Rivers of Great Britain The Thames from Source to Sea by Various Authors

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Title: Rivers of Great Britain. The Thames, from Source to Sea.

Author: Anonymous

Release Date: September 9, 2014 [EBook #46818]

Language: English

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RIVERS OF GREAT BRITAIN:
The Thames, from Source to Sea.

C. L. SEYMOUR. PINXT

C. O. MURRAY. SCULPT

CLIEFDEN WOODS.

RIVERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

The Thames, from Source to Sea.

DESCRIPTIVE, HISTORICAL, PICTORIAL.

CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED:

LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE.

1891.

[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

ABOVE OXFORD.—By W. SENIOR.
PAGE

The Source of the Thames—Early Names of the River—Seven Springs—Thames Head—

The Churn and its Course—Thames and Severn Canal—Cricklade—Castle Eaton—
Inglesham—Fairford and the Coln—Lechlade—The First Lock—Some Thames
Flowers—Old Buscot—Hart’s Weir—Bird Life—Radcot Bridge—Eddying Pools and
Golden Shallows—Canal-like Reaches—Tadpole Bridge—Bampton—Duxford Ferry
—Canute’s Country—The Windrush—The Oldest Bridge—Old Father Thames—
Disused Weir-pools—Bablock Hythe, Stanton Harcourt, and Cumnor—Skinner’s Weir
and Pinkhill Lock—Eynsham Weir, Bridge, and Cross—The Evenlode—Witham Hill—
Thames Angling—Godstow—King’s Weir—Port Meadow—Folly Bridge
1

CHAPTER II.

OXFORD TO ABINGDON.—By D. MACCOLL.

Oxford, from the Upper River; the New Town—The Courses of the River, from Medley

Weir to Folly Bridge—The Houses of the Regulars and Friars—The University and
Parish Churches—The Halls and Colleges of the Seculars, from the Thirteenth Century
to the Reformation—Jacobean Oxford—Classic Oxford—Convenient Oxford—The
Architectural Revival—The Undergraduate Revival—The River below Folly Bridge, and
the Invention of Rowing—The Navigation Shape of the River—Floods—The Barges—
Iffley—Littlemore—Kennington—Radley—Sandford—Nuneham
33

CHAPTER III.

ABINGDON TO STREATLEY.—By J. PENDEREL-BRODHURST.

Abingdon—The Abbey—St. Nicholas’ Church—The Market Cross—The Ancient Stone

Cross—St. Helen’s Church—Christ’s Hospital—Culham—First View of Wittenham
Clump—Clifton Hampden—The “Barley Mow”—A River-side Solitude—Day’s Lock
—Union of the Thames and the Isis—Dorchester—The Abbey Church—Sinodun Hill
—Shillingford Bridge—Bensington—The Church—Crowmarsh Giffard—Wallingford—
Mongewell—Newton Murren—Moulsford—The “Beetle and Wedge”—Cleeve Lock
—Streatley
62

CHAPTER IV.

STREATLEY TO HENLEY.—By W. SENIOR.

Streatley, the Artists’ Mecca—Goring versus Streatley—Goring from the Toll-gate—

Streatley Mill—Weirs and Backwaters—Antiquity of Streatley and Goring—Goring
Church—Common Wood—Basildon Ferry and Hart’s Wood—A Thames Osier Farm
—Whitchurch Lock—Pangbourne—Hardwicke House and Mapledurham—
Caversham Bridge—Reading and its Abbey—A Divergence to the Kennet, with calls at
Marlborough, Hungerford, and Newbury—The Charms of Sonning—“The Loddon
slow, with verdant alders crowned”—St. Patrick’s Stream—Shiplake Weir—Wargrave
and Bolney Court—Park Place—Marsh Lock—Remarks on Thames Angling—The
Approach to Henley
85

CHAPTER V.

HENLEY TO MAIDENHEAD.—By the Rev. PROFESSOR BONNEY, F.R.S.

The Best Bit of the River—Henley—The Church—The “Red Lion”—Shenstone’s Lines—

Henley Regatta—The First University Boat-race—Fawley Court—Remenham—
Hambledon Lock—Medmenham Abbey and the Franciscans—Dissolution of the Order
—Hurley—Lady Place and its History—A Strange Presentiment—Bisham Abbey and
its Ghost—Bisham Church—Great Marlow—The Church and its Curiosities—“Puppy
Pie”—Quarry Woods—The Thames Swans and the Vintners’ Company—Cookham
and Cliefden—Hedsor—Cliefden Woods—The House—Raymead—The Approach to
Maidenhead
113

CHAPTER VI.

