1770: Richmond Ferry -
Richmond Ferry in 1770
1774: from "THE THAMES; or GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS Of SEATS, VILLAS, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND PICTURESQUE SCENERY" by William Bernard Cooke, 1811 -
Richmond Bridge was begun in 1774, and finished in three years, at an expence of £26,000, which was raised upon tontine, at four
per cent. The first tontine consisted of 200 shares, of £
100 each: in this about seventy-seven of the subscribers
are dead ; the second consisted of fifty shares of £100 each,
in which seventeen of the subscribers are dead: those
living are mostly from forty to fifty years of age.
The tolls have not increased since the year 1796, when they
amounted to about £1300 per annum, but there must be a
sufficient sum raised for repairs, before they can be taken off.
It is 300 feet long, and has five arches of stone,
exclusive of the causeway : the central arch is 25 feet
high, and 60 wide. Mr. Payne was the architect: it is by
no means the best of his works: the ascent, which is in a
straight line, is more sudden than local circumstances required,
and, what is worse, forms an apex on the middle of
the bridge.
The floods in March 1774 rose more than ten feet above
the common level of the water: those of this year [1811] were not
so high by four inches.
1774: And here is Richmond bridge actually being built. The temporary timber centring under each arch is clearly seen -
Richmond Bridge being built, 1774 (detail)
Richmond Bridge being built, 1774
1784? -
The New Bridge, Richmond, 1784?
1779: The London magazine -
The Bridge erected across the River Thames at Richmond in Surrey, is a simple yet elegant structure, and from its happy situation, is one of the most beautiful ornaments of the river and the country adjacent.
New Richmond Bridge
1790: Lines written near Richmond, upon the Thames at Evening, William Wordsworth -
[ In 1820 the New Monthly Magazine commented -
How by a ... delightful process, does the poet impart to an evening scene on the Thames at Richmond, the serenity of
his own heart, and tinge it with softest and saddest hues of the fancy and the affections!
The verses have all the richness of Collins, to whom they allude, and breathe a more profound and universal
sentiment than is found in his sky-tinctured poetry.
How richly glows the water's breast; / How rich the wave, in front, imprest
Before us tinged with evening hues, / With evening-twilight's summer hues,
While, facing thus the crimson west,
The boat her silent course pursues
And see how dark the backward stream!
A little moment past so smiling!
And still perchance, with faithless gleam,
Some other loiterer beguiling.
Such views the youthful bard allure
But, heedless of the following gloom,
He deems their colours shall endure
'Till peace go with him to the tomb;
And let him nurse his fond deceit,
And what if he must die in sorrow
Who would not cherish dreams so sweet,
Tbough grief and pain may come to-morrow
Glide gently, thus forever glide
O Thames! that other bards may see,
As lovely visions by thy side
As now, fair river! come to me.
Oh glide, fair stream! for ever so;
Thy quiet soul on all bestowing,
‘Till all our minds forever flow,
As thy deep waters now are flowing.
Vain thought! yet be as now thou art,
That in thy waters may be seen
The image of a poet's heart,
How bright, how solemn, how serene!
Such heart did once the poet bless,
Who, pouring here a later ditty,
Could find no refuge from distress,
But in the milder grief of pity.
Remembrance! as we glide along,
For him suspend the dashing oar,
And pray that never child of Song
May know his freezing sorrows more.
How calm! how still! the only sound,
The dripping of the oar suspended!
- The evening darkness gathers round
By virtue's holiest powers attended.
[ The alternative 1st two lines only appear in the New Monthly Magazine 1824, quoted above (as far as I know)]
1790: And here in that same year in which Wordsworth wrote is what he saw -
Richmond Bridge, 1790
Lady X, with Nanny and the young master are strolling by the river.
I wonder how they were greeted by the gang of men just disappearing round the bend behind them, hauling the barge with its cable attached
to the mast head?
1802: Picturesque View on the River Thames, Samuel Ireland, shows no less than three prints of Richmond Bridge -
Richmond Bridge, 1802, Ireland
THE charming village of Richmond, from
the singular beauty of its situation, has not
improperly been termed the Frescati of England.
It received the addition of the present elegant stone bridge from a design of the
late Mr. James Payne. The arches are semi-circular, and the structure taken altogether
is not inferior to the first work of the kind on this river.
