Henley-on-Thames, home of the Royal Regatta

About the Book

Discover hundreds of facts you never knew about the River Thames in this intriguing miscellany.

In this delightful book, bestselling author Christopher Winn follows the river from source to sea, uncovering the hidden stories and secrets of its people and places. Learn the fascinating history of England’s longest river; see where Frankenstein was born and where Alice picnicked in Wonderland; marvel at architectural triumphs and be astounded by tales of sporting feats and heroic deeds.

I Never Knew That About the River Thames provides a captivating journey along England’s most iconic waterway and is guaranteed to entertain and inform in equal measure.

About the Author

Christopher Winn has been a freelance writer and trivia collector for over twenty years. He has worked with Terry Wogan and Jonathan Ross and sets quiz questions for television as well as for the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph. He is the author of the bestselling I Never Knew That About England. Books in the same series now cover Ireland, Scotland, Wales, London, Yorkshire and the Lake District and he has written further books on the English, Scottish and Irish. He lives in London and is married to artist Mai Osawa, who illustrates all the books in the series.

THAMES HEAD
TO CRICKLADE

                                        

Thames Head – official source of the River Thames

Thames Head

                               

There’s a little cup in the
Cotswold Hills
Which a spring in a
meadow bubbles and fills
Spanned by a heron’s wing,
crossed by a stride,
Calm and untroubled by
dreams of pride,
Guiltless of fame and
ambition’s aims
That is the source
of the lordly Thames!
BRET HARTE

THE OFFICIAL SOURCE OF THE RIVER THAMES lies in Gloucestershire, 356 ft (105.8 m) above sea level, in a pretty buttercup-strewn Cotswold meadow called TREWSBURY MEAD, 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Cirencester. Beneath the shade of an old ash tree on the edge of a copse sits a simple stone inscribed with the words:

 

The Conservators of the River Thames
1857–1974
This Stone was Placed Here to Mark
the Source of the River Thames

The spot can be reached across the field by footpath, but it’s a good thing that the actual spring, the first of four that combine to make up the source, is clearly marked with a pile of pebbles, because for most of the year there is no water to be seen here at all; there is just a shallow, dry river bed and a pleasant rural scene, occasionally enhanced by a lowing herd of cows supremely uninterested in the fact that they are chewing such significant cud.

However, there is water not far below the surface, and indeed, after heavy rain, the whole field can become a lake.

Thames and Severn Canal

                               

Rising up behind the source of the Thames is a steep embankment which marks the course of the disused THAMES AND SEVERN CANAL, opened in 1789 as part of a series of waterways linking London and Bristol. The route of the canal, last used commercially in 1911, runs for 30 miles (48 km) from Lechlade, where the Thames ceases to be navigable for boats of any size, to Wallbridge near Stroud, where the Stroudwater Navigation continues on to the Severn Estuary south-west of Gloucester.

The canal was what was known as a ‘broad canal’ capable of taking boats with a beam (width) of up to 14 ft (4.3 m) and with a draw of up to 4 ft (1.2 m). Because of the porous Cotswold limestone the canal leaked badly and water supply was a constant problem, so a pumping station was built at Thames Head to replenish the canal from the springs – water that should have flowed east to London found itself flowing west to Bristol instead – and this extraction could be one of the reasons why the Thames Head springs are now largely dry.

Sapperton Tunnel

                               

A short walk northwards along the route of the canal from Thames Head, under a railway, past a derelict roundhouse and along a deep cutting, brings you to the magnificent neo-classical COATES PORTAL, entrance to the extraordinary 2.1-mile (3.4 km) long SAPPERTON TUNNEL. At 3,817 yards (3,490 m), it WAS THE LONGEST TUNNEL IN BRITAIN when it opened in 1789, and remained so until 1811, when it was overtaken by a tunnel on the Huddersfield Canal. There is no towpath through the tunnel, so boats had to be ‘legged’ through by two people lying on a plank across the bow of the boat and ‘walking’ along the tunnel walls – dangerous and gruelling work. From the gaping mouth of the tunnel the dank, dripping brickwork recedes into an inky, echoing blackness and it must have taken some courage to enter in, even for hardened watermen.

The tunnel fell into disuse around 1910 and the Coates Portal was restored in 1977 by the Cotswold Canal Trust, who are in the process of restoring sections of the Thames and Severn Canal. Because the roof has collapsed in a couple of places, it is not at present possible to go all the way through the Sapperton Tunnel, but the Trust is making repairs and it is hoped the tunnel will be open for its full length before too long.

Thames Path

                               

Not only does the Thames River begin at Thames Head but so too does the THAMES PATH, THE LONGEST RIVERSIDE WALK IN EUROPE which accompanies the river for 184 miles (296 km) as far as the Thames Barrier in Greenwich. And the only way to follow the infant Thames for the first 20 miles (32 km) or so is along the footpath – the river is too shallow for any kind of boat until Cricklade at the earliest.

Fosse Way

                               

From the Thames Head, the course of the river leads off to the south-east and the Thames is crossed for the first time by the Fosse Way, the Roman road leading south from Cirencester towards Devon. ‘Fosse’ means ‘ditch’ and when originally built in the 1st century the Fosse Way was little more than a defensive ditch on the western frontier of Roman Britain, on a line from Exeter to Lincoln.

