The Cound rises from minor watercourses running off the Long Mynd and Caer Caradoc in the northern part of the Stretton Gap, between the settlements of Church Stretton and All Stretton. One of the main initial tributaries is the stream that runs through the Carding Mill Valley, which is named Ashbrook as it flows through Church Stretton. In the village of All Stretton the Ashbrook combines with another considerable stream that comes down the Batch valley, effectively forming the beginning of the Cound, at grid reference . The embryonic river descends towards the Shropshire-Severn plain and heads north east mirroring the route of the A49 main road and the Shrewsbury to Hereford railway line.