Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide -
Radcot Lock,
Map: Radcot Lock
O River, softly stealing from the West,
The Southwest lashes up thy reaches fair;
Yet still of thee thy lover comes in quest,
'Neath scudding drift, along thy footpaths bare:
And hears the reeds a-whirring,
The little reeds averring
That Spring, sweet Spring is stirring,
For thee and me, O River from the West.
FROM Rushey it is a pleasant pull of three miles to Radcot lock. At the end of a mile, by
the first white footbridge on the Berkshire shore, you pass the site of Old Nan's weir,"a
small weir with merely a hut" wrote Fearnside about 1830.
A little further upstream on the
Oxfordshire side, along a green ride between high hedges, stands a gate hung upon two stone
pillars which according to Tom Weal are the sole relics of Burroway Castle. He said they
carry some carving or other, but all I could distinguish was an A upon one of them. He is
my only authority for this scrap of topography, though the name is genuine enough.
I already
knew the Burroway Brook from some River map or other; it is an outfall leaving Thames on
the left bank just below Old Man's Bridge. You may best land, if you wish to see these
stones, where a little old brown boundary pillar rises upon the left bank, marked W on the
east side and E P on the west. Of some Conservancy men "drudging" the River along here Weal
bought for sixpence one of some skulls they had brought to the surface: "only the silly
f-f-fool of a workman went and kicked it and b-b-broke it!"
A mile above Old Nan's stands Old Man's (the "High") Bridge, where once was Old Man's or
Harper's or Clark's weir. Here on the Berkshire bank of old time stood an inn, in what was
known as Clark's Garden, under the sign of The Spotted Cow; a scene of much gambling, cock
fighting, and other shady proceedings; a "convenience snug" in truth, and remote enough for
the purpose from the Faringdon and Bampton police. The place disappeared within living
memory, along with the queer characters who frequented it. So did the Trout, which also
stood by the bridge on the Oxfordshire bank. This was perhaps the "Harpers' house. " In
May every year the neighbouring farmers used to assemble at the Spotted Cow for a
jollification called "breaking the [Thrupp] common," informing the landlord at the same time
how many beasts they proposed grazing, he having the oversight of them. Both these inns
stood against the High Bridge, like the two at New Bridge, but scarcely so reputably, one
imagines.
Half-a-mile upstream is Radcot weir, known also as Buck's or Beck's. Its lock garden is
always a gay parterre of flowers in their season; the fine old keeper told me in 1906 with
great satisfaction that he had taken the Conservancy prize for the prettiest show between
Oxford and Lechlade; and he had it again in following summers.
Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide -
Radcot Lock,
Map: Radcot Lock