A short distance beyond the Fosse Way water finally appears as the river springs permanently into life from a small walled enclosure known as LYD WELL, and then heads off towards Kemble, whose slim church spire rises out of the trees in the near distance.

Kemble

                               

KEMBLE is built on the site of a 7th century pagan Anglo-Saxon cemetery, ONE OF THE MOST WESTERLY EVER FOUND IN ENGLAND. The present village church has a good Norman doorway and a tower from 1250, to which the spire was added in 1450. In 1872 the whole church was restored, and it also gained a new south transept when the chapel of ease at nearby Ewen was dismantled and rebuilt at Kemble brick by brick.

Kemble Airfield

                               

One mile (1.6 km) beyond the village, on the far side from the river, is KEMBLE AIRFIELD, now known as COTSWOLD AIRPORT, which makes its presence felt in the village when the wind is in the right direction. It was built by the RAF just before the Second World War and became a sort of aeroplane garage where aircraft were sent for servicing and a lick of paint – the QUEEN’S FLIGHT were spruced up there.

For 16 years Kemble was home to the RED ARROWS, the RAF’s aerobatic team, who would practise in the skies above several times a day, drawing crowds from miles around.

Kemble has since passed through many hands including, for a while, the US Air Force, but is now privately owned and provides a range of services such as aircraft restoration, maintenance, salvage and break-up – it is said to be THE BUSIEST AIRCRAFT SCRAPYARD IN THE WORLD. Kemble remains a working airfield, hosting flying weekends and air shows, and is also home to the BRISTOL AERO COLLECTION, displaying THE ONLY COMPLETE BRISTOL BRITANNIA LEFT IN THE WORLD.

Ewen

                               

As the river approaches the village of Ewen it becomes steadily more prominent, a rippling stream of crystal clear water on a bed of stones, but today it is too weak to power Ewen Mill, once THE FIRST MILL ON THE RIVER THAMES, now called Mill Farm. Ewen is fortunate for having the 16th-century Wild Duck Inn, aptly named since this is THE FIRST PLACE ON THE RIVER DOWN FROM THE SOURCE WHERE DUCKS ARE FOUND. Also in Ewen is THE FIRST OF THE MANY BEAUTIFUL RIVERSIDE MANSIONS for which the Thames is justly famous, in this case an attractive Georgian house set back beyond a green lawn, with a white gazebo by the water.

Somerford Keynes

                               

This was the Saxons’ ‘summer ford’ and St Adhelm, Abbot of nearby Malmesbury, built a church here at the end of the 7th century – there is still a SAXON DOORWAY from this building blocked up in the north wall of the present-day church of All Saints, which itself dates from the early 13th century. In a recess nearby are the remains of a carved headstone, thought to be Viking, showing two creatures, possibly dragons, fighting.

Beside the church, and formerly approached by an avenue of elm trees, is a charming, gabled stone manor-house from Tudor days. In the garden there is a matching stone dovecote with mullioned windows and a smart new gazebo.

Sitting astride the river below the manor-house is KEMBLE MILL, the third mill from the source. It is overlooked by POOLE KEYNES, built on the site of a palaeolithic village, possibly 10,000 years old, THE OLDEST SETTLEMENT ON THE UPPER REACHES OF THE THAMES.

The fourth mill from the source is LOWER MILL, which has been turned into a luxury housing development and has apparently attracted interest from the likes of BRAD PITT and ANGELINA JOLIE. In the summer of 2008, THE FIRST BEAVERS TO BE BORN IN BRITAIN FOR 400 YEARS were born at Lower Mill.

Cotswold Water Park

                               

For the next few miles, the river runs through the heart of THE LARGEST MAN-MADE INLAND WATER FEATURE IN EUROPE, the COTSWOLD WATER PARK, which acts as a kind of overflow for the some 140 lakes, created out of abandoned gravel quarries. Most of the lakes are used for recreational purposes, some have beaches, and some serve as landscape features for luxury housing schemes such as the Lower Mill Estate.

Ashton Keynes

                               

As the river arrives in ASHTON KEYNES, THE FIRST VILLAGE ACTUALLY ON THE RIVER THAMES, it flows past a 17th century manor-house on the north bank and then divides in front of the delightful Long House. The main channel then flows south alongside picturesque High Road, which is lined on one side with houses accessed by individual bridges across the water – Ashton Keynes boasts some 20 bridges in total. ASHTON HOUSE, near the south end of the street, lurks behind a high yew hedge but throws out one wing to the river’s edge, with a gazebo oriel window that projects over the river at the end of a high garden wall, giving the effect of a castle rising from a moat.

Scattered throughout the village at significant junctions are the stumps of four 14th century preaching crosses, all of them damaged by Oliver Cromwell’s Roundheads.

On the northern edge of the village a network of mounds and ditches identifies the site of ASHTON KEYNES CASTLE, a ringwork and bailey castle built in the early 12th century by the Keynes family. The Keynes came over with William the Conqueror and their status as favoured local squires is reflected in the assortment of villages in the area that bear their name.

Waterhay

                               

After leaving Ashton Keynes, the Thames receives a good boost from Swill Brook, which joins it just above Waterhay Bridge. Once considered a mere dribble, Swill Brook is now much bigger than the parent Thames at this point, owing to the water park which has diverted water from the Thames and greatly reduced its flow.