THE annexed view was taken below the
bridge, where the rich and variegated scenery of the adjacent country, with the beautiful
hill in the back ground, render the landscape highly interesting and worthy selection.
Richmond Bridge, 1802, Ireland
Richmond Bridge, 1802, Ireland
1808: Richmond Hill by Turner
Richmond Hill (and Bridge), Turner, 1808
1811: -
Richmond Bridge, 1811
1818: -
Richmond Bridge, 1818
1826: The Steam Boat Companion quotes Maurice's poem "Richmond Hill" -
Mark where yon beauteous bridge, with modest pride,
Throws its brond shadow o'er the subject tide;
There little elegance and strength unite,
And fair proportion's charm, the eye delight;
There, graceful while the spacious arches bend
No useless glaring ornaments offend;
Embowered in verdure, heaped unbounded round
Of every varied hue that shades the ground.
Its polished surface of unsullied white,
With heightened lustre beams upon the sight,
Still lovelier in the shining flood surveyed,
'Mid the deep masses of surrounding shade.
1835: "Richmond" from "An Every Day and Table Book" -
Richmond Bridge, 1835
In the beginning of May, a steam-boat for conveying passengers ascends the Thames in the morning from Queenhithe to Richmond,
and returns the same day ; and so she proceeds to and fro until the autumn.
Before she unmoors she takes in little more than half her living freight,
the remainder is obtained during the passage.
Her band on deck plays a lively tune, and "off she goes" towards Blackfriars Bridge.
From thence, leisurely walkers, and holiday-wishing people, on their way to business,
look from between the balustrades on the enviable steamer;
they see her lower her chimney to pass beneath the arch, and ten to one,
if they cross the road to watch her coming forth on the other side, they receive a puff from the re-elevating mast;
this fuliginous rebuke is inspiring:
A Legal Lament
Ye Richmond Navigators bold all on the liquid plain,
When from the bridge we envied you with pleasure mix'd with pain,
Why could you be so cruel as to ridicule our woes,
By in our anxious faces turning up your steamer's nose ?
Twas 'strange, 'twas passing strange, 'twas pitiful, 'twas wonderous
Pitiful, as Shakspeare says, by you then being under us,
To be insulted as we were, when you your chimney rose
And thought yourselves at liberty to cloud our hopes and clothes
The same sweet poet says, you know, "each dog will have his day,"
And hence for Richmond we, in turn, may yet get under weigh.
So thus we are consoled in mind, and as to being slighted,
For that same wrong, we'll right ourselves, and get you all indicted.
The steam-boat is a good half hour in clearing the port of London, and arriving at Westminster;
this delay in expedition is occasioned by "laying to" for "put offs" of single persons and parties, in Thames wherries.
If the day be fine, the passage is very pleasant.
The citizen sees various places wherein he has enjoyed himself,— he can point out ...
[ a great many features] ...
The Aits, or Osier Islands, are picturesque interspersions on the Thames.
Its banks are studded with neat cottages, or elegant villas crown the gentle heights;
the lawns come sweeping down like carpets of green velvet, to the edge of its soft-flowing waters,
and the grace of the scenery improves till we are borne into the full bosom of its beauty — the village of Richmond,
or as it was anciently called, Sheen.
On coming within sight of this, the most delightful scene in our sea-girt isle,
the band on board the steam-boat plays "the lass of Richmond hill," while the vessel glides on the translucent water,
till she curves to the bridge-foot, and the passengers disembark.
Ascending the stone stairs to the street, a short walk through the village brings us to the top of the far-famed hill,
from whence there is a sudden sight of one of the loveliest views in the world.
Here, unless an overflowing purse can command the preference of the "Star and Garter,"
we enter the pleasant and comfortable "Roebuck" inn, which has nothing to recommend it
but civil treatment and domestic conveniences.
The westward room on the second floor is quiet, and one of the pleasantest in the house.
The walls of this peaceful apartment have no ornament, unless so can be called a mezzotinto engraving by Watson,
after Reynolds, of Jeffory, Lord Amherst, in armour, with a countenance remarkably similar to the rev. Rowland Hill's
in his younger days. The advantage of this room is the delightful view from its windows.
Hither come ye whose hearts are saddened, or whose nerves are shattered by the strife of life,
or the disturbances of the world ; inhale the pure air, and gaze awhile on a prospect
more redolent of beauty than Claude or Poussin ever painted or saw.
