Sandford to Iffley, Sandford to Abingdon, Environment Agency 'Out and About' Guides
Maps
Sandford Lock has a fall of 8'10" (2.69 metres), this is the largest on the Thames.
This makes the river above it deep water with too much silt (the current is lower because
of the depth and therefore more silt drops out).
It is ironic that this reach, between Iffley and Sandford Locks, is the most
difficult for punts on the whole Thames – and the result is that Oxford punters rarely
venture down here, and also of course the fearsome reputation of Sandford Lasher.
Sandford weir is too high! (In My Humble Opinion)
Sandford Lasher memorial
1843: Sandford lasher memorial -
The obelisk was erected following the deaths in 1843 of Richard Phillimore,
who drowned in a vain attempt to save his friend William Gaisford,
son of the Dean of Christ Church, Thomas Gaisford.
The inscription on the memorial at Sandford is inaccessible,
but an account of the tragedy is given in Latin on two memorial tablets
in the north walk of the Christchurch Cathedral cloisters:
Nearby is buried Richard Phillimore,
seventh son of Joseph Phillimore Regius Professor of Civil Law,
a member of this House [ie Christchurch College]
who, when vainly attempting to rescue his friend
struggling in the treacherous waters of the river,
was caught up in the whirlpools and perished
on 23rd June 1843 before he had reached his twentieth birthday.
We mourn him as a young man who stood out among those of his own age
for his intellectual gifts, his character, his piety, and his breadth of learning.
His friends and colleagues have erected this stone
to his memory in the deepest grief.
To William Gaisford, a member of this House,
who on 23rd June 1843 rashly entered the river at the Sandford weir
when it was swollen by excessive rain and was sucked down into its depths.
His age was 21 years 4 months 19 days.
He was a much loved young man of unblemished character
and his comrades and friends have erected this monument to him
in mourning and deep grief.
George William Erskine Russell, Autobiography -
... glancing for a moment from your book, you saw the two most brilliant young Christ Church men
of the day going down to bathe in the Isis.
You described the gifts and graces of the pair, who, between them, seemed to combine all that was
best and most beautiful in body and mind and soul.
And then you told us how, as your friends disappeared towards Christ Church Meadows, you
returned to your work; and only were roused from it two hours later,
when a confused noise of grief and terror in the quadrangle below
attracted your attention, and you saw the dead bodies of Gaisford and
Phillimore borne past your window from their 'watery bier' at Sandford
Lasher.
1872: The name of another Christ Church man, George Dasent, was added to the Sandford obelisk.
1879: A Balliol College man drowned -
Clarence Sinclair Collier
The dear and only child of Colonel Clarence Collier and Anne his wife,
who was drowned in the River Isis at Sandford, June 1879, aged 19 years.
1881: Charles Dickens Junior. 'Dictionary of the Thames -
It is notorious to all rowing men and habitués of the river that Sandford Lasher had almost yearly demanded its tale of victims, and it is almost inconceivable that people will continue year after year to tempt fate in this and other equally dangerous places.
1889: Jerome K Jerome overstepped the mark -
The pool under Sandford lasher, just behind the lock, is a very good place to drown yourself in. The undercurrent is terribly strong, and if you once get down into it you are all right. An obelisk marks the spot where two men have already been drowned, while bathing there; and the steps of the obelisk are generally used as a diving-board by young men now who wish to see if the place really IS dangerous.
1891: The Stream of Pleasure, Joseph & Elizabeth Robins Pennell -
Nothing could be prettier than the Thames about here, even in the rain ...
Trees in long straight lines cross the flat meadowland, the river winds lazily
between low reedy banks, and large families of ducks come out for a swim
where willows bend low into the stream.
But this I really discovered the next morning.
While we were working our way down to Sandford, I was too much taken up with
[ Joseph's ] entreaties not to send him over the lasher, to think of anything else.
Remembering Tom Brown
[ "Tom Brown at Oxford by T Hughes" (who went over the weir in a skiff) ], I did my best to leave all the river between it and our boat.
We found that a lasher, which we had never quite understood, is merely a place above the lock
where the overflow of water falls to a lower level, but a place not to be trifled with,
as the monument at Sandford reminds all who need the reminder.
1921: The weir was to claim two more victims from Christ Church,
one of them, Michael Llewelyn-Davies, the ward of the playwright J. M. Barrie.
Barrie had written the story of Peter Pan for the five Llewelyn-Davies boys
and when the sculptor, Sir George Frampton, wanted a model for his statue of Peter Pan,
Barrie sent him a photograph of the six-year-old Michael dressed as Peter Pan.
Michael therefore became immortalised in the well-known statue in Kensington Gardens, which was unveiled in 1912.
His body was recovered from the Thames clasped to that of his friend Rupert Buxton,
and it was the verdict of the coroner that Rupert had died while trying to save Michael.
Barrie caused to be inscribed on the obelisk the words:
Michael Llewelyn Davies and Rupert Errol Victor Buxton,
Commoners of Christ Church, were drowned here on 19th May 1921.
(to Sandford 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