[Pg v]

[Pg vi]

CHAPTER VI.

MAIDENHEAD TO WINDSOR.—By H. SCHÜTZ WILSON.

Maidenhead—Bray—Jesus Hospital—The Harbour of Refuge—Frederick Walker—A

Boat-race—Monkey Island—The River—Surley Hall—Boveney Lock—Eton—
Windsor—St. George’s Chapel—The Castle—Mr. R. R. Holmes—James I.—Surrey
—The Merry Wives of Windsor
143

CHAPTER VII.

WINDSOR TO HAMPTON COURT.—By GODFREY WORDSWORTH

TURNER.

Leaving Windsor—Eton, its History and its Worthies—The College Buildings—Windsor

Park—The Long Walk—The Albert Bridge—Datchet and Falstaff—Old Windsor
—“Perdita’s” Grave—The Tapestry Works—The “Bells of Ouseley”—Riverside Inns
—The Loves of Harry and Anne Boleyn—Magna Charter Island—Runnymede—The
Poet of Cooper’s Hill—Fish at Bell Weir—A Neglected Dainty—Egham and Staines—
John Emery—Penton Hook—Laleham—Dr. Arnold—Chertsey—The Lock and
Bridge—Albert Smith and his Brother—Chertsey Abbey—Black Cherry Fair—Cowley
the Poet—A Scene from “Oliver Twist”—St. Ann’s Hill—Weybridge—Oaklands and
the Grotto—Shepperton Lock and Ferry—Halliford—Walton—The Scold’s Bridle—
Sunbury—Hampton—Moulsey Hurst and its Sporting Associations—Hampton Court
Bridge
161

CHAPTER VIII.

HAMPTON COURT TO RICHMOND.—By J. PENDEREL-BRODHURST.

Hampton Court—Thames Ditton: The “Swan”—The Church—Surbiton—Kingston: The

Coronation Stone—Teddington—Twickenham—Eel Pie Island—Petersham—
Richmond Park—Approach to Richmond
201

CHAPTER IX.

RICHMOND TO BATTERSEA.—By the Rev. PROFESSOR BONNEY, F.R.S.

The River at Richmond—A Spot for a Holiday—The Old Palace of Sheen—The

Trumpeters’ House—Old Sad Memories—Richmond Green—The Church—Kean’s
Grave—Water Supply—The Bridge—The Nunnery of Sion and Convent of Sheen—
Sir William Temple—Kew Observatory, Isleworth—Sion House and its History—Kew
Palace and the Georges—Kew Gardens—Kew Green—Brentford—Mortlake—
Barnes—Chiswick—The Boat-race—Hammersmith—Putney—Barn Elms—Putney
and Fulham—The Bishops of London—Hurlingham—The Approach to a Great City
229

CHAPTER X.

BATTERSEA TO LONDON BRIDGE.—By EDMUND OLLIER.

The Scene Changes—A City River—Battersea—Chelsea—The Old Church—Sir T. More

and Sir Hans Sloane—Cheyne Walk—Don Saltero’s Coffee-house and Thomas
Carlyle—The Botanical Gardens—Chelsea Hospital—The Pensioners—Battersea Park
—The Suspension Bridge—Vauxhall—Lambeth—The Church and Palace—
Westminster Palace and the Abbey—Its Foundation and History—Westminster Hall—
Westminster Bridge—The Victoria Embankment—York Gate—Waterloo Bridge and
Somerset House—The Temple—Blackfriars Bridge—St. Paul’s—Southwark Bridge—
The Old Theatres—Cannon Street Bridge—London Bridge and its Traffic
258

CHAPTER XI.

LONDON BRIDGE TO GRAVESEND.—By AARON WATSON.

Hogarth’s Water Frolic—Billingsgate—Salesmen’s Cries—The Custom House—Queen

Elizabeth and the Customs—The Tower, and Tower Hill—The Pool—The Docks—
Ratcliff Highway—The Thames Tunnel—In Rotherhithe—The Isle of Dogs—The Dock
Labourer—Deptford and Greenwich—Woolwich Reach and Dockyard—The
Warspite
288

CHAPTER XII.

GRAVESEND TO THE NORE.—By J. RUNCIMAN.

