the east of Lydham. The River Onny then flows in a south-easterly direction, through Craven Arms and Onibury (a village it gives its name to),[1] before it finally has its confluence with the River Teme just upstream of Ludlow at Bromfield.[3] From White Grit to Bromfield, the river flows over a distance of 25 miles (40 km).[4][5]
The River Teme is itself a tributary of the River Severn, converging just south of Worcester city centre. The River Severn then flows south-west meeting the sea at Bristol Channel.[6]
Geology
Geologically, the Onny has the type section just west of Craven Arms of the Caradoc series of the Ordovician system and there is a trilobite genus Onnia which was first defined here.[7]