The Cherwell is shown here on six web pages:
Cherwell Mouth (from the Isis to below Magdalen Bridge)
Magdalen Bridge
Mesopotamia (from above Magdalen Bridge to the boat rollers)
Upper Cherwell (above the boat rollers to below Bardwell Road Punting station)
Bardwell Road to the Victoria Arms
Islip (Cherwell above the Victoria Arms)
Other pages of interest to punters are:
Bullstake Stream (Other side of the Isis (aka Thames) - for punters to explore)
To Old Navigation (Punt up above Osney Lock and then round to Oxford Castle)
There are also two round trips including going up the Oxford Canal and coming back down via Kings Lock and Godstow
Map: Magdalen Bridge
Punt Hire.
On the right bank (our left - banks are always named coming downstream!) are the Botanical Gardens. The bridge is Magdalen Bridge and on the right bank above it Magdalen College.
The Botanical Gardens
The Botanical Gardens in 'Oxford' by Frederick Douglas How -
... the Botanical Gardens hard by Magdalen Bridge.
Their situation on the brink of the River Cherwell, and almost under the shadow of
Magdalen Tower, is what probably appeals most strongly to the ordinary
observer, while those who merely pass the gardens by will delight in the
gateway, the work of Inigo Jones, with its statues of Charles I and II.
Formal these gardens are of necessity, but there hangs about them a
certain feeling of antiquity. They somehow seem to take their place
among their old-world surroundings; and fitly so, for they are the
oldest gardens of their kind in the country, having been originated by
the Earl of Danby as an assistance to the study of medicine, nearly
three hundred years ago.
from The Antient and Present State of the City of Oxford, 1773 -
... coming to Brugset-Street, under the West End of St. Clement's Church,
we come to East Bridge, commonly called Maudlin-Bridge, because of the College of the same Name.
It is built of Stone, consisting of 20 Arches, and leadeth over the River Cbarwell near to St. Clement's,
alias Bruggeset.
Concerning its first Foundation I cannot absolutely pronounce, though we cursorily find mention of its Name
in very ancient Autographs ; wherein, for the most Part, it is called Petty Pont, for Distinction Sake,
from Grandpont or South Bridge.
The Foundation Charter of St. John's Hospital, now Magdalen College, remembers it
and an Historian also, living in those Days, who, speaking of the Foundation of that Place,
saith of King H[enry] I - he built an Hospital at Oxford, Anno 1233
non procul a Ponte,
we may conclude, that this Bridge was then in being ;
and Mr. Winfore reports, who lived in the Time of Queen Eliz[abeth I] that it was but then built,
and that, before, it was a Ferry, called Stone Ferry, and the like.
We will suppose he meant it was rebuilt ; for as early as at the Reiteration of St. Frid. Priory, King H. I.
in his Charter dated 1122, makes mention of it thus:
Item, desuper pontem Orientalem duos hidas Terrae cum pertinentiis
confirms to that Priory, among other Lands, 2 Hides of Land, with its Appurtenances, under the Bridge.
But this Bridge is far ancienter than the Norman Conquest ;
and that it was standing in the Norman Conquest, as it does now, is sufficiently testified.
King Ethelred, in his confirmatory Charter of St. Frid. Priory, 1004,
after it had been miserably sacked by the Danes, in the Description of the Limits of the Lordships of Heddington, Cowley,
2 Bolles in Brug-eset, beyond St. Clement's Church, and near this Bridge, has these Words
yare iii hideland ymer into Coeule from Charwell-brigge & longe the Stream or yaz Vyche with Haklingcroff.
Charwell Bridge must be this, both because this passed over Charwell,
and because there was no other Bridge over the Charwell then leading these Ways.
For the Reparation of this, and other Bridges about Oxford, great Privileges have been always allowed the Burgesses by Kings;
who successively instituted a Man, to be always ready, when Need required, to mend it so far as they perambulated,
and to receive those Gifts and Legacies left for this Purpose.
The first of this Kind I meet with, is in the 15th [year] of Ed[ward] II [1322] when Hugh Rose of Heddington,
giving Sureties into the Mayor's Court, was elected Custos of this Bridge.
In the 32d of King Ed[ward] III [1327] Nic Wadelyns, an Hermit, had the Custody of it ;
who had a little Cabbin or Cell in the South Side of it, in a little Isle,
and there lived sometimes as his Predecessors and Successors in that Office did.
They were commonly called
Heremitae apud Petty Pont.
1444: W. Wicham, in his Will, left 6s. 8d. for the repair of the bridge.