Morning on the Lower Thames—Gravesend—Pilots and Watermen—A Severe Code—

Tilbury and its Memories—The Marshes—Wild-fowl Shooting—Eel Boats—Canvey
Island—Hadleigh Castle—Leigh, and the Shrimpers—Southend and the Pier—Sailing
—Sheerness—The Mouth of the Medway—The Dockyard—The Town and its
Divisions—The Nore—A Vision of Wonder—Shoeburyness—Outward Bound
337

TABLE OF DISTANCES
368

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Frontispiece.—CLIEFDEN WOODS.

ON TITLE-PAGE, HEAD OF THAMES (from bas-relief on Temple Pier).
PAGES

MAP OF THE THAMES
To face page
1

ABOVE OXFORD:—

The Seven Springs—Thames Head—The Sources of the Thames (Map)
—The First Bridge over the Thames—Cricklade—Inglesham Round
House—Lechlade: the First Lock—Radcot Bridge—The Ferry, Bablock
Hythe—Cumnor Churchyard—Stanton Harcourt Church—Eynsham
Weir—Cross at Eynsham—Oxford from Godstow—The Thames from
Lechlade to Oxford (Map)
1–32

OXFORD TO ABINGDON:—

The Barges—Oxford, from Headington Hill—New College, from the
Gardens—St. Mary’s, from the High Street—Magdalen Tower, from the
Cherwell—Stone Pulpit, Magdalen—“Tom” Gateway—The Dome of the
Radcliffe, from Brasenose—The ’Varsity Barge—A “Bump” at the
Barges—Iffley Mill—Iffley Church—Littlemore Church and Kennington
Island—Oxford to Abingdon (Map)—A Picnic to Nuneham—The Bridge
and Cottage, Nuneham—Distant View of Abingdon
33–61

ABINGDON TO STREATLEY:—

Abingdon, from the River—Abingdon Bridge—Culham Church—Clifton
Hampden Church—Dorchester, from Little Wittenham—Sinodun Hill and
Day’s Lock—Shillingford Bridge—Wallingford Church and
Bridge—Moulsford Ferry—Abingdon to Streatley (Map)—Streatley Mill
62–84

STREATLEY TO HENLEY:—

The Thames at Streatley—Streatley to Henley (Map)—Goring, from the
Tollgate—Whitchurch Church and Mill—Mapledurham, the Church and the
Mill—Flooded Meadows, from Caversham Bridge—The Thames at
Reading, from the Old Clappers—Sonning-on-Thames—Sonning
Weir—Shiplake–A Camping-out Party—Backwater at Wargrave–A Pool of
Water-lilies
85–112

HENLEY TO MAIDENHEAD:—

Henley Regatta—Henley, from the Towing-path—Regatta Island—Fawley
Court—Aston Ferry—Medmenham Abbey—Below Medmenham—Bisham
Abbey—Bisham Church—Great Marlow, from Quarry Woods—Henley to
Maidenhead (Map)—A Picnic at Quarry Woods—A Group of
Swans—Cookham—A Crowd in Cookham Lock—The Landing-Stage, Ray
Mead—Taplow Woods
113–142

MAIDENHEAD TO WINDSOR:—

Bray Church—Maidenhead to Windsor (Map)—Surley—Boveney
Lock—Windsor Castle, from Boveney Lock—St. George’s Chapel,
Windsor
143–160

WINDSOR TO HAMPTON COURT:—

Procession of the Boats, Eton—Eton, from the Playing-fields—The Albert
Bridge—Old Windsor Lock—The “Bells of Ouseley”—Magna Charta
Island—Runnymede—Windsor to Hampton Court (Map)—London
Stone—Staines Bridge—Laleham Ferry—Laleham Church—Chertsey
Bridge—Shepperton Lock—Shepperton—Halliford—Sunbury

[Pg vii]

[Pg viii]

Weir—Sunbury Church—Between Hampton and Sunbury—Garrick’s Villa,
Hampton
161–200

HAMPTON COURT TO RICHMOND:—

The Approach to Hampton Court—Entrance Porch—The First Quadrangle–
Fountain Court—In the Reach below Hampton Court—The “Swan,” Thames
Ditton—Thames Ditton Church—Hampton Court to Richmond (Map)
—Kingston, from the River—The Market-place, Kingston—The Coronation
Stone—The Royal Barge—The “Anglers,” Teddington—Strawberry
Hill—Pope’s Villa at Twickenham—Twickenham Ferry—Richmond: the
Meadows and the Park—Richmond: The Terrace from the River
201–228

RICHMOND TO BATTERSEA:—

Richmond Bridge—Between Richmond and Kew—Sion House—The River
at Kew—The Pagoda in Kew Gardens—Kew Bridge—Cambridge
Cottage—High Water at Mortlake—Hogarth’s Tomb—The University Boat-
race—Richmond to Battersea (Map)—Old Hammersmith Bridge—Old
Putney Bridge and Fulham Church
229–257