Whatever there be of soothing charm in scenery, is here exuberant.
Description must not be attempted, for poets have made it their theme and failed.
To the over-wearied inhabitants of the metropolis, the trip to Richmond is covetable.
The lively French, the philosophic German, the elegant Italian, the lofty Spaniard, and the Cossack of the Don,
pronounce the prospect from the hill the most enchanting in Europe.
There was no itinerary of Richmond until Dr. John Evans, during a visit in 1824,
hastily threw some memoranda into a neat little volume, illustrated by a few etchings,
under the title of "Richmond and its Vicinity," which he purposes to improve.
1837: Knickerbocker [article on the Thames in London and above] -
.. by Richmond Hill and Twickenham, it winds through groves and meadows green, a rural silver stream.
The traveller who sees it here for the first time, can hardly believe,
that this is the mighty river which bathes the feet of London.
He asks perhaps the coachman, what stream that is? and the coachman answers with a stare of wonder and pity,
'The Tems sir'.
Pleasure boats are gliding back and forth, and stately swans float, like water-lilies, on its bosom.
On its banks are villages, and church-towers, beneath which, among the patriarchs of the hamlet,
lie many gifted sons of song, 'In sepulchres unhearsed and green'.
1855: The Thames frozen at Richmond. View under Richmond Bridge with the eight year old Richmond railway Bridge in the distance -
Thames frozen at Richmond Bridge, 1855
1870: Richmond Bridge, Henry Taunt -
Richmond Bridge, Henry Taunt, 1870
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT1139
From Lyrics of the Heart, Alaric Watts -
Let poets rave of Arno’ stream
And painters of the winding Rhine
I will not ask a lovelier dream,
A sweeter scene, fair Thames, than thine;
An ‘neath a summer’s sun’s decline
Thou wanderest at thine own sweet will
Reflecting from thy face divine
The flower-wreathed brow of Richmond Hill.
1890: from Richmond by Richard Garnett -
The structure has always been admired, although the lines of the local laureate, the Rev. Thomas Maurice (1754-1824), a lazy, genial man of some repute as an Orientalist, who was at one time an assistant librarian of the British Museum, may be thought to err on the side of hyperbole : —
Mark where yon beauteous Bridge with modest pride
Throws its broad shadow o'er the subject tide —
There Attic elegance and strength unite,
And fair proportion's charms the eye delight ;
There, graceful while the spacious arches bend,
No useless, glaring ornaments offend —
Embowered in verdure heaped unbounded round
Of every varied hue that shades the ground.
Its polished surface of unsullied white
With heightened lustre beams upon the sight.
Still lovelier in the shining flood surveyed
Mid the deep masses of surrounding shade,
Glittering with brilliant tints and burnished gold,
Above, the cars of luxury are rolled.
Or commerce, that upholds the wealthy thane,
Guides to Augusta's towers her cumbrous wain ;
Below, refulgent in the noontide ray.
While in the breeze the silken streamers play,
A thousand barks, arrayed in gorgeous pride.
Bound o'er the surface of the yielding tide.
English poetry, taken as a whole, was probably never at a higher level of tumidity, or at a lower level of bathos, than when compositions like the above " petrifaction of a plodding brain," as Byron called the poem from which it is taken, were considered examples of correct taste, and poetasters like the Rev. T. Maurice shared public favour with Hayley and Erasmus Darwin.
1899: -
Richmond Bridge, 1899, Francis Frith
1906: Water colour by Sutton Palmer -
Richmond Bridge, Sutton Palmer, 1906
Richmond Bridge
1939: Widened on the upstream side
Richmond Bridge © 1996 Doug Myers
Richmond Bridge going upstream
Invention of the Catamaran? 1826
1826: The Steam Boat Companion -
On the opposite side of the river, at the foot
of the bridge, is the mansion of Archdeacon
Cambridge, a noble brick-built edifice, commanding
a fine view of the surrounding country.
Here resided the Rev. Richard Owen
Cambridge, father of the present proprietor;
the author of several works, and inventor of a
curious double boat, which is said to possess
great swiftness in sailing, with equal safety,
formed with two distinct boats, 50 feet long,
though but 18 inches wide, connected together
by a deck, at the distance of 12 feet.
Map: Glover's Island
1898: Mr Glover, a boatman wished to sell his island. The intention was to erect hoardings advertising Pears Soap. It was avoided by a local benefactor buying the island.