WATERHAY, on the south bank, is now just a couple of farms and cottages, but it used to be a village of some size, with a 13th-century church to match. By the end of the 19th century the village had diminished to such an extent that the church was dismantled and rebuilt up the road in Leigh, leaving just the chancel standing forlornly in the middle of a field.

North Meadow

                               

The river now passes through a landscape of water meadows, rich in wild flowers, and winds its way around the conical-shaped landmark of Hailstone Hill to reach NORTH MEADOW, just before Cricklade, a Site of Special Scientific Interest that lies on the flood plain between the Churn and Thames rivers. Since the development of mechanised farming in the 18th century, most meadows of this kind have been drained and put to arable farming, but North Meadow was preserved in perpetuity as common land by the Saxon court-leet of Cricklade and provides a precious habitat for THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF RARE SNAKE’S-HEAD FRITILLARIES IN BRITAIN, some 80 per cent of all these flowers in the country.

Cricklade

                               

The river laps the northern edge of the Saxon burgh of CRICKLADE, which is THE FIRST TOWN ON THE RIVER THAMES and THE ONLY WILTSHIRE TOWN ON THE RIVER THAMES. Originally a small settlement beside the Roman Ermine Street where it crossed the Thames flood plain on a raised wooden causeway, Cricklade was fortified against the Danes by Alfred the Great in about 890, and the layout of the Saxon town and ramparts can still be traced.

In 979 a mint was established in the town, operating until 1100, and Cricklade coins occasionally come to light – there are some examples in the town museum. The Royal Collection in Copenhagen has a fine example of a Cricklade coin sporting the head of King Canute. An old coaching inn, the Red Lion, now stands on the site of the CRICKLADE MINT.

St Sampson’s

                               

Cricklade’s most prominent landmark from the river is the imposing tower of the parish church, ONE OF ONLY FIVE CHURCHES IN BRITAIN DEDICATED TO ST SAMPSON, THE CELTIC SAINT. The church itself was built in the 12th century on the site of a Saxon chapel, but the tower was added in 1552 by John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, father-in-law of Lady Jane Grey. He was executed not long afterwards.

St Sampson’s Cricklade

Oldest Roman
Catholic Church

                               

Near the river is the church of ST MARY’S, which stands on an earth bank above the High Street that was once part of the Saxon ramparts. Of Saxon origins, it was rebuilt by the Normans and retains a fine NORMAN CHANCEL ARCH. In 1981 the Church of England made St Mary’s redundant, and it was later taken back into the Roman Catholic Church, making it THE OLDEST ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN BRITAIN.

The Rights of
Navigation

                               

Cricklade’s Town Bridge, a single arch built in 1852, is the limit of navigational rights on the River Thames, which up to here acts as a public highway across private land. Between Cricklade and Lechlade, however, the river is too shallow for any kind of substantial cargo boat, and once the Thames and Severn Canal had been completed in 1789 the Thames above Lechlade was rather abandoned as a viable thoroughfare. There are plans to restore the section to navigation and occasionally a light cargo is carried up to Cricklade in order to ensure that the navigational rights are not lost.

THE RIVER THAMES

HORATIO HORNBLOWER, C.S Forester’s naval hero, travels along the Thames and Severn Canal in a horse-drawn narrow boat on his way from Gloucester to London in Hornblower and the Atropos – and has to help ‘leg’ it through the Sapperton Tunnel when one of the boatmen gets sick.

Between 1936 and 1940 Ashton Keynes was the site of the COTSWOLD BRUDERHOF (house of brothers), a pacifist religious community founded in Germany in the 1920s. Persecuted by the Nazis because of their refusal to serve in the armed forces, the Bruderhof fled to England, where they set up a thriving farm business, along with crafts and publishing ventures. They attracted a substantial number of English followers, but with the outbreak of the Second World War anti-German sentiment forced the Bruderhof to flee once more, this time to Paraguay in South America. The Bruderhof buildings, just north of the village, are now occupied by the Cotswold Community School.

The checkered red-brown and white pattern of the snake’s-head fritillary is the inspiration for the coat-of-arms and flag of CROATIA, recognisable from the shirts worn by the Croatian national football team.

RIVER CHURN

                                        

Seven Springs – alternative source of the River Thames

Just downstream from the Town Bridge at Cricklade, the Thames is joined by the RIVER CHURN, regarded by many as the true source of the River Thames. Arguments for the River Churn as the source of the Thames are:

a) Seven Springs, where the Churn rises, is the furthest direct source from the mouth of the Thames, adding about 4 miles (6.4 km) to the length of the river.

b) Seven Springs sits at 700 ft (213 m) above sea level, nearly twice the height of the source at Thames Head.

c) Unlike Thames Head, Seven Springs never dries up.

Seven Springs

                               

The SEVEN SPRINGS of the RIVER CHURN rise in Gloucestershire, just short of the steep Cotswold escarpment that looks north-west across the Golden Valley. A couple of miles further north and the waters would tumble west to feed the River Severn, but at Seven Springs the Cotswolds tilt towards the south and east, and that way runs the River Churn.

The countryside is Cotswold charm at its most heavenly with wide fields of blowing barley, clumps of trees and honey-coloured dry-stone walls. The actual springs, cool and clear, bubble up through Cotswold stones in a deep wooded dell beside the main road from Andoversford to Gloucester, and join together to form a stream that flows under the road and into a pond in the grounds of the Seven Springs pub.

