Port of London Authority, Notices to Mariners U15 of 2006, Rules for Navigation of Vessels under Oars on the Tidal Thames:
The visibility on the bend in the vicinity of Kew Bridge is particularly restricted and passenger boats regularly manoeuvre on and off Kew Pier. All craft are to navigate with extreme caution in the area.
Power driven vessels are reminded to sound one prolonged blast when approaching the bridge from either direction (International Regulations – Rule 34a) and when leaving Kew Pier (PLA Byelaw - 36). All vessels are to listen carefully for and be guided by the sound signals.
Before 1759: Kew Ferry
1759: First Kew Bridge built by Robert Tunstall, opened in June.
It had eleven arches of which four were of stone
and seven of timber. Three thousand people used the bridge on the first day, each
paying a penny toll.
1760: Prince George, riding from Kew Palace across Kew Bridge
met a messenger and heard the news that George II was dead and that he was
King George III.
1783: A new stone bridge with seven arches was begun.
1788: In the great frost, which began in November and lasted seven weeks,
a sheep was roasted whole on the ice east of the nearly finished bridge.
1789, September: The second Kew Bridge (1789-1903) by James Paine, was opened.
1802: Picturesque View on the Thames, Samuel Ireland -
THE present handsome stone bridge at Kew, from a design of the late Mr. Payne,
is in its construction simple, yet elegant, and does credit to the skill of its architect.
THE form of this bridge is much hurt by the necessary addition of so many brick
arches at either end, particularly those which have been occasioned by the marshy situation
of this shore on the Surry side.
It was erected nearly parallel with the old structure,
which did not stand more than thirty years,
the act of parliament having passed for its
building in 1758.
The present bridge was opened for carriages, &c. on
the King's birthday, the 4th of June, 1790.
THE advantages of the Kew bridge tontine,
which has been established only a few
years, I am informed are so great as to produce
a net interest to the last class of subscribers, of more than nine per cent.
Second Kew Bridge (1789-1903) Ireland in 1802.
Kew Bridge, with Brentford Eyot in the Foreground and Strand-on-Green Seen through the Arches: Low Tide 1805
Turner
1873: FREE OPENING OF KEW BRIDGE, The Illustrated London News Saturday 15 February -
Free Opening of Kew Bridge, The Illustrated London News Saturday 15 February, 1873
FREE OPENING OF KEW BRIDGE
The well-known stone bridge of seven arches over the Thames at Kew,
which was built above eighty years ago, [started 1783, opened 1789] is now open to all passengers free of toll.
The opening ceremony took place on Saturday last. It was attended by the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London,
and by Colonel Hogg, M.P., official chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works.
This bridge was private property, vested in trustees,
and is the fourth bridge across the upper district of the Thames that has been emancipated within the last few years,
mainly by the application of the coal and wine dues of the city of London and the metropolis;
the trustees in this case receiving, by way of compensation, £57,300.
Kingston Bridge was the first that was freed from toll, in March, 1870, when the venerable Lord St. Leonards,
then in his ninetieth year, rode on horseback in the procession, as High Steward of the manor of Kingston.
Since then the bridges at Walton and Staines have been emancipated,
and it now only remains to free the bridge at Hampton to complete the work in the upper part of the Thames.
The watchword in the surrounding districts has of late been “Free bridges for a free people,”
which on Saturday was displayed on banners.
It is due to Mr. Gould, now an Alderman and formerly Mayor of Kingston-on-Thames,
to state that he has taken a conspicuous part in aiding the movement from the first,
co-operating for that purpose witch a committee of aldermen and burgesses in that town.
By a bill introduced by the Government in May, 1868, it was originally intended
to continue the coal and wine duties until 1889 for the purposes of the Thames Embankment
and certain City improvements; but that being strenuously opposed
by the inhabitants of districts bordering upon the Thames, as the bill then stood,
a clause was inserted to the effect that the duties should be applied in the first instance
to the freeing from toll the five bridges of Kew, Kingston, Hampton Court, Walton, and Staines;
and in the following year another Act passed empowering a joint committee of the Corporation of London
and the Metropolitan Board of Works to give effect to the provisions of the Act of the previous Session
in appropriating the funds derivable from the coal and wine duties in the purchase of the interest
in the bridges in question, and throwing them open to the public.
Before the ceremony, on Saturday, there was a procession of the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs,
in their state carriages, from the Gunnersbury station into the village of Kew.
Colonel Hogg was with the Lord Mayor; the procession included the members of the joint committee
and of the local committee, all in open carriages.
The line of route was filled with people, and the windows on both sides were crowded.
The approaches to the bridge were spanned by triumphal arches, composed of evergreens,
and banners floated from both sides throughout the entire length.
The Lord Mayor and Colonel Hogg, with the Sheriffs, arriving at the northern entrance to the bridge,
they alighted and were received by Mr. Mason, chairman of the trustees.
Advancing towards them, Mr. Mason handed the Lord Mayor a finely-worked mediaeval key, highly polished,
and ornamented with masonic emblems.
