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Thames (Roman, Tamesis), river in southern England, the longest and most important river in England. It rises in four headstreams the Isis (or Windrush), the Churn, the Coln, and the Leach on the south-eastern slope of the Cotswold Hills, in Gloucestershire, near Cheltenham. The streams converge on Oxford and flow generally south-east to Reading, through a gap in the Chiltern escarpment. The Thames thereafter follows a generally eastern course through London, and a few kilometres below Gravesend it expands into a wide estuary and enters the North Sea. It is about 340 km (210 mi) long. At London Bridge (see London's Bridges) the width of the river is about 265 m (870 ft); at thames cruises Woolwich, 448 m (1,470 ft); at Gravesend pier, 732 m (2,400 ft); 5 km (3 mi) below Gravesend, 1,180 m (3,870 ft); at Nore Light, 10 km (6 mi); and at its mouth, between Whitstable and Foulness Point, the estuary is 29 km (18 mi) across. The Port of London and Docklands. The area designated as the Port of London extends from Teddington Lock, which is about 16 km (10 mi) west of the city and the limit of the tidal water, downriver to the outer limit of the Tongue light vessel, a distance of thames boat hire 150 km (93 mi). Ocean-going vessels navigate to the upper part of the river through Tower thames pleasure cruises Bridge: these are mainly cruise ships.