1501: Dr. Rimbault -
In the year of our Lord God, 1501, the most Christian King, Henry VII,
gave to St. Mary Magdalen College the advowsons of the Churches of Slymbridge, county Gloucester,
and Fyndon, county Sussex, together with one acre of land in each parish.
In gratitude for this benefaction the college was accustomed,
during the lifetime of their Royal benefactor, to celebrate a service in honour of the Holy Trinity,
with the Collect still used on Trinity Sunday, and the prayer,
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, we are taught by thy holy Word,
that the hearts of Kings are in thy rule and governance, ...
and after the death of the king to commemorate him in the usual manner.
The Commemoration Service, ordered in the time of Queen Elizabeth I,
is still performed on the first of May, and the Latin hymn in honour of the Holy Trinity,
which continues to be sung on the tower at sunrising, has evidently reference to the original service.
The 17th century Hymnus Eucharisticus -
Te Deum Patrem colimus,
Te Laudibus prosequimus,
qui corpus cibo reficis,
coelesti mentem gratia.
Te adoramus, O Jesu,
Te, Fili unigenite,
Te, qui non dedignatus es
subire claustra Virginis.
Actus in crucem, factus est
irato Deo victima
per te, Salvator unice
vitae spes nobis rediit.
Tibi, aeterne Spiritus
cuius afflatu peperit
infantem Deum Maria,
aeternum benedicimus.
Triune Deus, hominum
salutis auctor optime,
immensum hoc mysterium
orante lingua canimus.
1791: Samuel Ireland writes -
AN ancient custom is still observed in [Magdalen]
college : — On May-day morning the choristers sing a Latin hymn, precisely as the clock
strikes five ; and the bridge and neighbourhood,
should the morning prove fair, are
generally thronged with the listening crowd.
A lamb used formerly to be roasted whole
on the leads of the tower, for breakfast;
but in this age of refinement, a dinner is
substituted, at which the lamb is not forgotten.
1890: May Morning on Magdalen Tower Holman Hunt -
May Morning on Magdalen Tower, Holman Hunt, 1890
T H Warren, President of Magdalen -
MAY-DAY ON MAGDALEN TOWER
WRITTEN FOR MR HUNT'S PICTURE
Morn of the year, of day and May the prime!
How fitly do we scale the deep dark stair,
Into the brightness of the matin air,
To praise with chanted hymn and echoing chime,
Dear Lord of Light, thy lowlihead sublime
That stooped erewhile our life's frail weed to wear!
Sun, clouds, and hills, all thing Thou framest so fair,
With us are glad and gay, greeting the time.
The college of the lily leaves her sleep;
The grey tower rocks and trembles into sound,
Dawn-smitten Memnon of a happier hour;
Through faint-hued fields the silver waters creep;
Day grows, birds pipe, and robed anew and crowned
Green spring trips forth to set the world aflower.
On May Day the Magdalen College choir still sing at dawn from the tower.
This remnant of medieval devotion has become a very different matter
in modern times. It is not wise to have a boat on the river
during that event. There is a risk of
serious injury and damage. Certainly
punts cannot be hired at that time. It is not unknown for the modern pilgrims
to show their devotion by risking life and limb by trying to jump off the bridge
onto boats beneath.
By the 16th century the causeway and bridge was of stone, 1500 ft long with 20
arches and deep cutwaters.
1772 - 1778: A new design by John Gwynn completely replaced the bridge with a
bridge with semicircular arches.
The foundation stone was laid on March 26 1773. Architect: John Gwynn, Builder: John Randall.
1791: And here is the new bridge a year or so later, drawn by Samuel Ireland -
1791, Magdalen Bridge, Samuel Ireland.
THE annexed view of Magdalen bridge,
though not properly an appendage of the
Thames, has still so much merit in its design, as to render it no unfit object to place
at the head of this section : it was begun in
the year 1772, by Mr. John Gwynn, who
was a native of this city ; whose work, tho' by no means a perfect model of beauty, will
still be thought to add more credit to the
architect, in point of taste and design, than
to those who had the conservancy of the river
over which it passes.
It is a spacious stone
bridge, five hundred and twenty-six feet in length, consisting of eleven arches, five of
which are without the necessary accompanyment, water; under the other six run two
shallow branches of the river Cherwell: it
certainly forms a noble entrance to the city
from the London road, and may possibly be of some utility at a future period, when taste and
good sense may take into confideration,
should the thing be practicable, the uniting
of two streams, which connected would constitute one river that will do honour to the
university.
1812? Percy Byshe Shelley, 1792-1822, from Literary Anecdotes by Hogg -
ONE Sunday we had been reading Plato together so diligently, that the usual hour of exercise passed away unperceived:
we sallied forth hastily to take the air for half an hour before dinner.