BATTERSEA TO LONDON BRIDGE:—

Battersea Bridge—Cheyne Walk—Vauxhall Bridge, from Nine Elms
Pier—Lambeth Palace and Church—The Victoria Tower—The Abbey, from
Lambeth Bridge—York Gate—The Embankment—The River at
Blackfriars—St. Paul’s, from the Thames—Southwark Bridge—Cannon
Street Station—Battersea to London Bridge (Map)
258–287

LONDON TO GRAVESEND:—

In the Pool—St. Magnus’ Church and the Monument—London Bridge to
Woolwich (Map)—Billingsgate: Early Morning—The Tower, from the
River—Limehouse Church—The River below Wapping—Entrance to the
East India Docks—The West India Docks—Millwall
Docks—Millwall—Greenwich Hospital—View from Greenwich Park—The
Albert Docks—Woolwich Reach—Woolwich
Arsenal—Woolwich—Plumstead—Dagenham Marshes—Barking
Abbey—Barking Reach—At Purfleet—Erith Pier—Tilbury
Fort—Gravesend—At Gravesend—Woolwich to Gravesend (Map)
288–336

GRAVESEND TO THE NORE:—

At Canvey Island—The Fringe of the Marshes—Hadleigh
Castle—Leigh—Southend and the Pier—Sheerness Dockyard, looking up
the Medway—Sheerness Dockyard, from the River—Mouth of the Thames:
Low Water—Artillery Practice at Shoeburyness—Gravesend to the Nore
(Map)—Outward Bound: Passing the Nore Light
337–362

We are indebted to Messrs. Taunt, of Oxford, for permission to use their photographs for the
views on pages 15, 22, 56, 60, 65, 69, 79, 91, 149, 169, 174, 195, 198, 200, 209, 220, and
334; to Messrs. Hill and Saunders for that on page 56; to Messrs. G. W. Wilson and Co., of
Aberdeen, for that on page 54; to Messrs. W. H. Beer and Co. for those on pages 71, 80,
and 85; to Messrs. Marsh Bros., of Henley, for those on pages 63, 77, 113, and 132; to
Messrs. Poulton and Son, of Lee, for that on page 335; to Mr. F. H. Secourable, of
Southend, for that on page 351; to Mr. S. Cole, of Gravesend, for those on pages 354 and
355; and to Mr. F. G. O. Stuart, of Southampton, for those on pages 83 and 153.

RIVERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

THE SEVEN SPRINGS.

[Pg 1]

THE THAMES.

CHAPTER I.

ABOVE OXFORD.

The Source of the Thames—Early Names of the River—Seven Springs—Thames Head—The Churn and
its Course—Thames and Severn Canal—Cricklade—Castle Eaton—Inglesham—Fairford and the Coln—
Lechlade—The First Lock—Some Thames Flowers—Old Buscot—Hart’s Weir—Bird Life—Radcot
Bridge—Eddying Pools and Golden Shallows—Canal-like Reaches—Tadpole Bridge—Bampton—Duxford
Ferry—Canute’s Country—The Windrush—The Oldest Bridge—Old Father Thames—Disused Weir-pools
—Bablock Hythe, Stanton Harcourt, and Cumnor—Skinner’s Weir and Pinkhill Lock—Eynsham Weir,
Bridge, and Cross—The Evenlode—Witham Hill—Thames Angling—Godstow—King’s Weir—Port
Meadow—Folly Bridge.

THE birds, flowers, and bees around are, doubtless, in their several ways, rejoicing with me in the balmy May morning

