Rhyne

In parts of England and Wales, a rhyne (Somerset), rhine/rhyne (Gloucestershire), or reen (South Wales) (all pronounced /ˈriːn/ "reen"; from Old English ryne or Welsh rhewyn or rhewin "ditch") is a drainage ditch, or canal, used to turn areas of wetland close to sea level into useful pasture.

Large sections of swampland were surrounded by trenches deep enough to drain the water from the encircled mound and leave the land relatively dry.

Other examples in England exist in the Framilode and Saul area of Gloucestershire, where they drain into either the River Severn or Sharpness Canal, and the Pilning Levels alongside the Severn Estuary in South Gloucestershire between Avonmouth and Aust.

Many rhynes in England and Wales are maintained as part of the water resource management operations of internal drainage boards.

[6] Some sources claim that rhyne is derived from the Irish word rathin, a diminutive of rath —a circular mound or entrenchment.