In the middle of Magdalen Bridge we met a woman with a child in her arms.
Shelley was more attentive at that instant to our conduct in a life that was past, or to come,
than to a decorous regulation of the present according to the established usages of society,
in that fleeting moment of eternal duration styled the nineteenth century.
With abrupt dexterity he caught hold of the child.
The mother, who might well fear that it was about to be thrown over the parapet of the bridge into the sedgy waters below,
held it fast by its long train.
"Will your baby tell us anything about pre-existence, Madam?" he asked, in a piercing voice, and with a wistful look.
The mother made no answer, but perceiving that Shelley's object was not murderous, but altogether harmless,
she dismissed her apprehension, and relaxed her hold.
"Will your baby tell us anything about pre-existence, Madam?' he repeated, with unabated earnestness.
"He cannot speak, Sir" said the mother seriously. "Worse and worse", cried Shelley, with an air of deep disappointment,
shaking his long hair most pathetically about his young face;
"but surely the babe can speak if he will, for he is only a few weeks old.
He may fancy perhaps that he cannot, but it is only a silly whim;
he cannot have forgotten entirely the use of speech in so short a time; the thing is absolutely impossible."
"It is not for me to dispute with you, Gentlemen", the woman meekly replied, her eye glancing at our academical garb;
"but I can safely declare that I never heard him speak, nor any child, indeed, of his age."
It was a fine placid boy; so far from being disturbed by the interruption, he looked up and smiled.
Shelley pressed his fat cheeks with his fingers, we commended his healthy appearance and his equanimity,
and the mother was permitted to proceed, probably to her satisfaction,
for she would doubtless prefer a less speculative nurse. Shelley sighed deeply as we walked on.
"How provokingly close are those new-born babes!" he ejaculated;
"but it is not the less certain, notwithstanding the cunning attempts to conceal the truth,
that all knowledge is reminiscence: the doctrine is far more ancient than the times of Plato,
and as old as the venerable allegory that the Muses are the daughters of Memory" ...
Commenting on the above story of Shelley, Andrew Lang, wrote in 1906 -
Not less Shelleyan was the adventure on Magdalen Bridge, the beautiful bridge of our illustration, from which Oxford, with the sunset behind it, looks like a fairy city of the Arabian Nights - a town of palaces and princesses, rather than of proctors.
See the 1906 picture from Andrew Lang's book, below
1815: A treatise on Bridge Architecture, Thomas Pope -
THE BRIDGE OF ST. MARY MAGDALEN, OVER THE ISIS[sic actually Cherwell ] AT OXFORD
is one of the handsomest structures of the kind in England.
It is built of Heddington stone, of uncommon whiteness.
The balustrades are of the same material as the Bridge,
exquisitely wrought and corresponding with the elegance which distinguishes Oxford from almost every other city.
A beautiful model of this Bridge, in ivory, is deposited in the picture-gallery of the University.
1819: Magdalen Bridge "in its old state" -
1819, Magdalen Bridge in its old state.
1837: Memorials of Oxford by James Ingram -
1837, Magdalen Bridge.
1839, Magdalen Bridge.
1883: Magdalen Bridge was widened by twenty feet whist retaining the original design.
The record of the rebuilding of Magdalen Bridge is preserved on the foundation stone
to be found on the arch on the down-river side of the bridge,
best viewed from the car-park of the Bursary of Magdalen College near the entrance to the Botanic Garden:
The foundation stone of the old part of this bridge was laid on March 26 1773.
Architect: John Gwynn,
Builder: John Randall.
The bridge was widened twenty feet on the south-west side
and both parapets were rebuilt
by the Oxford Local Board 1882-3.
Chairman: Rev. J.R.Magrath DD, Provost of Queen's College.
Engineer: W. H. White, M. Inst CE;
Contractor: George Moss, Liverpool.
Magdalen Bridge Widening, 1883, Taunt
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT13356
1885: Magdalen College, The Royal River -
Magdalen College, 1885, The Royal River.
1906: Magdalen Bridge in Oxford by Andrew Lang
1922: Magdalen College, Francis Frith -
1922: Magdalen College, Francis Frith
1934: Magdalen Bridge -
Magdalen Bridge, 1934
1934
Note the state in 1934 of the bank from which this view is taken.
It is now full of trees, which make the
punter’s life interesting on the approach to Magdalen Bridge
from downstream.
John Betjeman at Magdalen College, quarrelled with his tutor C.S.Lewis,
and then failed a necessary examination.
(Frank Delaney says Oxford failed Betjeman) -
Failed in Divinity! O, towers and spires!
Could no one help? Was nothing to be done?
