Long Wittenham History on the village website.
1910: Clifton Lock & Long Wittenham in Thames Valley Villages by Charles G Harper
Maps
Right bank, bypassed by CLIFTON LOCK
1881: George Leslie -
The weir is a long way further up, the weir water coming round a considerable bend on the left, skirting the village of Long Wittenham.
[ George Leslie means the right bank when he says "on the left"! ]
1904: The weir at Long Wittenham -
1904: The weir at Long Wittenham
The picture is held by the Long Wittenham History Society. They have logs of camps held there
1891 - 1914. They were for school boys over the summer and involved much cricket and boating.
I would love to see what other river material there might be.
1933: John Galsworthy, Over the River:
...passing through Dorchester, came to the river by the bend and bluffs at Clifton.
Leaving the car, they procured a punt and after drifting a little,
moored it to the bank. …
But in that hour and
more on the river they hardly talked at all. It was as if he understood — which,
as a fact, he did not — how, in that drowsing summer silence, on water half in
sunlight, half in shade, she was coming closer to him than ever before. There
was, indeed, to Dinny something really restful and reassuring in those long
lazing minutes, when she need not talk, but just take summer in at every
pore—its scent, and hum, and quiet movement, the careless and untroubled
hovering of its green spirit, the vague sway of the bulrushes, and the clucking
of the water, and always that distant calling of the wood pigeons from far
trees.
1958: Robert Gibbings, Till I end my song -
When, about the middle of the nineteenth century, the Thames Conservancy dug a canal rather more than half a mile in length above Clifton Hampden, they cut off a loop of the Thames that was to become one of the pleasantest backwaters on the river. From where I stood I could see a wide crescentic pool whose low banks on the far side spread away into wide sunlit pastures, whose high banks shadowed with elms on my right sent their reflections deep into the water. Sixty and a few miles since much of the water sprang from the earth; another hundred to flow before it would mingle with the sea.
[ Robert Gibbings, who wrote Sweet Thames Run Softly completed the quotation from Edmund Spenser, with Till I end my Song which was the story of his life at Clifton Hampden. ]
... Along the shore of silver-streaming Thames;
Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,
Was painted all with variable flowers,
And all the meads adorn'd with dainty gems
Fit to deck maidens' bowers,
And crown their paramours,
Against the bridal day, which is not long:
Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.
Also quoted by T S Eliot in his Fire Sermon -
The river's tent is broken; the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.
The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends
Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed.
And their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors-
Departed, have left no addresses.
By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept...
Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song,
Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long.
Long Wittenham Slipway
Long Wittenham, right bank, Paul Slack, The Lees, Long Wittenham. 01865 407828
The Plough, up weir stream, Long Wittenham
Pendon Museum, Model Railway & Country Scenes.
1958: Robert Gibbings, Till I end my song -
… I took the footpath that led to the pools and their many weirs. There had been rain in the west and the water was galumphing through those sluices with a joy unbounded. Slowly and calmly it moved in the main stream above, so slowly that one might have swum in it with ease. But of a sudden as it came within the influence of the fall it wavered, and next moment in fierce abandon a trio of rapids had arched their backs and plunged through the gates. Then in an instant they were froth, white froth in a welter, prancing, curvetting, rushing ahead, curling back.
A Long Wittenham resident writes -
There are at least four terrapins around here - dinner plate size - not good news!
The terrapins are vicious scavengers. They could have arrived in the Thames because they were discarded by their owners
as they grew too big or aggressive for their aquaria. We often see them sunning themselves on logs.
They are said to eat ducklings and I saw one on the nest of a greater
crested grebe, devouring the eggs.
Rumour has it that they breed in the Thames but don't survive the cold water during the winter.
But they seem to be increasing so this may not be so.
I met another resident last week [11/06] who says he saw a terrapin the size of a dustbin lid!
Terrapins keeping warm at Long Wittenham
A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said an offender found guilty
of dumping terrapins could be jailed for two years.
They are classified as a non-native species under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000,
and cannot be let out into the wild.
The importation of terrapins into the UK for anything other than scientific purposes was banned in 1997.
(Upstream to CLIFTON 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