Flow data (Kingston).
Mean flow 65.6 cumecs; high flow exceeded 10% of the time 161 cumecs; low flow exceeded 95% of the time 7.7 cumecs
Teddington to Molesey, Environment Agency 'Out and About' Guide
TEDDINGTON LOCKS Right bank, length: 650', width 24'9"
John Leyland -
Here, then, the life of the locks begins. All know the deep green coolness in the summer time, the bubbling and eddying of the water when the sluices are drawn, the dancing of the skiffs, the shouts of the brown-armed oarsmen, the rippling laughter from pretty lips, the gaiety of costume, the witty sallies and merry rejoinders, all the sights and sounds of the locks of the Thames.
Fred Thacker wrote -
[Teddington is] absurdly derived from "Tide End Town"; before the lock was built even the weakest tides must have been felt, at least before the time of the bridges, many miles higher.
He was probably refering to Rudyard Kipling's "The River's Tale"
I walk my beat before London Town,
Five hours up and seven down.
Up I go till I end my run
At Tide-end-town, which is Teddington.
Although Teddington is normally regarded as the upstream tidal limit, high spring tides can raise the head water level in the reach above Teddington and can reduce, or on occasions even reverse, the flow for a short period. In these circumstances tidal effects are observed upstream as far as Molesey Weir.
1775: Stops were put down "to
controul the current so as to form one certain navigable channel:
frequently near 20 barges were stop’d there at one time.”
1811: Teddington Lock opened on June 20th.
The first recorded weir at Teddington was constructed in 1812.
It consisted of an overfall with a central rymer weir controlled by hand paddles.
A rymer weir is a simple form of variable geometry weir
consisting of fixed horizontal beams which support vertical timber posts
to form a series of rectangular openings.
The openings may be partially or totally closed by means of timber gates
fixed to the end of long poles - the combined gate and pole is referred to as a paddle -
which may be inserted or removed by hand.
1818: Robbery! Lock keeper's statement –
Tedding'n Lock 28/3/1818
… It has always been customary with me to rise
at dawn of day, because in general ye barges move from Richmond then,
& often do before if the moon shines till day.
& this was the case on ye 20th early.
I rose at just past 4 & was employed in
the office arranging some small matters before ye craft came,
when I heard a man’s voice calling.
I open’d one of the shutters & saw a man standing about ½ way between my window
& the lower gate, and he pointed with his hand and said “Here’s a Trow coming”.
I had no doubt in my own mind but that the Trow
was very near, & as the wind blew hard & right into the pound it was
highly necessary the gates should be opened & ready.
I now took my hat
& was going out but the
inst I open’d the door a stout fellow rushed in & seized me by the
throat. While we were struggling in came
2 more & one of them had something in his hand resembling ½ a sack.
I was thrown with violence over a chair and
we both came rolling to ye ground & then I felt one of them cover my head
& press it so close down that I really began to fear they meant to
suffocate me. They soon succeeded in
getting the cloth close on my head again.
The 3rd man that I heard busy opening ye desks & ye cupboard in
which I deposit my change called out to the men that held me “If the old buggar
won’t be quiet stick it into him”. …
I now began to argue a little, with a mouth
almost full of blood, with the man that held me, that if they were men not
savages they would not ill treat one old man.
At this Inst. I heard Mrs. S. step from her bed
on the floor over our heads and one said “Tom go and see who that is moving
about up stairs”, but I said “It’s only my old dame”.
They then took my keys from my coat pocket by
rolling me over, and having broke every lock and
emptied every small box of Mrs. S. in the other room they all ran out leaving
me locked in & in darkness.
By their
bad discourse I must think them bargemen of lowest class.
I had about 11 or 12 single pound notes &
full six pounds silver and ye most part sml silver & 4 or 5 shillings in
copper. I do indeed much fear that this
is only ye beginning, for which ever lock receives much value it will be a
temptation to such villians to make an attempt at ye end of ye week …
Rich Savory
Bell's Weekly Messenger, No.1839, Sunday, July 3, 1831. Old Bailey -
The June session for London and Middlesex
commenced on Thursday morning before Mr. Justice James Parke, Mr. Justice
Gaselee, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, &c.