The Lord Mayor asked Mr. Mason if he and his co-trustees had received the purchase-money for the bridge, £57,300.
A reply having been given in the affirmative, the Lord Mayor, amid rounds of cheering and booming of cannon,
unlocked the gate.
The firemen rushed forward and, raising the gate from its hinges, bore it in triumph to a brewer’s dray,
decked with evergreens and flowers, and drawn by a pair of white horses, driven by a man in a red cap.
The firemen having mounted the dray, which became a conspicuous object in the pageant;
the journey was continued along the bridge, amid salvos of artillery, and round Kew-green,
returning eventually by the bridge to the Star and Garter, at the north end,
where a luncheon awaited the chief persons who had taken part in the ceremony.
... In the evening there was a display of fireworks.
1897: Painting of
Kew Bridge, William Alister Macdonald.
1903: 'King Edward Bridge'opened by King Edward VII.
360 feet long, 56 feet wide.
Three rough granite elliptical arches are enhanced by the ornamental shields
of the counties of Middlesex and Surrey carved into the walls.
Engineer: John Wolfe Barry. Contractor: Easton Gibbs
The bridge reverted to being called 'Kew Bridge'
1930s: Kew Bridge –
Kew Bridge 1930s?
Kew Bridge Steam Museum
Map: Brentford Ait
Lot's Ait
Map: Grand Union Canal, left bank
Map: Brentford Dock Marina, left bank
Kew Palace, right bank
Map: Site of Battle of Brentford 1016, left bank
The Danes were defeated by King Eadmund II, Ironside.
Site of Battle of Brentford 1642, left bank
The Royalists defeated the Parliamentarians.
Map: Syon House, left bank
1610: Camden -
... Sion sheweth it selfe, a little Monasterie so named of the most holy mount Sion, which King Henrie the Fifth, when he had expelled thence the Monkes aliens, built for religious Virgins to the honor of our Saviour, the virgine Marie, and Saint Briget of Sion, like as he founded another on the rivers side over against it for the Carthusian Monkes, named Jesu of Bethelem. In this Sion he appointed to the glorie of God so many Nuns, Priests and lay brethren devided apart within their severall wals, as were in number aequall to Christ his Apostles and Disciples: upon whom when he had bestowed sufficient living, he provided by a law that, contenting themselves therewith, they should take no more of any man, but what overplus soever remained of their yeerely revenew, they should bestow it upon the poore. But after that in our fathers time those religious Votaries were cast out and it became a retiring house of the Duke of Somerset, who plucked downe the Church and there began a new house. Under this the small water Brent issueth into the Tamis, ‡which,
springing out of a pond vulgarly called Brownswell for Brentwell, that is, in old English, Brig-well ...
...
And now with a great winding reach the river bendeth his course Northward by Gistleworth,
for so was that called in old time which now is Thistleworth, [ and now Isleworth ]
where sometime stoode the palace of Richard King of Romans and Earle of Cornwall,
which the Londoners in a tumultuous broile burnt to the ground.
View of Syon from the river, Richard Wilson in 1760/70 -
Syon House, Richard Wilson, 1760/70
1792: Picturesque Views on the River Thames, Samuel Ireland -
OF the many striking objects that present
themselves from the Terrace, Syon House
appears the most conspicuous; and from
hence it is seen to most advantage, as its
happy distance in this point of view renders
it more picturesque than on a nearer
approach.
IT was formerly a convent, founded by
Henry V. in 1414, for sixty virgins of the
order of St. Bridget of Zion, thirteen priests,
four deacons, and eight lay-brothers ; each
sex to live in separate convents, and not to
be allowed to come out, except by the Pope's
special licence.
By a letter, however, addressed from this convent to Thomas Lord Cromwell, from
one Richard Layton, who styles himself his "assured poor priest", we find him -
"certifyinge the incontinence of the nunnes at Syon with the friores, without the sanction of his holiness's licence;
and that one Bushope would have persuaded one of his brederen, a smith, to have made a keaye for the doare,
to have in the night time received in wenches for him, and his fellowes, and specially a wyfe of Uxbridge,
now dwelling not far from the old Lady Derby, nigh Uxbridge, which wyfe his old customer hath byne many times here at the grates,
communying with the fayd, and he was defirous to have her convoyed in to him.
The said Bushope also persuaded a nunne, to whom he was confessor -
ad libidinem corporis perimplend." [ For a translation use your imagination ]
WHETHER from these enormities, or from
the partialities of this convent to the avowed
enemy of the Sovereign, the Maid of Kent,
does not appear ; but it is certain that the
King made this monastery the first object of his resentment, at the dissolution in 1537,
previous to which, he caused Richard Reynolds, a Brigettin monk, of Syon House,
and an eminent doctor in divinity, to be tried for opposing his will, in the article of
supremacy; and for which opposition he
was hanged at Tyburn on the 4th of May, 1535.