Where the stream emerges from under the road there is a plaque in the wall above it that reads:

 

HIC TUUS
O TAMESINE PATER
SEPTEMGEMINUS FONS

The inscription means ‘Here, O Father Thames, is your sevenfold source’. Having gathered itself in the pond, the Churn begins its journey to London and runs off south through trees towards . . .

Coberley

                               

COBERLEY (Cuthbert’s Ley) is mentioned in the Domesday Book as the property of Roger de Berkeley. There are long barrows in the fields around, and just to the north of the village are the remains of a Roman villa where some notably fine mosaics have been found, along with coins, brooches and other artefacts. In 2007 some excavations were made there for Channel 4’s Time Team programme.

The parish church of St Giles stands a little apart from the village, close to the river, and is approached through a small door next to a huge arched gateway leading into the private garden of Coberley Court.

Coberley Hall

                               

The high wall next to the churchyard once guarded COBERLEY HALL, sadly demolished after the owner had lost his all in the South Sea Bubble. CHARLES I stayed at Coberley Hall during his retreat from the siege of Gloucester in 1643; and later his son Prince Charles, fleeing after the Battle of Worcester in 1651 and disguised as a groom, took shelter for the night of 10 September in the old rectory that preceded the present Georgian one.

Coberley Church

                               

St Giles’s Church, much restored by a Victorian rector, was rebuilt in the 14th century by SIR THOMAS DE BERKELEY, whose splendid tomb can be seen inside the church. Clad in the armour he wore at the Battle of Crecy in 1346, his tall figure rests on top of the tomb, his hands clasped in prayer, his head supported by angels, a lion at his feet.

Lying beside Sir Thomas is his wife, the Lady Joan. After Sir Thomas died, Lady Joan married SIR WILLIAM WHITTINGTON of Pauntley in Gloucestershire, by whom she had a son, Richard. Sir William was outlawed for marrying a de Berkeley widow without the permission of the King and died in penury not long afterwards, so young Richard was forced to make his way to London to earn a living. He became apprenticed to a mercer and grew up to be a hero of legend and pantomime, beloved of children the world over, four times Mayor of LONDON DICK WHITTINGTON.

The tomb of Dick Whittington’s mother is a thrilling treasure to come across in this quiet country church, the first church on the stripling River Churn – or Thames?

In the south wall of the sanctuary IS THE ONLY HEART MEMORIAL TO BE FOUND IN THE COTSWOLDS, indicating the burial place of the heart of Sir Giles de Berkeley, Sir Thomas’s father. His body rests in Little Malvern, where he had gone to take the waters.

A plaque beneath the heart memorial informs us that Sir Giles’s charger, LOMBARD, is buried outside in the churchyard, and we can see Lombard’s headstone up against the outside of the sanctuary wall in line with his master’s heart.

Half a mile (0.8 km) further south the river widens into a series of ornamental lakes in the gardens of . . .

Cowley Manor

                               

COWLEY MANOR is an Italianate mansion of 1855 which sits above the River Churn in grounds of 50 acres (20 ha) with terraces, a rock garden and a grand Victorian cascade.

Local sentiment has it that the REVD CHARLES DODGSON (aka Lewis Carroll) first met ALICE LIDDELL (who became his Alice in Wonderland) in the gardens at Cowley Manor – Alice’s uncle was the rector of Cowley and she frequently came to stay with him at the Rectory, now the Old Rectory, an elegant Georgian house set back down a long drive from the main village street, while Dodgson is known to have visited his fellow clergyman there on more than one occasion.

Around the turn of the 20th century Cowley Manor was the home of SIR JAMES HORLICK (1844–1921), the ‘J’ of J. & W. Horlicks, the malted milk drink company. Sir James remodelled the house and is now reputed to revisit it from time to time by climbing in through the large window that overlooks the adjacent churchyard where he is buried. He has been spotted frequently over the years, walking along the first-floor corridor, and is always, apparently, impeccably civil.

The small church at Cowley is 12th century and unbelievably beautiful with, inside, a rare 15th-century stone pulpit and a good Norman font.

Cowley Manor went on to become a conference centre, then an old people’s home, and is now a luxury hotel and spa belonging to Jessica Sainsbury. The hotel literature does not mention whether Sir James Horlick has availed himself of the new spa facilities.

Colesbourne

                               

The next village to receive the Churn is COLESBOURNE. Here the river runs by the foot of Colesbourne Park, home of the ELWES family. The present house was built in 1958 to replace the crumbling Victorian pile which had been erected on the site of the original – a medieval manor-house with a Queen Anne façade.

Henry Elwes

                               

The grounds of Colesbourne Park are graced with a profusion of rare and exotic trees from all over the world, planted by the naturalist HENRY ELWES (1846–1922), who in 1897 became THE FIRST PERSON TO RECEIVE THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY’S HIGHEST HONOUR, THE VICTORIA MEDAL. His greatest work was THE TREES OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, produced in partnership with the botanist Augustine Henry in 1906, which documents and describes the finest specimens of every species of tree grown in Britain and Ireland, and is still today regarded as the definitive study of British trees. Elwes visited every tree recorded in the book himself, a task that took him nearly 15 years.