William Young was indicted for breaking and
entering the dwelling-house of Robert Gordon, and stealing a side of bacon and
other articles.
The prisoner has for many years been known in
the neighbourhood of Hounslow as a desperate fellow. He was also concerned in
the Teddington Lock-house robbery, which, it will be recollected, occurred
about two years ago, and which at the time created a great sensation. He then
saved his life by turning King's evidence, and his
brother-in-law and some other men were convicted on his testimony at the Kingston
Assizes, and afterwards
executed for the offence at Horsemonger lane gaol.
From all that transpired the
prisoner was the guiltiest party, and this led to his being prosecuted for
other burglaries. He defended himself by saying that the King's pardon absolved
him from all former crimes; but the evidence not warranting a conviction, he
was acquitted without the question which he raised having been decided.
It appeared in evidence that the bacon was
found under the prisoner’s bed, and the prisoner had the jacket on when taken into
custody.
Mr. Justice James Parke having summed up the
evidence, the Jury found the prisoner Guilty.
The prosecution evidence in the Old Bailey report comprised some fifty lines.
The defence comprised three words: "I am innocent".
The sentence on William Young, aged 32, was DEATH.
At the time of the Teddington Lock robbery he was about 19.
1825: Teddington Lock badly needed repair
1827: Teddington Weir "blown up by ice"
1830: Following other robberies, the lock keepers were
allowed a blunderbuss and a bayonet, a brace of pistols and ammunition and also
a horn for powder.
1831: the removal of the old London Bridge
lowered the depth at Teddington some 2 ft. 6ins.
The old bridge had 19 arches and held back like a weir,
the fall being sometimes six feet or more.
See London Bridge
1835: There are three pairs of gates.
1837: The New sporting magazine -
BARBEL-FISHING IN THE THAMES. TEDDINGTON LOCK.
Engraved by J. W. ARCHER, from a Drawing by J. JACKSON. [1837]
IT is scarcely necessary to inform any person acquainted with the localities
of Teddington lock, that the above named view is sketched from Nature.
The figures in the nearest punt are portraits.
The gentleman wearing
the travelling cap, who has a bite, is an angler well known at Teddington
for his skill in barbel fishing, and to the Hampton Court coachmen from
the numerous baskets of fish which he sends to London during the
season as presents to his "friends", — who never fail to thank him
openly for his dish of "delightful barbel", and to rate him soundly
behind his back for putting them to the expence of carriage for "a
parcel of good-for-nothing fish that are not even fit to give to the cats".
The fisherman who holds the landing net ready to introduce the "bearded
gentleman" to the company in the punt, is old Kemp, "a very nice man
for a small angling party", and as decent a fellow to hire a punt of as
any in Teddington.
The tall gentleman in the light coloured fishing jacket is Mr. Green, the friend of the proficient at the other end of the
punt, who has come out on special invitation to enjoy a day's sport. He
has his Mackintosh prudently hung over the back of his chair for fear
of rain ; he has pulled up his line lest it should become entangled with
his friend's ; and he is sitting in a state of nervous apprehension of
Kemp's bringing the net up with a sweep and depositing the barbel in
his lap, and thus unpleasantly moistening his white " drills."
...
The little cottage, which appears like a fishing
house on the banks of the river, has been pulled down since the
engraver began the plate. The view is taken from the lock on the
Surrey side, and to the left is perceived the weir, which extends across
the river.
1843: A small steam vessel was refused passage
though the owner declared “it makes no more swell than one of your skiffs”.
1849: Rambles by Rivers: The Thames By James Thorne -
From Kingston the Thames flows on pleasantly
enough to Teddington, a little quiet out-of-the-way
village that has remained for the last quarter of a
century unaltered, while every other place around it has been in course of constant mutation. Somehow
it appeared to get, year by year, more isolated :
neither railway nor pier came nigh it, hardly a new
house was erected in it or an old one modernized,
and the fields remained unencroached upon by cot or villa.
