Drop is from Hannington Bridge and will largely apply above Limit of Navigation
1910: Thames Valley Villages by Charles G Harper
Lechlade Footbridge
Lechlade Footbridge, Most boats should turn before the bridge
A modern wooden footbridge marks the
limit of navigation for most powered craft.
Most powered boats should turn below the footbridge.
Above here the river slowly becomes its
natural self without the benefit of weirs and locks.
It becomes shallower, less well maintained,
weedy and swifter. In a powered boat above here you are much more at risk of grounding,
and tangling in branches and thorn bushes and finding swift currents
than you are below here.
Even in an unpowered boat you may have problems.
River Coln
1690: Baskervile - Coln Flu [Flu = Flumen = River] -
Here conjunctions, famous prove,
On the score of united love,
Ffor here about Cown River wends,
Its waters into little Temes,
And so these pleasing bankes they wash,
And help the boats, down with a flash.
Thames & Severn Canal
Left bank. This StreetMap shows the course of the canal. On the Virtual Earth View it looks like a double hedge.
Round House
Left bank
1789: November 14th, the Thames and Severn Canal was opened. The Gentleman’s Magazine -
A boat, with the union flag at her masthead, passed laden for the first time to St John’s Bridge, below Lechlade, in the presence of great numbers of people, who answered a salute of twelve pieces of cannon from Buscot Park by loud huzzas. A dinner was given at five of the principal inns at Lechlade, and the day ended with ringing of bells, a bonfire, and a ball.
1793: Thames & Severn Canal, Lechlade Lock -
Junction of the Thames and Canal near Lechlade.
June 1, 1793. J. Farington R.A. delt. J.C. Stadler sculpt.
(Published) by J. & J.Boydell, Shakespeare Gally. Pall Mall & (No. 90)
Cheapside (London)
The 1793 print of the canal first lock shows
no trees around here. The spire of St John's Church Lechlade is
visible in the distance.
1811: The Thames, or Graphic Illustrations of seat, villas, public buildings ...
The Round House, 1811
1821: William Cobbett, Rural Rides –
The land here and all around Cricklade is very fine.
Here are some of the finest pastures in England, and some of the finest dairies of cows ...
I saw in one single farmyard here more food than enough for four times the inhabitants
of the parish; and this yard did not contain a tenth, perhaps, of the produce of the parish;
but while the poor creatures that raise the wheat
and the barley and cheese and the mutton and the beef are living upon potatoes,
an accursed Canal comes kindly through the parish to convey away the wheat and
all the good food to the tax-eaters and their attendants in the Wen! [i.e. to London ]
Is this an "improvement"? Is a nation richer for the carrying away of the food from those who
raise it, and giving it to bayonet men and others, who are assembled in great masses? ...
It is eaten, for the main part, by those who do not work.
William Cobbett was a man with an "attitude".
Today he would be making much the same point fighting for fair trade
with the third world - and hopefully might look a little
more kindly on our waterways!
1859: The Canal and the Roundhouse. Now there are trees, though not as thickly as
today -
Lechlade Roundhouse and Canal, 1859.
Notice in 1859 there was a footbridge over the main river just above the canal
entry. The modern footbridge is 50 yards further downstream.
1885: Lechlade Roundhouse and Canal. The trees had grown a little more –
Inglesham Round House, The Royal River, 1885.
1888: from " The Thames: Oxford to its Source" by Paul Blake -
Less than a mile from Lechlade stands the Round House,
as the lock-house is called which guards the entrance to the Severn and Thames Canal.
The River Colne chooses the same spot to effect a junction with the Thames,
so that there are three streams meeting.
The tower-like erection has a novel appearance to strangers, and, backed by tall poplars, has a striking effect.
The river now turns sharply to the left under the towpath bridge,
and the navigable part is over, at least as regards barges and large boats.
Soon after a turn to the right brings the stream and canal nearly parallel.
1890: most of these trees had gone again; Inglesham Round House, Henry Taunt -
Inglesham Round House, Henry Taunt, 1890
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT3770
1906: Henry Wellington Wack, In Thamesland -
The junction of the Thames, Coln, and Canal, is a picturesque spot.
A "Round House" stands in the shade of the slender alders, a sturdy bridge spans the canal, and the
locks and weirs seem stagnant from disuse.
The canal is in fact a thing of the past; the pudgy old barge of burthen is now a hulk
in a shipyard for wrecks, or in the coal service of the lower Thames;
the tow path is narrowed - almost obliterated - by an overgrowth of grass and osier,
gladdened here and there with the peeping violet and daisy.
For forty miles from its source the river's banks are asleep in solitude.
Nothing but the hum of insects, the pipe of the moor-hen, or the rippling song of a jetty,
enlivens the serenity of the scene.
Now and then a moss-grown mill creaks its rusty wheel
in a backwater and, when the wind is right, the distant din of the toiling town may be faintly heard.
The quiet evening is sweet with a loveliness that refreshes both the heart and the mind.
You love England for her recreative repose.
1911: Inglesham Round House, W Parker -
Inglesham Round House, W Parker, 1911
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; D230399a
1960: Inglesham Round House, Francis Frith -
1960: Inglesham Round House, Francis Frith.
1999: Inglesham Roundhouse. The trees are back with a vengeance. All the way down the Thames it seems to me the same story - there are now far more trees than ever there were in the last few centuries. Trees were free fuel for poor cottagers, every one of whom had an axe. Suddenly the world has changed and the trees are back -
Inglesham Roundhouse, 1999.
Inglesham, the Round House,
Ashley Bryant
The top of the round house (canal lock house) is just visible in the above
two pictures. It has lost a storey or more.
The junction with the Severn and Thames canal is
dry at this point (2003) and little sign of the canal is visible from the
river. (It is under the Weeping Willow.)
The canal line is not far from the river all the way to Cricklade. It was said that
the intention was to restore this section of the canal by 2008 (funding
permitting). Needless to say - funding did not permit - but it might just yet happen
Of which the bards have sung in visionary dreams,
The union of Sabrina's floods with silver Thames.
[ Silver teams? - pity about the rhyme! - or alternatively maybe they were "visionary drams"? ]
Sabrina is supposedly the goddess of the Severn - though one somehow
doubts that anyone who lived near the Severn was ever consulted.
One day soon, we hope, there will be a
reference here to where to turn for going on up the Canal …
We for now however (if our boat is
suitable – or on foot) continue on up the river.
(Upstream to Inglesham)
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