Colesbourne Park is famous today for its magnificent display of snowdrops, made up of some 200 varieties developed by the present Lady Elwes from the original collection of Henry Elwes. Open days are held on weekends during January and February.

Rendcomb

                               

The river continues south to flow through a wild and deep valley past the playing fields of RENDCOMB COLLEGE, where UN SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN’S SON KOJO excelled at rugby. The college, perched on a noble terrace high above the river, has been a progressive independent school since 1920, and is also the alma mater of three-time champion jockey RICHARD DUNWOODY.

The college is housed in another Victorian Italianate mansion, this time built in 1867 for a member of the Goldsmid banking family, SIR FRANCIS HENRY GOLDSMID (1808–78), who in 1833 WAS THE FIRST JEW TO BECOME AN ENGLISH BARRISTER.

Lying in the shadow of the great house is the Tudor church of St Peter, dedicated in 1517 and ONE OF THE LAST ENGLISH CHURCHES TO BE BUILT BEFORE THE REFORMATION. Its greatest treasure is a 12TH-CENTURY NORMAN FONT with magnificent carvings around the bowl of 11 of the Disciples – and a shapeless figure representing Judas.

North Cerney

                               

Followed closely by the A435, the river now glides past the garden of the Bathurst Arms in NORTH CERNEY and looks across the road at the saddle-backed Norman tower of All Saints, the most unusual church of an impressive collection in the Churn valley. From the outside the church is a curious jumble of 12th-century Norman and early medieval. There is a scratch dial on one of the tower buttresses, by which the villagers have been telling the time for 800 years; and nearby, carved into the stonework, is a MANTICORE, a grotesque creature with the head of a man and the body of an animal. Another similar carving can be found on the south transept. No one is quite sure what they signify.

The church is entered through a noble 14th-century wooden door with delicate ironwork, which swings beneath a five-tier zigzag Norman arch. The interior is most unexpected, and was restored in the 1920s by local conservation architect WILLIAM CROOME. There is Jacobean panelling, a restored Norman chancel arch flanked by round pillars with richly carved capitals, a modern rood loft constructed by Croome himself, a beautiful wooden pulpit from 1480, and an altar frontal from Chartres Cathedral. Remarkable.

Through the trees there are glimpses of the lovely Queen Anne rectory, while further up the hill is the manor-house, also Queen Anne. From here the Churn winds on through the trees towards the distant towers of . . .

Cirencester

                               

On reaching CIRENCESTER, CAPITAL OF THE COTSWOLDS, the river veers off to the left and skirts the eastern edge of town, passing through the grounds of Cirencester Abbey, at one point swelling into a lake graced with swans and ducks. There is little left of the abbey, which was destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, save for an impressive 12th-century gateway at the west end of the lake. At the other end is a short stretch of wall from a much earlier Cirencester – the Roman Corinium.

Corinium

                               

The full name of the Roman town was CORINIUM DOBUNNORUM, and it was founded in AD 75 on the site of a Roman fort set up just after the Roman invasion as an administrative centre for the local British tribe, the Dobunni, who had welcomed the Roman invaders and whose capital until then had been at Bagendon, further up the Churn valley.

Corinium lay on the path of numerous ancient tracks such as the ICKNIELD WAY and the WHITE WAY and soon became an important hub in the Roman road network, with ERMINE WAY from Silchester, AKEMAN STREET from St Albans and THE FOSSE WAY from Lincoln to Exeter all passing through the town. By the 2nd century it had become THE SECOND LARGEST TOWN IN ROMAN BRITAIN, only a shade smaller than London. By the 4th century it was BRITAIN’S LARGEST AGRICULTURAL CENTRE and lay at the heart of THE BIGGEST NETWORK OF ROMAN VILLAS IN THE NORTH OF EUROPE. It was also THE LARGEST PRODUCER OF MOSAICS IN BRITANNIA.

All that remains in situ from those glory days is the amphitheatre, whose grass-covered walls lie at the centre of a park on the south-west edge of the modern town.

Corinium suffered under the Saxons, who won the town from the British at the Battle of Dyrham in 577 and went on to squabble over it amongst themselves, with the Mercian King Penda finally wresting control from the Saxons of Wessex at the BATTLE OF CIRENCESTER in 628.

Cathedral of the
Cotswolds

                               

In 1117 Henry I founded Cirencester Abbey and the town eventually reestablished itself as the centre for the prosperous Cotswold wool trade, becoming THE LARGEST WOOL MARKET IN ENGLAND during the Middle Ages.

St John the Baptist

In the 15th century, long before the destruction of the abbey, the wool merchants of Cirencester used some of their wealth to transform the small Norman church of St John the Baptist into the finest ‘wool’ church in Britain and THE LARGEST PARISH CHURCH IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE. The view from Dyer Street of the church and its magnificent porch soaring over the pretty market square is one of the most sublime town centre views in England.

Treasures inside the church include a rare, pre-Reformation, 15th-century ‘wine glass’ stone pulpit, glowing in red and gold, which somehow escaped destruction by Henry VIII’s ‘reformers’, a silver goblet given by Anne Boleyn to the doctor who looked after her daughter, the future Elizabeth I, and the 15th-century stained glass of the west window. In St John’s Chapel a 13th-century arch rests on a base stone retrieved from Roman Corinium – 1,000 years of history separates the bottom of the arch from the top.