Within the last few months, however,
a railway has been brought within a mile or two
of it, but whether it will effect any change remains
to be seen. It is the last thoroughly rural sequestered
village we shall find on this side of London.
A few anglers repair thither during the fishing-season, and it is the halting-place of a good many
pleasure-parties, who "in sweet summer time"
row their boats as far as the lock : but else its
quiet is little disturbed even by visitors.
The
village contains, with many little shops, some
good houses. The church is a brick building of
small pretensions and little beauty. Teddington
lock is the first on the Thames, and the tide, which
flows but feebly for some miles lower, is here finally
arrested. The little village, with the broad sheet
of foaming water that rushes over the weir, looks
extremely pretty from the river.
1852: Barges still grounding
in lock due to the removal of the old London Bridge
1864: Fish ladders added to weir
1866: The accumulation of sewage above the lock was
"six inches thick, and as black as ink".
1868: A tide in September rose so high that it floated the weir paddles away.
1870: The weir burst in December.
1871: Weir rebuilt
1872: There is a boatslide
1877: The weir burst again with enormous damage.
[In] 1883 daily hydrometric records began when headwater and tailwater readings were first established.
...
By [then] the capacity of Teddington Weir had been increased considerably
with the addition of deep sill sluices.
Teddington Lock, Henry Taunt, 1883
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT04122
1890: Teddington Weir, Francis Frith -
1890: Teddington Weir, Francis Frith
1890: Teddington, Anglers’ Hotel and River, Francis Frith -
1890: Teddington, Anglers’ Hotel and River, Francis Frith
1897: Teddington Lock Bridge, James Dredge -
Teddington Lock Bridge, James Dredge, 1897
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; D230517a
[By 1898] the weir was further enlarged with the addition of overfalls and hand paddles.
1899: Teddington Lock and Rollers, Francis Frith -
1899: Teddington Lock and Rollers, Francis Frith
1904: Double lock opened.
1906: During an exceptionally
high tide on 12th March "so full was the stream at Teddington that a
tug was carried through the lock without the gates being opened."
In 1923 a sharp-crested weir was constructed on part of the original overfall,
specifically to measure low flows.
In 1931 the low flow thin-plate weir was reconstructed on a new line adjacent to the left bank,
and, at the same time, two additional deep sill roller sluices were added.
The whole sill of the gauge weir which consists of a 21.34m wide sharp crested plate,
can be moved manually up or down within a limited range in order to discharge
a quantity of water whilst maintaing a desired level in the reach.
1941: The Thames Disappears! This story was submitted by Garry Lloyd, a CSV volunteer, on behalf of Mick Pitt, to 'WW2 People's War' which is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar
It was a warm, sunny Sunday around 1941, and the French windows were open at our home in Kingston,
Surrey overlooking the river Thames. With no air raid warning there was a sudden bang.
I was 12 years-old and my mother, in the kitchen, vexedly called to my father: “What’s he doing now?”
She meant me, and I was doing nothing but waiting for my lunch.
From our windows we could see a pall of smoke over Teddington Lock, a few hundred yards downriver,
where the Thames becomes tidal. Teddington means tide-end town. We quickly realized it was a bomb.
So blasé had the family become about bombs (a hundred fell on our neighbourhood of Ham,
so one more could wait) my parents made me sit down to lunch before I was allowed out to investigate.
Neither they, nor my elder brother, bothered to leave the house. But curiosity took me to the Lock.
It was astonishing. The river was alive with dinghies and people, surrounded by hundreds of dead fish.
They were pulling them from the water — many measuring some two feet - and offering them for sale,
supposedly to benefit the War Charity which funded, among other things, aid to our Russian allies.
The cause of this impromptu fish market was a stick of bombs, dropped by a German plane, on the Lock.