Map: Eel Pie Island
Joined to the left bank by a footbridge.
1955: -
Eel Pie Island Bridge, 1955, Francis Frith
1923: Walter Higgins in "Father Thames" -
Nearly opposite the church is Twickenham Ait, better known as Eel Pie Island,
comprising, I believe, about eight acres.
One old author says: "The Eel Pie house has been noted for the last two hundred years
as a favourite resort for refreshment and recreation to water parties,
and persons repairing hither for the amusement of fishing;
the old house was taken down in 1830, and a very handsome and commodious
edifice, comprising a good-assembly room, measuring fifty feet by fifteen,
has been erected on the site by the present proprietor."
1923: Ward Lock, The Thames -
Eel Pie Island, the principal feature of Twickenham's frontage, contains about 8 acres,
and is a popular place of public resort, with concerts and other amusements for river
frequenters.
Antiquaries of the Pickwickian order find some difficulty in tracing through the
dim vistas of history the origin of this romantic name.
Prosaic chroniclers, however, are of opinion that, given the river,
the hostel on the ait, and hungry fishermen desiring supper,
the conclusion is obvious.
from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens -
It had come to pass, that afternoon, that Miss Morleena Kenwigs had received an invitation to repair next day, per steamer from Westminster Bridge, unto the Eel-pie Island at Twickenham: there to make merry upon a cold collation, bottled beer, shrub, and shrimps, and to dance in the open air to the music of a locomotive band, conveyed thither for the purpose: the steamer being specially engaged by a dancing-master of extensive connection for the accommodation of his numerous pupils, and the pupils displaying their appreciation of the dancing-master's services, by purchasing themselves, and inducing their friends to do the like, divers light- blue tickets, entitling them to join the expedition.
Strawberry Hill, on the left bank
Map: Cross Deep
Pope's Grotto
Left bank at Cross Deep
1719: Alexander Pope moved here to Cross Deep.
He built a Palladian villa by the river, over the road from other land he owned.
And the following year he began to make a tunnel under the road from the villa basement.
In the centre he made his Grotto.
1725: Alexander Pope to Edward Blount -
I have put the last hand to my works ... happily finishing the subterraneous
Way and Grotto: I then found a spring of the clearest water, which falls in a
perpetual Rill, that echoes thru’ the Cavern day and night...
When you shut the Doors of this Grotto, it becomes on the instant,
from a luminous Room, a Camera Obscura, on the walls of which all the objects of the
River, Hills, Woods, and Boats, are forming a moving Picture ...
And when you have a mind to light it up, it affords you a very different Scene:
it is finished with Shells interspersed with Pieces of Looking-glass in angular Forms ...
at which when a Lamp ... is hung in the Middle, a thousand pointed Rays glitter
and are reflected over the place.
1802: Pope's Villa was demolished.
Much of the Grotto survives and lies beneath various 20th century buildings
owned by St James Independent School for Boys.
Pending restoration, the grotto can only be visited by special arrangement
or during Twickenham's Festival Week in the second week of June of each year.
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1923: Ward Lock, The Thames, on Twickenham -
Two centuries ago "Twitnam", as it used to be called, was as nearly an earthly Paradise
as lavish expenditure combined with naturally beautiful surroundings could make it.
Thither came all the aristocracy of the day and erected mansions.
Here were to be found the elegant triflers, the brilliant wits, poets and painters,
the cultured and the dilettanti.
Horace Walpole's Gothic mansion at Strawberry Hill, though tawdry in construction when
viewed with the sober judgement of today, was palatial in those days of grottoes.
What famous personages gathered here! - Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Mrs Abingdon, the celebrated actress,
with Kitty Clive of the same profession, Lady Suffolk (Pope's "Chloe"),
Garrick, Richard Bentley, the Misses Berry (of diary fame),
General Conway,the Hon. Mrs. Damer (the sculptress whose "Thamesis" and "Isis" heads form the
keystones of Henley Bridge, Lord Radnor, Walpole's near neighbour at Radnor House,
Pope from his villa hard by, young Gay, the poet, Sir Godfrey Kneller and Hudson the painters,
James Craggs (Addison's successor as Secretary of State), Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, and a host of others
were frequenters of Strawberry Hill.
Thames Young Mariners Base, on flooded quarry on the right bank
Upstream to TEDDINGTON LOCKS
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