radiant with warm sunshine. Down the unsullied emerald of the little slope yonder, carpeted with nodding cowslips,
daisies, and buttercups, and faintly azured in sheltered spaces with wild hyacinths, I have descended into a rustic glade,
not, at its widest, more than fifty yards across, and running, roughly reckoning, north and south. The slope is easy,
springing as it does from a verdant bottom to the foot of a low wall; this, pushing aside the glossy sycamore branches, I
have leaped from the Canal path, at a gap where the village children, on their recent half-holiday, wastefully cast aside
the surplus of their cowslip harvest to wither and die. But from my present standpoint the low wall is nearly hidden in
undergrowth, and by a plentiful intermixture of hawthorn, holly, and ash flourishing on the bank top. The sweet-smelling
grass is spangled with daisies and buttercups, though not so profusely as in the field adjacent, which is destined for a
crop of hay; and the grove resounds with bird-music set in the rapturous key of the bridal season. And there, a few
paces athwart the sward, under the shadow of trembling foliage, is the spot which for centuries was said to be the
birthplace of the River Thames. We are at Thames Head, in Trewsbury Mead, in the parish of Cotes, in the county of
Gloucestershire, three miles south-west of Cirencester.
The mossy trunk, lying prostrate under the wall on the side of the glade opposite the sylvan slope by which entrance has
been effected, invites the opportunity of a more minute observation. Seated thereupon, far from the noisy world, we
may make a fair and leisurely start upon that long and interesting voyage from Source to Sea, upon which, in this and
succeeding chapters, the reader is invited to embark with confidence and hope. Here, probably, is the identical spot
which Peacock, author of the “Genius of the Thames,” had in his mind when he wrote—

“Let fancy lead from Trewsbury mead,
With hazel fringed, and copsewood deep;
Where, scarcely seen, through brilliant green,
Thy infant waters softly creep.”

The friendly branches of a wild rose hustle my elbow, or, rather, would do so, but that a sturdier bramble bough
interposes. On the other side of me there is a charming tangle of hazel and blackberry bushes. There is also a more than
commonly bushy hawthorn overspreading the wall at a portion where thick ivy covers it. A spreading wild rose is
established in the very middle of the glade, which is graced with quite an unusual quantity of large and old hawthorn
trees. A strong west wind soughs and sighs in the trees; blackbirds and thrushes, by their liquid notes, blithe and merry,
seem to protest against the melancholy undertone, as does a grand humble bee, in magnificent orange-velvet
smallclothes, who contributes a sympathetic bass solo as he drones by. But the object to be chiefly noticed at this
moment is the aged ash-tree yonder. It is of medium size and no particular shape, though the ivy covering its bole and
lower limbs gives it an air of picturesque importance. Ragged hawthorns and brambles surround it. The importance of
the tree lies in the circumstance that it marks the spot which the old writers, and many modern authorities following in
their footsteps, have pronounced to be the source of the Thames. The supposition is that in former times a perennial
spring of water issued forth here, forming Thames Head. The well, however, out of which the water might once have
gushed, and miscellaneously overspread the pasturage on its way to form a brook, has in these days lost potency. For a
long time past it has ceased to yield water, and, as a matter of prosaic fact, from one end of the glade to the other there
is no sign of water in any shape or form. The inhabitants of the countryside say that in the winter-time the waters,
provoked by long rains, still well forth in copious flood; but, even granting this, we may not conclude that a spring so
uncertain as this in Trewsbury Mead is the source of the Thames. The obvious reflection is that before the erection of
the ugly pump-house which disfigures the locality, and before the neighbouring springs began to be drained for the
service of the Canal, the supply of water was permanent and strong, albeit there is ground for supposing that Thames
Head was never thoroughly to be relied upon. I have thus pictured for the reader the source which appears to be
favoured by topographers and antiquaries; but there are other springs besides. Half a mile lower down there is, near the

[Pg 2]

[Pg 3]

THE SOURCES OF THE THAMES.

Roman way, a basin—another Thames Head—which is sometimes filled by a spring, and which is pictured on the next
page in the precise condition in which it appeared to our artist during the rains of early spring. Yet another rill issues
from a hill-side; and a fourth, lower still, is perhaps the most clearly defined and strongest of the group, and best entitled
to the honour claimed on behalf of the dried-up well in the green glade just described. The Thames Head district seems,
indeed, to abound in springs, and in wet weather the level ground is probably freely intersected by brooklets, forming
the stream which is the undoubted head of Isis, and which has been called the Thames from time immemorial.
On the very threshold of our task we are confronted, indeed, with two sometime-disputed points which it will be
necessary to clear away, or come to terms with, if we would proceed upon our voyage of some two hundred miles
from source to Nore with a clear conscience. They relate, first, to the name of the river; and second, to the precise spot
in the Cotswold country where it starts upon its wanderings. Neither of these controversial subjects shall, however,
detain us long from an intimate acquaintance with the “mighty king of all the British rivers, superior to most in beauty,
and to all in importance,” setting forth on its career in humble smallness, gathering tranquil volume as it flows in
succession through the fertile counties of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey,
Middlesex, Kent, and Essex, and finally delivering its full tribute to the Northern Ocean. What rare historical memories
it evokes, what varieties of landscape it touches and creates, let the following lines describe:—