AT the dissolution the revenues of this religious
house amounted to one thousand nine
hundred and forty-four pounds eleven shillings
and eight pence farthing, per annum :
after which period the abbess, nuns, lay-sisters,
&c. to the number of seventy-three, were all
pensioned during their lives.
Syon House, Ireland, 1792
Map: Isleworth Ait
Left bank
Kew Observatory, right bank
Map: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Tides this week
Upstream to RICHMOND LOCK
Estuary
PLA
QEII Br
Barrier
Tower Br
Custom Ho
London Br
; Frost Fairs
Cannon St Rb
The Great Stink
Southwark Br
Millenium Br
Blackfriars Rb
Blackfriars Br
Waterloo Br
Charing Cross Rb
Westminster Br
Lambeth Br
Vauxhall Br
Victoria Rb
Chelsea Br
Albert Br
Battersea Br
Battersea Rb
Wandsworth Br
Fulham Rb
Putney Br
Hammersmith Br
Barnes Rb
Chiswick Br
Kew Rb
Kew Br
RICHMOND
Twickenham Br
Richmond Rb
Richmond Br
TEDDINGTON
Kingston Rb
Kingston Br
Ditton Slip
Hampton Br
MOLESEY
SUNBURY
Walton Br
Desborough Cut
SHEPPERTON
Chertsey Br
CHERTSEY
M3 Br
Laleham Slip
PENTON HOOK
Staines Rb
Staines Br
Runnymede Br
BELL WEIR
Magna Carta Is
OLD WINDSOR
Albert Br
Datchet
Victoria Br
Black Potts Rb
ROMNEY
Eton
Windsor Br
Windsor Rb
Windsor Slip
Elizabeth Br
BOVENEY
Dorney Lake
York Cut
Summerleaze Fb
MonkeyIsland
New Thames Br
BRAY
Bray Slip
Maidenhead Rb
Maidenhead Br
Below Boulters
BOULTERS
Cliveden
Hedsor
COOKHAM
Cookham Slip
Cookham Br
BourneEnd RFb
Quarry Woods
A404 Br
MARLOW
Marlow Br
Bisham
TEMPLE
HURLEY
Medmenham
Culham Ct
Aston Slip
HAMBLEDEN
Temple Is
Fawley Ct
Remenham
Regatta
Phyllis Ct
Henley Slip
Leander
Red Lion
Henley Br
Angel on Br
Landing
Hobbs Boatyard
Hobbs Slipway
MARSH
Hennerton
Bolney
Wargrave
Shiplake Rb
R.Loddon
SHIPLAKE
Sonning Br
SONNING
Dreadnought
K&A Canal
CAVERSHAM
Reading Br
Caversham Br
Reading Slip
Purley
MAPLEDURHAM
Hardwick Ho
Whitchurch Br
WHITCHURCH
Hartswood Reach
Gatehampton Rb
Goring Gap
Goring Br
GORING
Swan
CLEEVE
Moulsford
Moulsford Rb
Papist Way Slip
Winterbrook Br
Wallingford Br
BENSON
Shillingford Br
R.Thame
DAYS
Burcot
Clifton Hampden
Clifton Church
Clifton H Br
Barley Mow
Long Wittenham
CLIFTON
Appleford Rb
Sutton Courtenay
Sutton Br
CULHAM
Culham Cut Fb
Abingdon Slip
Abingdon
Abingdon Br
ABINGDON
Nuneham Rb
Nuneham
Nuneham Park
Radley Boats
SANDFORD
Rose Island
Kennington Rb
Isis Br
Iffley Mill
IFFLEY
Oxford Rowing
Isis
Donnington Br
Riverside Slip
Boathouses
Punting
Lower Cherwell
Upper Cherwell
Islip
Head of River
Salters Steamers
Folly Br
Bacons Folly
Oxford Fb
Osney Fb
Weir stream
Osney Rb
Bullstake Stream
Osney Marina
OSNEY
Osney Br
Four Rivers
OLD RIVER
CANAL
Medley Weir Site
Medley Fb
Bossoms
Perch
Trout
GODSTOW
Godstow Nunnery
Godstow Br
Thames Br
KINGS
River Evenlode
EYNSHAM
Swinford Br
Oxford Cruisers
PINKHILL
Farmoor
Stanton Harcourt
Bablock Slip
Arks Weir Site
NORTHMOOR
Harts Fb
//Rose Revived
Newbridge
//Maybush
River Windrush
below Shifford
SHIFFORD
Shifford Fb
Tenfoot Fb
Trout Inn
Tadpole Br
RUSHEY
Old Mans Fb
RADCOT
Radcot Cradle Fb
Swan Inn
Radcot New Br
Radcot Old Br
GRAFTON
Eaton Hastings
Kelmscott
Eaton Fb
BUSCOT
Bloomers Hole Fb
Trout Inn
St Johns Br
ST JOHNS
Halfpenny Br
Marina Slip
LIMIT
Inglesham
Hannington Br
Kempsford
Castle Eaton Br
Marston Meysey
A419 Br
Cricklade
SOURCE?
THAMES HEAD
SEVEN SPRINGS