The superb tower, a landmark for miles around, dates from the early 15th century and houses THE OLDEST PEAL OF 12 BELLS IN ENGLAND. It is 162 ft (49.3 m) high, and from the top there is the best view of 18th-century CIRENCESTER PARK, the home of Lord Bathurst, which lurks on the western edge of the town behind ONE OF THE LARGEST YEW HEDGES IN THE WORLD, horseshoe shaped and over 40 ft (12 m) high.

After leaving Cirencester the River Churn bypasses SIDDINGTON, where the doorway of the Norman church sports a superbly carved tympanum showing Jesus blessing the kneeling figures of his disciples Peter and Mark. It then crosses over the path of the Thames and Severn Canal and bubbles under a dismantled railway bridge to . . .

South Cerney

                               

The delightful village of SOUTH CERNEY, which gets its name from the river – Churn – clearly attracts the quality, for it boasts not one but four manor-houses. The church is largely Norman with a solid four-square tower that leans slightly to the west and sports a bright blue clock, successor to the three old scratch dials on the tower by which early villagers told the time.

In a glass case inside the church are two fragments that must be amongst THE EARLIEST WOODCARVINGS TO BE FOUND IN ENGLAND, the exquisitely carved head and foot of Christ taken from a 12th-century crucifix in Compostela. In the central light of the west window can be seen the figure of Mrs Anne Edwards, the widow of a local clergyman, who in 1834 founded an imposing college at the north end of the village to house less fortunate widows of local clergymen.

The river now runs on sweetly between a lane called Bow Wow and the walled garden of the Old Vicarage, past a charming stone gazebo, then gets muddled up for a while in the Cotswold Water Park before squeezing through a narrow gap between Cerney Wick, with its pretty chapel of ease, and a disused lock on the Thames and Severn Canal. On the far side of the lock is a roundhouse, nicely restored as someone’s home.

From here, it’s a fairly straight dash beside the Ermine Way to join (or continue) the Thames just downstream from the Town Bridge at Cricklade.

THE RIVER CHURN

Buried in the churchyard at COWLEY is ROBERT BROWNING, who once kept an inn in Dorset, and was an ancestor of the poet Robert Browning.

After the Romans left, CIRENCESTER, or Corinium, continued for a time as a Romano-British fortress, and the Welsh monk Nennius, in his Historia Brittonum, claims that the British King Arthur was crowned there.

Cirencester’s unique architectural jewel, the three-storey south porch of ST JOHN’S CHURCH, dates from 1490 and was built as ecclesiastical offices for the abbey. It is renowned for its exquisite fan-vaulted ceiling.

Cirencester Park is home to THE CIRENCESTER POLO CLUB, THE OLDEST POLO CLUB IN BRITAIN.

Cirencester is home to THE FIRST AND OLDEST AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD, founded in 1840 by the 4th Earl of Bathurst.

CRICKLADE TO
LECHLADE

                                        

Inglesham Roundhouse – lock-keeper’s cottage at the start of the Thames and Severn Canal

 

So farwell Cricklad, come off yt ground We’el sail in Boats, towards London Town Ffor this now is, the highest station, By famous Tems for Navigation.

From Cricklade to just beyond Lechlade, the River Thames, allowing for the odd kink, forms the boundary between Gloucestershire on the north bank and Wiltshire on the south bank.

Castle Eaton

                               

The road bridge at the Wiltshire village of CASTLE EATON, 4 miles (6.4 km) downriver, is made of iron girders and must be one of the ugliest on the Thames. Just beyond is the more gracious sight of THE RED LION, FIRST PUB ACTUALLY ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER THAMES, a charming 18th-century red-brick building, with gardens running down to the water.

A little further on, right beside the river, is the 12th-century church of St Mary the Virgin, sporting a natty little spire in the middle, which looks modern but was probably put there in the 13th century. It was redesigned by William Butterfield in the 1860s and houses the sanctus bell. Inside the church is a ravishing, richly carved wooden pulpit from the days of Elizabeth I.

Across the fields can be seen the mighty, square tower of the church in the next village, Kempsford, which sits on the north bank in Gloucestershire.

Kempsford

                               

A garden saw I, ful of blosmy bowes Upon a river, in a grene mede GEOFFREY CHAUCER, on Kempsford

The Saxons fortified this important ‘ford of the great marsh’, named possibly after a Saxon hero called Kynemere, and the earthwork they built on the north bank can still be seen. The Thames here formed the frontier between the Saxon kingdoms of Mercia (north bank) and Wessex (south bank). Across the river in present-day Wiltshire, once part of Wessex, there is a 100-acre (40 ha) meadow named BATTLEFIELD where forces from the two kingdoms met in bloody confrontation on 16 January 800.

After the Norman invasion William II gave the manor of KEMPSFORD to his friend Patrick Chaworth, and a church and castle arose where four kings would be entertained – Edward I, Edward II, Edward III and Henry IV. The estate eventually passed down to Maud Chaworth, who in 1298 married HENRY PLANTAGENET, 3RD EARL OF LANCASTER. He retired to Kempsford in his dotage and in 1336 replaced the Norman chancel of the church at Kempsford with the decorated one we see today.

Henry Plantagenet’s son, Henry of Grosmont, 4th Earl of Lancaster, settled at Kempsford but was driven away by tragedy. His young son, another Henry, drowned in the river and the father, overcome with misery, left the village never to return. As he rode away his horse lost a shoe, which was retrieved by the villagers and nailed to the door of the church – THE HORSESHOE IS STILL THERE TO THIS DAY.