“The blood-stain’d scourge no tyrants wield,
No groaning slaves enrich the field,
But Health and Labour’s willing train
Crowns all thy banks with waving grain;
With beauty decks thy sylvan shades,
With livelier green invests thy glades;
And grace, and bloom, and plenty pours
On thy sweet meads and willowy shores.
The field where herds unnumber’d rove,
The laurell’d path, the beechen grove,
The oak, in lonely grandeur free,
Lord of the forest and the sea;
The spreading plain, the cultured hill,
The tranquil cot, the restless mill,
The lonely hamlet, calm and still;
The village spire, the busy town,
The shelving bank, the rising down,
The fisher’s punt, the peasant’s home,
The woodland seat, the regal dome,
In quick succession rise to charm
The mind, with virtuous feelings warm;
Till where thy widening current glides,
To mingle with the turbid tides,
Thy spacious breast displays unfurl’d
The ensigns of th’ assembled world.”

“THAMES HEAD.”

It is now generally accepted that, from times as remote as those which preceded the
Conquest, the highest portion of the river was called the Thames. The Saxon
Chronicles so refer to it, and there is no reason to suppose that the river crossed by
the armies of Ethelwold and Canute on their expeditions into the land of Mercia was
ever known by other name. How, and when, the river from Cricklade to Oxford
acquired the local name of Isis is not clear; but the idea was probably fairly started, though not invented, by Camden,
who had pretty visions of the “marriage of the Tame and Isis.” “This,” wrote he, “is that Isis which afterwards joining
with Tame, by adding the names together, is called Tamisis, chief of the British rivers, of which we may truly say, as
ancient writers did of Euphrates in the East, that it both plants and waters Britain.” It is sufficient for us now to recognise
the fact that above Oxford the river is impartially spoken of, now as the Thames, and now as the Isis; and it is rather as
a matter of convenience than of dogmatic purpose that I shall elect henceforth to use the older and more reasonable
name—the Tameses of the Romans, the Temese of the Saxons, and the Thames of modern days.
Equally fruitful of controversy has been the source of the Thames. It has long been a question whether this grassy
retreat, in which we are supposed to be lingering, to wit, Thames Head, in the parish of Cotes, near Cirencester, in the
county of Gloucestershire, or Seven Springs, near Cheltenham, should be regarded as the actual starting-point of the
river. Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, and different portions of each, have occasionally contended for the honour. Many
pages might be filled with rehearsals of learned argument, and quotations from ancient authorities, to support conflicting
contentions; but I shall presently invite the reader to follow the course suggested in regard to the name, and make an
arbitrary law unto himself. It is not to be denied that the balance of acceptation by topographers of olden times pointed
to Thames Head as the generally received source. Leland, sometimes called the Father of English Antiquaries, settles it

[Pg 4]

[Pg 5]

thus:—“Isis riseth at 3 myles from Cirencestre, not far from a village cawlled Kemble, within half a mile of the Fosse-
way, wher the very hed of Isis ys. In a great somer drought there appereth very little or no water, yet is the stream
servid with many of springes resorting to one botom.”
Ill, therefore, will fare the visitor to Thames Head, who seeks it, as I have done, full of poetical fancies and pretty
conceits about the source of rivers in general, and the birthplace of the famous English stream in particular. However
charming he may find the place to be, and charming it certainly is, he will be doomed to disappointment if he thinks he
has reached the source of our royal stream. I was bound for the identical spot, as I congratulated myself, where

“From his oozy bed

Old Father Thames advanced his rev’rend head,
His tresses dropped with dews, and o’er the stream
His shining horns diffused a golden gleam.”

