Mean flow 13.7 cumecs; High flow exceeded 10% of the time 32.4 cumecs; Low flow exceeded 95% 1.1 cumecs
Right bank, tel:0865 881324, length:113'3", width: 16'4"
Lock keeper: Nik Vallely
Camping: Eynsham Lock, Swinford Bridge, Eynsham, Oxon. OX8 1BY 01865 881324.
10 pitches, all year round, WC and water. Walkers, cyclists and boaters only.
No car parking
Maps
Eynsham to Pinkhill,
Eynsham to King's, Environment Agency 'Out and About' Guide
This section in The Stripling Thames by Fred Thacker
1909: The Stripling Thames, Fred Thacker -
Yarnton Tower and Cassington spire alternately hide and reappear amongst the trees all along this reach,
which right up to Eynsham is very sweet to the memory, bordering as it does
the northern slopes of Wytham Hill ...
For the hill gradually closes in upon the river, composing a lovely scene of flowing water,
of wooded hill and grassland. The stream demands its full share of attention here,
flowing swift and clear along its gravel bed, where not so deep down you may see the darting fish
and the undulating weed.
Suddenly the course bends and widens out, and here is the cause of the swift sweet water;
here is the glad open weir of Eynsham, once called Bolde's and Swithin's,
the sight of which "doeth good like a medicine". Here all day is the music of caressing winds
and tumbling waters; here swimmers plunge into the eddying pool - off the centre pier if you've the heart!
Bracing the spot is, at more than two hundred feet above the sea; and all round the hill-born breath from off
the Cotswolds refreshes hearts long "scrumped for air" within four walls.
When you have pulled over the rollers ...
from 'Singing Water' by R C Lehmann -
And where the Eynsham weir-fall breaks out in rainbow spray
The Evenlode comes singing to join the pretty play.
Fred Thacker’s Map, 1920.
Eynsham Lock from upstream.
1791: Eynsham Weir (Bolde’s Weir) owned by Lord Abingdon.
1795: “Does not pen any water nor has for some years past”.
1802: Mylne – “By our boat going thro’ the weir eight inches was
lost to the upper water”.
Mylne is arguing for the superiority of Pound Locks over flash weirs.
All the river above the weir lost eight inches through the weir being opened to let the
boat shoot it.
1852: Mr & Mrs Hall
called the passage “somewhat dangerous”;
there is truly a nasty bend and narrowing just below the fall.
1883: Eynsham Weir, Henry Taunt -
Eynsham Weir, Henry Taunt, 1883
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT3791
1885: The Royal River -
the picturesque materials of the weir are stored when not in use, and the rymers are piled in a stack close to the spot where they sometimes even now do effective service. Your boat passes through, however, generally without let or hindrance.
1885: Eynsham Weir, The Royal River –
Eynsham Weir, The Royal River, 1885.
1886: a new flash weir was built.
Eynsham Weir, Packer -
Eynsham Weir, Packer
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; D242003a
1890: boatslide ordered.
1893: Ravenstein The Oarsman’s and Angler’s map –
Eynsham Weir: Falls 1ft 6ins. Take up paddles and then the rymers that hold them. The weir is usually open.
1906: Henry Wellington Wack, In Thamesland -
Immediately below Ensham Bridge a picturesque weir purls and eddies to the cadence of its murmurous cascade. There is no sound on the river more delicious or more refreshing than the plash and drip of a weir when the stream is full.
1928: a new concrete pound lock.
1950: weir reconstructed.
Swinford Pumping Station
1928: Work started on a new pumping station.
1934: Pumping Station inaugurated by Lord Desborough.
The project involved extracting water from the Thames just upstream from the
toll-bridge to be screened (removal of coarse matter) and then to a 'raw' water
chamber in the basement of the engine house.
From there it was lifted by low level pumps to be mixed with a tiny amount of a
solution of aluminium sulphate which would aid the coagulation, precipitation
and filtration processes and thence to the precipitation tanks where a complicated
system of baffles retarded the flow in order to deposit the bulk of the impurities on
the bottom of the tanks.
The top water was then drawn off to the filters - consisting of carefully graded
layers of filtering media, mainly quartz sand - in the next building. This pure
water was then returned to an upper chamber in the engine house to be
chlorinat ed and now "pure and wholesome" pumped through a 22" rising main to
the Beacon Hill Service Reservoir.
The various buildings at Swinford are extremely handsome as can be seen in
photographs in a 1934 booklet. They were grouped symmetrically on an
east - west axis and built with sand-faced bricks of a rich brown shade with
reconstructed Clipsham stone dressings. Handmade flat tiles were chosen for the
roof.
Within 20 years or so plans were being drawn up for a major new project at Farmoor,
and in 1962 the first civil engineering contracts were placed for the reservoir complex there, to be
inaugurated on 29 September 1977.
What effect did this have on the Swinford plant? Firstly the river water was
now not to be extracted near the toll-bridge directly to Swinford but from Pinkhill
and into the Farmoor reservoir. Some of this dirty water is then fed to Swinford
for treatment. Additional water is purified at Farmoor and transferred via a
separate pipe to Swinford - all to be pumped to Beacon Hill for onward
distribution.
In 2004 additional works at Swinford largely involved the installation of
more modern purification systems than those available in the 1930s.
(Upstream to Swinford Bridge)
Introduction
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