Three or four had fallen into the river without exploding, but one had hit the weir island,
destroying it and the sluice gates which controlled the flow at this crucial spot where the
Thames becomes tidal. A torrent was pouring over the smashed weir, and concussion of the explosion
had killed the fish.
When the entrepreneurial trade had subsided I went home to bed, and my father to work on nightshift
at the Leyland factory, a few hundred yards upriver from our home, where they built Cromwell tanks.
I awoke when he arrived home in the morning to hear him tell the family in amazed tones:
“the river’s gone!” We got up to cross the green outside our front windows and stared in amazement.
The Thames had disappeared. There was nothing but a tiny rivulet trickling between its broad banks.
Off came my socks and shoes and I walked across its bed, some 70 yards, to the Middlesex side.
I was soon joined by scores of other sightseers, instant beachcombers of treasures at our feet.
There were numerous handbags and handfuls of cash which had fallen, over the years, out of skiffs,
rowing boats and punts which recreationally used the river.
Revolvers and rifles were also recovered, and beneath Kingston Bridge an empty safe, believed to have
been dumped after a successful robbery. I came home with a typewriter, much to my parents’ disgust.
Apart from its soiled and rusted condition none of us could type.
From Hampton Court Lock to Richmond, moored boats had been toppled and damaged, and though the daily
tides rose and fell below Teddington Lock, sections upriver remained dry for weeks before the
sluices were rebuilt. The bomb had destroyed part of the central island. The river was no longer
navigable for wartime barges carrying coal and materials up to Oxford.
Petrol rationing had turned the Thames into a major highway and Vospers boatyards upriver at Walton,
where they built motor torpedo boats (MTBs), could not dispatch their craft to the Royal Navy
until the river was brought back to life. Not a word of the Thames’s humiliation ever appeared in the
newspapers. Wartime security, denying the enemy satisfaction of publicity, saw to that.
In 1950, the remaining sections of the overfall and rymer type weir, dating from 1883 were replaced by radial-type gates.
1955: Teddington Lock, Francis Frith -
1955: Teddington Lock, Francis Frith
At the present time, the weir consists of 34 radial gates, 37 sluice gates (including the two large roller sluices) and the sharp crested weir, and has an overall effective width of about 222 metres.
Height profile of the Thames. Cursor over each section for details.
|
Lechlade - - - - - - - - - - - - Oxford - - - - - - - - - - - - - Goring - - - - - - - - - - Henley - - - - - - - Windsor - - - - - - Teddington 73.1m - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Height above sea level- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 4.3m |
1999: In a punt I found this section a little difficult
due to wash bouncing off the vertical banks (gently
sloping banks cause the wash to break and absorb its energy, whilst hard
vertical banks simply reflect it back) – but the punting was not too bad, the
natural punting line being 12 to 15 feet deep.
1881: George Leslie took his punt right down
to Hammersmith in the 1870s. I would not like to try that today -
My punt squeezed through the little slip of a lock at Teddington, and floated for her first time on tidal waters. As we got below the bridge at Richmond the tide turned against us, and large strings of barges, towed by ugly black tugs, met us in stately procession, coming up from the great city below. My poor little punt seemed sadly out of her element in the dirty stream; and I towed along as well as I could until the tall withies broke my line, and then I had to resume the pole. I did not relish punting in the foul water, and the bottom was by no means good; and to my delight, on turning out of Sion Reach, the wind though slight was fair, so I set sail, and came up to Maynard’s Yard in very fine style about two o’clock.
Teddington Lock Footbridge
1899: Teddington Lock, Footbridge, Francis Frith, 1899 -
Teddington Lock, Footbridge, Francis Frith, 1899
Teddington Lock Footbridge, Doug Myers © 2005
Teddington Lock Cut Footbridge, 2005 © Doug Myers
Map: Trowlock Island, left bank
29 bungalows. The residents own the island. There is a chain ferry.
Royal Canoe Club
Map: Steven's Eyot
Map: Boaters Inn
Right bank just above Steven's Eyot
Upstream to Kingston Railway Bridge
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