As we have seen, the explorer will, at first, experience failure in his endeavour to find, with any satisfactory clearness,
either old Father Thames or his oozy bed. Arrived at the ancient Akeman Street, or Fosse-way, “3 myles” from
Cirencester, a choice of no fewer than four springs is presented. The village of Cotes, the Roman mound known as
Trewsbury Castle, Trewsbury Mead, and the unromantic chimney of the Thames and Severn Canal Engine-house are
plain enough, here and there—landmarks, all of them, for the industrious searcher; but there is no sign of flowing water,
or, indeed, of water in repose. You will look in vain for semblance of a bed which might be that of a river. It was only
after considerable trouble that I obtained any information, and was guided to this well, named by tradition as the original
and primary source of the Thames, and reached by proceeding for a quarter of a mile from the high road (where it
crosses the railway) along the walk bordering the Canal.
The reader, however, is hereby invited to regard, not Thames Head, but Seven Springs, near Cheltenham, as the natural
and common-sense source of the River Thames. Some three miles south of the town, in the parish of Cubberley, or
Coberley, to quote the words of Professor Ramsay, “the Thames rises not far from the crest of the oolitic escarpment
of the Cotswold Hills that overlook the Severn.”
After pausing on the shoulder of Charlton Hill, and admiring—as who can fail to do?—the magnificent panorama of hill
and valley receding into the mist of distance north and north-east, you proceed from Cheltenham along the Cirencester
road to the crossways. A short divergence to the right, and a dip in the road brings you to a piece of wayside turf, with,
beyond, a corner shaped like an irregular triangle. One side of this might be, perhaps, seven yards in length, another
four yards, and the third something between the two. The triangular depression is reached by one of those little green
hillocks so often to be found on English waysides. The bottom is covered with water, which, in spite of the place being
no-man’s-land, is clear as crystal, and in its deepest part there was not, at the time of my visit, more than six inches of
water. The bed of this open shallow reservoir is not paved with marble, or even concrete, but is liberally provided with
such unconsidered trifles as the weather or playful children would cast there. When the wind sets that way a good deal
of scum will gather in the farther corner, formed by two walls. The turf near the water’s edge is worn away, and the
green hillock has been trodden into a mere clay bank by the feet of cattle and men, for it is, as I have said, a patch of
common land abutting upon the road. Overhead, stretched from the telegraph posts, you may count nine unmistakable
wires parallel with the wall which forms the base of our triangle. On the side farthest from the road the bank is high. A
venerable hawthorn has become wedded apparently to an equally venerable ash, whose topmost boughs coquette at
close quarters with the telegraph wires. Another ash-tree, at the outer point of the triangle, leans over the water.
Between the trees a little sloe bush keeps sturdy foothold. You may mark, moreover, a few straggling briars, bits of
silver-weed, a root or two of the meadow cranesbill, a clump of poverty-stricken meadow-sweet, some fool’s parsley,
wild strawberry plants, and a good deal of bold and always flourishing dandelion. This is the environment of the true
source of the great River Thames. We are at Seven Springs.
Hence multitudinous initials are rudely carved upon the old trees and on the stone walls; hence strangers, during
summer, drive hither and pay homage. Clear away the scum from the water at the foot of the wall and a small iron
grating explains how the waters, always bubbling clear and cool from the Seven Springs, pass away. On the other side
of the wall the inflow forms a pond in private grounds. Thence it descends by a homely fall into a smaller pond, and by
yet another insignificant fall into what for some distance is sometimes little better than a stagnant ditch. A lower fall,
however, of more determined character than the others, sets in motion a clear rill, which, though tiny in volume and
unpretentious in present aims, sets off upon its gravelly course as if it knew that by-and-by it would form an estuary
upon which the navies of the world might ride in safety. Just now a child might leap across. It is a mere thread of water,
yet the streamlet begins at once to proceed in a business-like way under the solid hedgerows separating the fields, and
soon becomes a decided brook. This is a tangible beginning, at all events. The Seven Springs are on evidence in a
convenient enclosure; they may be recognised as, silently sparkling, they gush from the bank which gives roothold to the
hawthorn and ash; and the infant river is always in sight from the moment it assumes the form of a tiny streamlet.
It is difficult to conceive how it has come about that Thames Head on the one part and Seven Springs on the other have
been considered rival claimants for the honour of being the cradle of the Thames. It is true that both streams (for
Thames Head eventually, by sundry means, becomes a stream) rise from the eastern slopes of the Cotswolds; but they
are many miles apart, and Thames Head is nearly fifteen miles nearer the sea than Seven Springs. The rivulet issuing
from Seven Springs, and which presently becomes the River Churn is, in the present day at least, the distinct stream
which continues its unbroken course to the Nore, and it is the source which is farthest from the mouth of the Thames.

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Leland, nevertheless, writing at the time of Henry VIII., fixes, as we have seen, upon Thames Head as the source.
Stow, with less detail, adopts the same locality; Camden does likewise; Atkins declares that the river riseth in the parish
of Cotes; Rudder that it has been reputed “to rise in the parish of Cotes, out of a well.” Modern tourists regularly visit
both places, and in great numbers, during the summer season, and in the case of Thames Head are probably taken now
to the uppermost glade, which I have described, and now to the spring nearer the engine-house of the Thames and
Severn Canal, represented by the illustration. The neglect of the alleged sources by the local authorities of both
Cirencester and Cheltenham is to be explained, probably, on the old principle, that what is everybody’s is nobody’s
business. Since, however, people go in full faith to both Seven Springs and Thames Head, some record, however
simple, might surely be upraised at both for the enlightenment of the wayfaring man.
Dealing with this question at more length perhaps than the subject requires, I may be allowed to repeat that in these
days there ought to be no manner of doubt that the natural and legitimate source of the Thames is that shallow,
neglected, triangular pool formed by the Seven Springs. The Cotswold Hills are, in any case, above dispute as the
cradle-ground of the river, and may be happy with either claimant.

