Bloomers Meadow left bank.
A series of increasingly
sharp meanders. Keep an eye on the spire of St John's Church,
Lechlade, which is almost where you are eventually going.
Sometimes you will have to look behind
you! Can it be that Old father Thames
was in two minds about going to London or
joining with sister Severn?
Meanders are so called after the river in Asia Minor which carried a large amount of
silt. Its bends and loops were so
pronounced that the river gave its name to that sort of river feature.
It is said that it will be found that
if the straight line distance between the source of a river and its mouth, is
multiplied by PI (3.14), it will be found to be the distance the stream flows down
the river. I find it hard to believe most
of the time – but between Buscot and St John’s it is quite believable.
Some of the meanders are so sharp that
below the point on the inside, a bank of silt develops
in which you can clearly see the great gouges made by boats trying to take the
shortest route. I even grounded my punt
like that much to my surprise, considering that these meanders are also noted
for the depth of water, in places exceeding twenty feet.
Meanders below Lechlade
I do not know a great deal about river
flow, but it seems to me that the speed of a current must be inversely
proportional to the depth. In shallow
places for the same amount of water to pass it must go faster.
Therefore by putting in a weir and raising
the level, the current must be very much reduced.
Presumably silting occurs where the current
is least - so nature is "trying" to restore the situation prior to
the building of the weir. The other
factor at work of course is erosion. The
meanders occur through erosion. But
though raising the level puts the water in contact with far more soil, that
contact is much gentler because the current is slower.
My observation of these meanders is that they
are almost unchanged over twenty years.
The positions of the pill boxes, concrete fortifications, show that the
river has changed little since they were built.
Maybe the erosion has been so reduced that the meanders have been
"frozen" at the moment that the weirs were built.
1802: Fred Thacker (in 1921) -
In June of [1802] a cut was proposed across Bloomer Meadow near Buscot Cheese Wharf: a step often suggested to avoid some of the worst bends hereabouts, but not even now realised.
1896: 'A Tale of the Thames' by Joseph Ashby-Sterry [going downstream in a skiff]
It did not take them long to reach Saint John's, which is the first lock on the Thames,
and pass through it into the singularly curly stream beyond.
In places it here curves so much that you appear to be constantly returning to the point whence you started.
It requires no little skill in steering in these waters, for in places the stream is very swift,
and you have to anticipate the sudden turnings before you reach them.
...
A little way after passing Saint John's Lock, the stream altogether quits the county of its birth, Gloucestershire,
and henceforth [going downstream] becomes the boundary between Oxfordshire and Berkshire.
1937: "The Thames and its Story" -
There are a quietude and utter rurality about the river from Lechlade till within the
precincts of Oxford that will be looked for in vain upon the busier haunts.
Progressing from Lechlade downwards one feels altogether removed from the haunts of men.
A patient angler sitting in his boat under the overhanging boughs of a tree will be occasionally passed,
and the presence of labourers toiling in the meadows is evidence that this is not wholly
a "Sleepy Hollow". The solitude is, in truth, delightful.
As one drops down between the banks one sees drawn up in review order regiments of familiar friends -
the dark, glossy leaves of the water dock, bursting into seed in July;
huge clumps of blue forget-me-nots that can only be plucked from a boat;
ox-eyed daisies, well above high-water mark, gleaming as fixed stars in the floral firmament;
the yellow-flowering great watercress,
the purple loosestrife beginning to blossom,
yellow iris,
the white flowers of the common watercress,
the pin persicaria,
meadowsweet,
the comfreys,
and sometimes a clump of arrowheads.
Map: Bloomers Hole Footbridge
New Footbridge at Bloomers Hole, 2000
Cezary M Bednarski's carbon fibre design entry for Bloomers Hole Pedestrian Bridge
Bloomer’s Hole Footbridge, Doug Myers © 2005
The new footbridge at Bloomers Hole. I saw this put in place by helicopter in 2000. It is made of steel clad in wood.
(Upstream to The Trout Inn)
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