Mean flow 1.4 cumecs; high flow exceeded 10% of the time 4 cumecs; low flow exceeded 95% of the time 0.07 cumecs
This section in The Stripling Thames by Fred Thacker
1910: Thames Valley Villages by Charles G Harper
[The width of the Thames at the Barrier is about the distance from Cricklade Bridge to Cricklade Slipway ]
Cricklade Slipway, right bank, very light craft only.
Good concrete slipway in Cricklade gives
access to a high current section which could hardly be used by boats with any
more than a few inches draught. Perhaps
this is where the rowing boat is
launched which is reputed to inspect this section annually?
1888: from " The Thames: Oxford to its Source" by Paul Blake -
Then came the old plank bridge, prettily situated between wooded banks, then Rose Cottage, then Cricklade.
“Well!” exclaimed Figgis, as they landed at Rose Cottage,
“that’s over at last. I never did such a piece of river in my life.”
“What a pace we went, too!” said Budd – “a mile an hour at least.
I should like to put the winning eight at Henley on that stretch with the tallest rushes.”
1909: Fred Thacker -
Two or three meadows above Eisey Bridge the Dance Brook enters upon the southern bank,
little deserving its title here, whatever be the case higher up its course.
It gives its name to the Dance Common just outside Cricklade.
Now a farm blocks the way, but if you persevere round you will arrive at a rustic bridge called Hatchett's,
on the outskirts of Cricklade, where baptisms have been performed within living memory.
Rose Cottage adjoins it, well known to men who navigate through to Cricklade;
above which Taunt marks an old weir site;
perhaps the ruinous old house on the right bank was the weirkeeper's;
it stands at the head of the pool.
And then the walk is barred by "nimble footed Churn";
and I went to my night's rest back across Hatchett's Bridge and into Cricklade.
Hatchett's Bridge, Cricklade. 1910
Rose Cottage at Henley Rowing Museum
Cricklade Footbridge
This may be more than a footbridge - but I don't know if its public -
Cricklade Footbridge.
River is no more than a maximum of two feet deep with stones which scraped the punt.
The river goes round behind the houses and nothing of Cricklade actually faces the river. Photo taken going downstream.
Map: River Churn
The River Churn joins from the north, left bank -
The River Churn.
The River Churn was contributing
significantly to the stream about 100 yards below the High Street Bridge.
The River Churn is certainly a major source of the
River Thames since its source is at Seven Springs.
West Mill Weir Site, Cricklade
West Mill Cricklade is in the Domesday Book.
1828: Westall - the
River was then navigable to this point for barges of six or seven tons.
1920: Fred Thacker -
West Mill was bought up and stopped some years ago by the Thames Conservancy to prevent its interference with the level of the River.
Map: Cricklade Town Bridge
The limit of navigation as far as I am concerned in a punt.
Most canoists would probably agree -
though there may be sections above this where a canoe
could be used at certain times of the year.
I failed to stop close to the bridge
there being no way I could stay against the current.
I had to drift backwards – photographing the
bridge to prove I had made it, and then stop just above the River Churn to
celebrate my arrival -
Cricklade Town Bridge.
1852: Cricklade Town Bridge built - relatively recently.
The original Cricklade crossing was probably more or less near the new A419 Bridge.
Cricklade used the river long before the
canal era and there is still a right of navigation to Town Bridge.
There were once 4 flash locks between
Lechlade and Cricklade and the boats using the river were able to carry about
10 tons of goods. The opening of the T&S Canal in 1789 and then the North
Wilts Canal in 1819 provided a more reliable transport system and the river
soon went out of use.
There have been sporadic calls for the
river to be restored to navigation and in 1984, the IWA organised a boat to
carry a "Token Ton" of goods up the Thames
to Cricklade to maintain the tradition -
However look closely at that boat and you will see that though it has been got up to look a little like a narrow boat, in fact it is a very much lighter boat. And its method of propulsion leaves a little to be desired. Of course this may well have been more or less the sort of boat that reached Cricklade in the pre canal times.
1794: Cricklade, Boydell’s History of the Thames -
1794: Cricklade, Boydell’s History of the Thames.
1016: The Anglo Saxon Chronicle -
A.D. 1016. This year came King Knute with a marine force of one hundred and sixty ships, and Alderman Edric with him, over the Thames into Mercia at Cricklade; whence they proceeded to Warwickshire, during the middle of the winter, and plundered therein, and burned, and slew all they met.
Note that it has been suggested that the "marine force of 160 ships" does not
imply that he sailed up the Thames with 160 ships but rather that he brought the crews
here - and he certainly did not sail from here into Warwickshire!
1821: William Cobbett in Rural Rides -
I got to a farmhouse in the neighbourhood of Cricklade, to breakfast,
at which house I was very near to the source of the river Isis,
which is, they say, the first branch of the Thames.
They call it the "Old Thames", and I rode through it here,
it not being above four or five yards wide, and not deeper than the knees of my horse.
I passed through that villainous hole Cricklade about two hours ago, and certainly a more
rascally looking place I never set my eyes on. ...
The labourers seem miserably poor. Their dwellings are little better than pig-beds
and their looks indicate that their food is not nearly equal to that of a
pig.
"The most intact example of a late Saxon new town in Britain.
Sadly the original Saxon ramparts, laid out
in a square around the town, are no longer visible. The original layout of the
town – with back streets running parallel with the High Street is still very
much evident, however. Aerial photographs of the town prior to the building of
housing in the 1960s show the grid layout of streets to very full effect. It is
estimated that the houses which line the streets of Cricklade have been rebuilt
four to six times since Saxon times. What is interesting is that many still
conform to the original dimensions of 33 feet for frontages."
Cricklade Churches.
(Upstream to Thames Head)
(Upstream to Seven Springs)
(Which Source? Thames Head or Seven Springs?)
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