No. No one. Mercilessly calm,
The Cherwell carried under Magdalen Bridge
Its leisured puntfuls of the fortunate
Who next term and the next would still come back.
Could no one help? I’d seen myself a don,
Reading old poets in the library,
Attending chapel in an M.A. gown,
And sipping vintage port by candlelight.
In a poem to his friend Edward James (who was at Oxford with him) John Betjeman wrote -
But in the end they sent me down
From that sweet hothouse world of bells
And crumbling walls of golden brown
And dotty peers and incense smells
And dinners at the George and hock
And Wytham woods and Godstow lock.
1915? -
Magdalen Bridge 1915?
John Galsworthy: Over the River -
The bridge lights
threw splashes on the Cherwell’s inky stream,
the loom of Magdalen lay solid on
the dark, and away towards the Christchurch meadows, a few lamps shone.
Whence they had come the broad, half-lighted strip
of street ran between glimpsed grey frontages and doorways. And the little
river over which they were at a standstill seemed to flow with secrecy.
“The ‘Char’ they call it, don’t they?”
“In the summer I
shall have a punt, Clare.
The upper river’s even better than this.”
“Will you teach me to punt?”
“Won’t I!”
1822: In the Oxford Visiter[sic] -
Magdalen Bridge 1822
Magdalen Bridge Punt station website
Magdalen Bridge Punting Station.
Punt Hire in Oxford.
The punt hiring station is on the right bank, (remember
left and right bank references are always as coming downstream)
immediately above the bridge,
and the current here tends to take the unwary by surprise, so
that the first few yards covered by those who have just hired a punt can be the
most difficult they will encounter. The
punt station slipway has an ice cream stall.
In your own small boat a polite request to be allowed to stop to buy an
ice cream may meet with success, but doing so may be another matter.
1922: C S Lewis, Saturday 3rd June -
Jenkin asked me to come on the river so walked to Magdalen Bridge
and thence up the Cher in his canoe.
River pretty empty and delightfully cool with a soft evening light.
1922: C S Lewis, Thursday, 10th August
At about 2 o'clock, Smudge, Andrée, W, and I set out with tea baskets etc. and proceeded to Magdalen Bridge. In spite of Smudge's advice I insisted on taking a canoe, which was very foolish of me. For four of us it was too cramped and the state of the river after the recent rains made it rather dangerous. At the rollers the landing stage was completely under water and in many places the current defied my poor skill in steering. I paddled alone all the time with occasional emergency help from Smudge. W. in the bow, wedged tightly into a small space with legs apart and a fly button showing, dressed in a suit of P's, was rather a funny sight. It was a beautiful afternoon. We landed in a meadow on the left bank just above the Parks, and had tea in the hay. Plenty of ragging. Back to Magdalen Bridge about seven, where the man said he was very glad to see us again!
See also C S Lewis' trip to Ferry Hinksey quoted in
the Bullstake Stream section
Immediately above the bridge the main stream is
on the left bank (right going upstream).
But there is another (not recommended) stream.
The shallow and almost blocked sidestream immediately under Magdalen College wall passes the college;
and goes under a bridge -
Magdalen College Bridge over sidestream, 2007
In 'Oxford' by Frederick Douglas How -
... at Magdalen College, exists a pleasure ground which
cannot rightly be included among Oxford's gardens, though it is
certainly one of her best-known natural adornments. This is the deer
park adjoining the New Buildings.
It is almost worth while in the summer vacation to loiter near the narrow passage leading from the cloisters,
to witness the start of surprise and to hear the sight-seers' remarks,
as they suddenly come out from the dusk and impressive gloom into a
blaze of sunlight, with gay new buildings bright with window-boxes
straight before them, and a little herd of dappled deer feeding in the
sunshine and the shadow of the park.
Hundreds of years seem to roll away: the very locality appears to change: the visitor could scarcely
look more astonished if he were suddenly transported from the Coliseum
to the gardens of the Tuileries! No wonder a tourist once remarked, as
he issued from the cloisters: "I guess, sir, I've riz from the dead!"
And another sidestream bridge with deer showing on the left -
Magdalen College Bridge over sidestream, 2007 with deer showing on left
Map: Holywell Mill
1822: Holywell Mill -
Holywell Mill between Magdalen & St Catherines Colleges, Oxford, 1822
Mill between Magdalen & St Catherines Colleges, Oxford, 2007
The other side of that weir can be reached from above the rollers on the
Upper Cherwell.
Just below the mill is a shallow branch of the Cherwell that
takes you to the main stream just above the footbridge
with the pipe suspended beneath it. Both these sections can just be navigated at normal levels by
a lightly loaded punt or canoe.
Mesopotamia - above Magdalen 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