The 4th Earl distinguished himself fighting for Edward III on the battlefields of France and was a founding member of the Order of the Garter. In 1351 he was made 1st DUKE OF LANCASTER, becoming THE SECOND ENGLISH DUKE after the Black Prince, Duke of Cornwall.

John of Gaunt

                               

Kempsford eventually passed to the Duke’s eldest daughter Maud, but she died of the plague in 1362 and everything went to her younger sister BLANCHE. In 1359 Edward III’s third son JOHN OF GAUNT married Blanche and so procured Kempsford along with the title Duke of Lancaster.

In 1385 John of Gaunt built the great perpendicular church tower that so distinguishes Kempsford from afar, as a memorial to his wife. The vaulted ceiling of the tower is painted in glorious colour and displays the 16 red roses of Lancaster.

In the early 17th century the castle was pulled down and a grand Jacobean house built in its place, but this was demolished 150 years later by the new owner, LORD COLERAINE, to pay off his debts. Some of the materials from the house were used to build the manor farm, but the bulk was loaded on to barges and taken 5 miles (8 km) downstream to build Buscot Park.

Today all that is left to remind us of Kempsford’s former status is the noble church tower and Lady Maud’s Walk.

RAF Fairford

                               

While floating through the duck-filled reeds and bulrushes that abound on this stretch of the River Thames, the observant traveller cannot have failed to notice the steady stream of enormous aircraft passing low overhead, or have been unaware of the background rumble of aero engines against the gentle lapping of the water.

All this noise and activity emanates from the mighty NATO airbase of RAF Fairford, which occupies the countryside north of Kempsford.

RAF FAIRFORD was constructed in 1944 as a base for British and American troop-carrying aircraft involved in the D-Day Normandy landings. In 1950 a 10,000 ft (3,000 m) runway was laid down and Fairford was used by the US Air Force as a prominent forward air base for B47 bombers during the Cold War.

In 1969 Fairford became THE TEST BASE FOR CONCORDE, and in 1971 THE VERY FIRST CONCORDE EVER MADE LANDED AT FAIRFORD after its flight from the production centre at Filton near Bristol. Concorde continued to use Fairford until 1978.

The US Air Force returned in 1979, and in 1986 American KC 135 STRA-TOTANKERS FLEW FROM FAIRFORD TO SUPPORT THE BOMBING RAIDS ON LIBYA. American B52 bombers were based at Fairford for the Gulf War of 1991, the Kosovan War in 1999 and the Iraq war in 2003.

RAF Fairford is today considered THE LEADING NATO FORWARD AIR BASE IN EUROPE and receives occasional visits from futuristic B-2 SPIRIT STEALTH BOMBERS.

On leaving Kempsford, the Thames passes by the gorgeous Yew Tree Farm, seen across a meadow on the Wiltshire side, continues under Hannington Bridge, built in 1841 with three skewed brick arches, and then turns north toward Inglesham, where the Thames and Severn Canal begins its journey to Thames Head, the Sapperton Tunnel and Stroud.

Yew Tree Farm

Inglesham

                               

‘This church was repaired in 1888–9 through the energy and with the help of William Morris who loved it.’

The tiny, rustic church of ST JOHN THE BAPTIST AT INGLESHAM stands on a pagan mound between the river, which here encompasses an islet, and Inglesham House, which is pretty much all that is left of the old village of Inglesham. The church comes down to us from Saxon days, although most of the building we see today is early 12th century. There are the steps and shaft of a Saxon cross in the churchyard, and inside, brought in from the wind and rain and placed in the south aisle, is a very special treasure – a weather-worn sculptured relief of the MADONNA AND CHILD, executed by a Saxon craftsman, and still redolent of ancient faith.

The Norman nave is packed with furniture from every age and style. There are bare wood Georgian box pews, a font from 1468, a Jacobean squire’s pew and pulpit with canopy, 15th-century screens, and fragments of old stained glass in some of the windows. On the east wall of the 13th-century chancel is a 14th-century stone reredos.

The sloping walls of the church are chequered red and ochre, with faded paintings and texts from the Bible such as the Ten Commandments.

We owe this authentic, unspoiled interior, with its layers of English history, to William Morris, who would row up here from Kelmscott and direct repairs to the church, saving it from the worst excesses of the Victorian restorers. St John the Baptist Church at Inglesham was ONE OF THE FIRST TO BE SAVED BY THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS, founded by Morris and others in 1877.

Inglesham Roundhouse

                               

A little further downstream, on the opposite bank, creating a supremely beautiful scene, is a quaint little cottage draped in willows, which sits beside THE FIRST LOCK ON THE THAMES AND SEVERN CANAL, just where the Thames turns for Lechlade and the River Cole joins from Fairford.

Behind the cottage is the ROUNDHOUSE, which was where the lock-keeper lived. There are several examples of this unusual design dotted along the canal, notably at Marston Meysey, Cerney Wick and at Coates, near Thames Head.

The Thames and Severn Canal, opened in 1789, was a bold and ambitious attempt to link two of England’s great ports, London and Bristol, but it leaked badly and never had the time to become commercially successful before facing competition from the emerging railways. Sections of the canal continued in use until the 1930s when the whole route was abandoned, but the new enthusiasm for spending leisure time on England’s waterways has boosted attempts to restore such canals for purposes undreamed of by the great canal builders of the 18th century.