“But Cotswold, be this spoke to th’ onely praise of thee,
That thou, of all the rest, the chosen soyle should bee,
Faire Isis to bring forth, the mother of great Tames,
With whose delicious brooks, by whose immortal streames
Her greatnesse is begun.”

Following the fortunes of the Seven Springs, you naturally enter with some degree of zeal into an expedition down the
River Churn, and this you are able to do without losing sight of the excellent road between Cheltenham and Cirencester.
The pretty little dancing trout stream runs hard by the highway, mostly through a succession of beautiful estates, and
generally thickly overhung with alders and other bushes. Drayton hit off the character of the stream most accurately in
calling it the “nimble-footed Churn;” and its picturesqueness, and musical flow between the wooded hills and through
the fat meadows, as we near Cirencester, appeal to us, even on the score of sentiment. Surely it is more pleasant to
identify this as the Thames than that commonplace current proceeding from the Thames Head series of springs. There is
no necessity, however, to trace in detail the course of the beck-like Churn, by wooded uplands teeming with game, and
through rustic villages and sequestered grounds. It runs through Rendcombe to North Cerney, down by Baunton, and
through the once famous and still interesting town of Cirencester. The Fosse-way mentioned in connection with Thames
Head was one of three great Roman roads which met here. Mentioned by Roman historians as Corinium and
Cornovium, the strongly fortified city of Cirencester, the metropolis of a Roman province was, there is reason for
believing, a considerable British town before it became a Roman centre. In the time of Henry VIII. the Roman wall
surrounding the city might yet be traced, and, as the histories of Gloucestershire show, many Roman remains have from
time to time been discovered here. The Churn sustains its brook-like character alongside the Cricklade road by
Addington, South Cerney, and Hailstone Hill, and then within a mile of the town of Cricklade it unites with the other
branch issuing from Thames Head, to which it is necessary briefly to return, in order to administer to it the justice
already bestowed upon what we have agreed to regard as the rightful heir, namely, the Seven Springs stream, or River
Churn.
The Thames and Severn Canal is so intimately associated with Thames Head, and so dominates that particular part of
the country, that a few words respecting it may be spared. Indeed, it has dealings, directly or indirectly, with the Churn
as well as with the Thames Head stream. Not far from Trewsbury Mead it gives a position to Thames Head Bridge,
and the Canal lies within a few yards of the traditional spring. The first tributary is formed by a spring issuing from
beneath the aqueduct, and not far from the Canal stands the single-arch watercourse, here illustrated as practically the
first bridge over the Thames. The course of the Canal, however, almost immediately bears eastward, until it strikes the
Churn, near which it keeps during the remainder of its independent career. The Thames and Severn Canal is an
interesting fact which the present generation is in danger of forgetting. For many years the junction of “fair Sabrina” with
“lordly Thames” was a burning question in the commercial worlds of London and Bristol. The merchants were much
fascinated with the speculations in which they indulged. The Canal scheme was launched in a Bill in the reign of Charles
II., and Mr. Hydrographer Moxon was engaged to survey the ground and prove to what extent the project was
practicable. Pope, in the grandiloquent language of the time, in a famous letter written at Oakley, Lord Bathurst’s
country house at Cirencester, said, “I could pass whole days in describing the future and as yet visionary beauties that
are to rise in these scenes: the palace that is to be built, the pavilions that are to glitter, the colonnades that are to adorn
them; nay, more, the meeting of the Thames and Severn, which, when the noble owner has finer dreams than ordinary,
are to be led into each other’s embraces, through secret caverns of not above twelve to fifteen miles, till they rise and
celebrate their marriage in the midst of an immense amphitheatre, which is to be the admiration of posterity a hundred
years hence.”

THE FIRST BRIDGE OVER THE THAMES.

The Canal was completed sixty-eight years after this dream was indulged in, and in December, 1790, the first Canal
boat, laden with coals, passed through. The Canal is a continuation of the Stroudwater system from the Severn to

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