There seems to be little consensus as to the lengths of rivers in published sources, nor much agreement as to what constitutes a river. Thus the River Ure / River Ouse can be counted as one river system or two rivers. If it is counted as one, the
River Aire /
Yorkshire Ouse /
Humber system would come fourth in the list, with a combined length of and indeed, the
River Trent /
Humber system would top the list with their combined length of 222 mi (357 km). Also, the
Thames tributary, the
River Churn, sourced at
Seven Springs adds 14 miles to the length of the
Thames (from its traditional source at Thames head). The
Churn/
Thames' length at 229 mi (369 km) is therefore greater than the
Severn’s length - 220 mi (354 km). Thus, the combined
Churn/Thames river would top the list. Sue Owen et al. in their book on Rivers generally restrict the length to the parts that bear the correct name. Thus the River Nene is quoted at , but would be around more if the variously named sources were included. Many of the above lengths are considerably different from Steve Owen's list, some longer and some shorter.