The Inglesham lock and roundhouse are due to be restored by the Cotswold Canal Trust when funding becomes available.

Head of Navigation

                               

This point marks the head of navigation for the River Thames, although the rights of navigation continue as far as Cricklade. In the past, when there was more water in the river and boats were smaller, some craft could carry on to Cricklade, but today only punts or rowing boats can progress further than here, and even then only when the water is running high. Above here the river is left to its own devices, without locks and weirs, with unprotected banks, weeds and rushes and sudden shallows and eddies.

The footbridge across the river here, which replaced the donkey tow-bridge, acts as a warning marker for those with powered boats who are advised to turn around here.

Next stop is Lechlade, which has already been beckoning for some time, thanks to the majestic spire of the 15th-century St Lawrence Church, which soars above the trees and draws the eye from miles around.

Before the church is reached there is a bustling marina, a turning circle where the banks have been scooped out so that narrowboats can turn around, and the first road bridge across the Thames of any real age or character.

Halfpenny Bridge

                               

The opening of the Thames and Severn Canal hugely increased both the volume of river traffic at Lechlade, with barges arriving from both east and west, and also trade in general. It quickly became necessary to replace the small pedestrian ferry that had sufficed until then with something more substantial that could bear heavy road traffic, and in 1792 the handsome, bow-backed HALFPENNY BRIDGE was opened, taking its name from the ½d toll levied on walkers using the bridge – except for churchgoers. The arch had to be made good and high to allow the new, bigger barges to pass underneath.

The pedestrian toll was done away with in 1839 by popular demand, and all tolls had ceased by 1875, but the stone tollhouse remains at the east end of the bridge.

Lechlade

                               

‘A praty old village with a
stone spire to the church’
JOHN LELAND

The mellow, honey-coloured market town of LECHLADE is situated near to where the Thames is joined by the River Leach, from which the town gets its name. Four counties meet at the river here, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire on the north bank, Wiltshire and Berkshire on the south bank.

This is THE FIRST PLACE ON THE THAMES HERE THE RIVER IS DEEP ENOUGH FOR COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC, and it was consequently a busy river port with a wharf where barges were loaded with all kinds of products destined for Oxford and London, from local cheeses to the stone used for the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Lechlade is still a bustling place, but the trade now is in commuter traffic and tourists, the latter of whom are either exploring the Cotswolds or have come up the river on cabin cruisers and narrowboats.

Sheer Poetry

                               

In September 1815 the poet PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, his girlfriend MARY (later his wife), her stepbrother CHARLES CLAIRMONT and fellow poet THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK arrived in Lechlade exhausted, having rowed up the river from Windsor. They stayed the night at the New Inn, with Shelley feasting on ‘three mutton chops, well peppered’, and next day all felt so refreshed that they determined to row the length and breadth of England’s waterways, and set off upriver to do just that. However, when they reached the entrance to the Thames and Severn Canal and were told that it would cost them £20 to use the canal, they abandoned the idea, and instead rowed on to look at the little church at Inglesham before returning to Lechlade for another night at the New Inn. That evening Shelley took a stroll through the churchyard and was inspired to compose ‘A Summer Evening Churchyard, Lechlade’. The path he used is now called Shelley’s Walk, and there is a plaque on the wall commemorating the occasion, which includes some lines from the poem:

 

Here could I hope
That death did hide from human sight
Sweet secrets

The stunningly beautiful 18th-century Church House beside the graveyard was built by a Lechlade wharf owner, John Aing. Mounted on the garden wall is a delightful gazebo, possibly the finest of the many gazebos to be seen on the journey down the River Thames.

The New Inn, where Shelley and his party stayed, still provides hospitality for ‘rowers’ and other visitors, as does Lechlade’s oldest hostelry, the Swan Inn, across the pretty market-place.

THE RIVER THAMES

Past the MILLENNIUM WOOD, planted by the people of Cricklade to celebrate the new Millennium, and just after the Ermine Way, the Thames is joined by the DOWN AMPNEY BROOK, which reaches here after flowing past the rectory at Down Ampney, 1 mile (1.6km) upstream, where composer RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS was born in 1872. The tune Vaughan Williams composed for the hymn ‘Come Down, O Love Divine’ was named ‘Down Ampney’ in honour of his birthplace.

THE RED LION at CASTLE EATON boasts a thriving ‘PÉTANQUE CLUB’. Pétanque is a type of boules, and is the version of bowls that Sir Francis Drake was playing on Plymouth Hoe when the Spanish Armada was sighted.

John of Gaunt’s wife Blanche was patron of the poet GEOFFREY CHAUCER, who came to stay at KEMPSFORD and was often seen pacing deep in thought along a path on top of the Saxon fortifications known as LADY MAUD’S WALK. Here he wrote a poem, ‘Chaucer’s Dream’, to celebrate Blanche’s marriage and ten years later wrote another, ‘The Book of the Duchess’, to mourn her death.

The George in KEMPSFORD is named after George IV, friend of Lord Coleraine of Kempsford Manor – at least until Coleraine became ‘too free and coarse for the royal taste’ and fled to Paris to escape his debtors.