Maps
1881: Leslie -
The punting ground above the lock to Medmenham is very bad, especially in the first part of the Reach, where it is soft and muddy ...
Map: Frog Mill Ait, Blackboy Islands, several Islands
1775: Lord Mayor’s View –
Frogg Mill Ait being very wide, Barges are for the most part drawn on shore, and sometimes their masts pull’d overboard; it would be much better if a channel could be made within; [ie on the outside of the bend?]
Fred Thacker commented – Barges
evidently navigated along the left bank, and were towed from the right, their
lines sweeping the intervening island.
1825: Right bank channel cleared by Oliver.
[ This channel is now all but silted up
entirely. The navigation is entirely by
the left bank. That these islands were so clear of trees that tow lines could sweep
over them is hard to believe looking at the luxuriant growth on them now. ]
1881: Leslie -
... and even when you get up to the queer bends and
eyots, though the ground hardens up as the stream sharpens, there are so many
odd corner stumps and deep holes about, that if the wind is against you, it is
not at all an easy thing to get along nicely.
I believe on the whole, for a punt, the best way
through this little Thames Archipelago is to avoid taking the short cut, and
to pass leisurely along by the barge-stream on the Berks shore.
the ground here is all good. By keeping as near to the
shore as the shallows will allow in approaching Medmenham,
and not crossing over to the Abbey too soon, you may avoid the stream almost
entirely.
[ Except of course that today there is little or no water on that side! ]
Map: Medmenham Abbey
1201: Cistercian foundation from the Mother abbey of Woburn (King John)
1245: King
Henry III instructed his officer in charge of the works at Windsor Castle
to allow the Abbot of Medmenham to have one or two boats carrying stone along
the river for his own works;
and not to hinder him or allow him to be hindered.
1256: Abbot Roger
1295: Abbot Peter
1308: Abbot John de Medmenham
1416: Abbot Henry
1521: Abbot Richard
1536: Abbot John Talbot (the last Abbot)
1536: The monastery was dissolved by Henry VIII
1746: Home of the rather pathetic “Hell fire Club” where various
aristocrats had themed parties involving pseudo devil worship.
When one member dressed a monkey as the
devil the others were so scared it ceased.
1790s:
Medmenham Abbey by Louis Belanger
1826: Medmenham in the Henley Guide.
MEDMENHAM ... is situated on the Marlow road, about four
miles distant from Henley. At the time of Edward the
Confessor, the manor was held by Westan, a Thane of
that Monarch. At the conquest it belonged to Hugh
de Bolebeck, whose son having founded the abbey of
Wooburn, in the county of Bedford, gave this manor
of Medmenham to found a cell to it.
The abbey was
founded January 3, 1200, for Cisterian Monks, as appears
from the charter granted by King John. In 1536,
it was annexed to Bisham. John Talbot was the last Abbot,
At the dissolution there were but two Monks, and a
yery short catalogue of effects. The clear value was £20. 6s. 2d.
After the dissolution of Bisham, in 1539,
the abbey estates were given to Robert Mone and others.
The family of Duffield succeeded soon afterwards ; they
possessed the estate till 1779, when it was purchased
by J. Morton, Esq. whose widow in 1786, sold it, together
with Danesfield, to R. Scott, Esq. The manor of Broch,
or Medmenham, was retained by the founder, and descended
through the families of Vere, Warren, Fitz-Allen, Beauchamp, Pole, and Rice, to John Borlase, Esq.
from whom it passed to Sir John Borlase Warren, and in
1781, was sold to W. Lee Antonie, Esq.
Brown Willis visited the abbey in 1718, when part of
the church was remaining; it then appeared to have been
a neat and stately building. The shaft of one clustered
pillar of chalk is the only remain of the church to be seen
at present.
Medmenham Abbey in the Henley Guide, 1826
In the last century, some men of wit and
fashion, under the title of Monks of Saint Francis, took
possession of the house, and assumed the habit, but not
the strict rules of that order. Their motto, "FAY CE
QUE VOUDRAS", still remains over the door.
The abbey occupies a very pleasant spot on the banks
of the river, and forms a favourite resort for a day of
pleasure to many parties during the summer. After
passing the banks of Fawley Court, the Island, and the
part of the Thames, under Culham Court, dotted with
numerous islands, and shaded with willows, you arrive at
the abbey, which in its present state, with its ivy-mantled
roof and walls, forms a very picturesque object. A
ruined tower and cloister have been added with much
effect and propriety, and within the cloister a room (in which accommodation is afforded to the visitors) is
fitted up with the same good taste, and the glare of light excluded by stained glass.
1875: Medmenham Abbey, Henry Taunt -
Medmenham Abbey, Henry Taunt, 1875
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT2115
1881: George Leslie -
As to Medmenham Abbey, it can be landed at and seen in a very few minutes, and Murray’s “Handbook for Berks, Bucks, and Oxfordshire” gives every information that is required. The new Hotel is a great accommodation as a half-way house between Marlow and Henley, and if you go ashore, by all means pay a visit to the church and the little duck-pond; there is too a very curious old forsaken house up the hill, said to have been visited by Charles II and Nell Gwynne.
1885: Dickens's Dictionary of the Thames -
... chiefly notorious from its connection with the Medmenham monks of Francis Dashwood and John Wilkes,
There seems to be no doubt that considerable "high jinks" were indulged in by this fraternity,
and that they were not altogether what is generally known as respectable society.
But it is probable that exaggeration has had much to do with the records,
or rather the legends, of its proceedings,
as is always the case where an affectation of mystery and secrecy is maintained.
The monks of Medmenham, sometimes politely called the Hell Fire Club,
lived at a time when drunkenness and profanity were considered to be among the gentlemanly virtues,
and probably, as a matter of fact, they were not very much worse than other people.
The audacious motto of the club may, perhaps, have had something to do with the holy horror which it excited.
"Fay ce que voudras" was not a good motto at a time when doing as you pleased was about the last thing
that good old-fashioned Toryism was likely to tolerate;
and when amongst the people who were to do as they liked was the hated Wilkes,
the prejudices of respectability were certain to be even further outraged.
"Fay ce que voudras" as it appears over a doorway at the abbey, has, in these times quite a hospitable
look, and the invitation is regularly accepted by the scores and scores of picnic parties who resort
to Medmenham in the summer, and whose innocent merrymaking is, at all events, an improvement
on Wilkes and his monks, however much they may have been libelled.
Medmenham Abbey as it stands at present, is, architecturally, but a bogus affair,
and except an ancient archway and a single pillar of the church, there is little of the ancient Abbey
to be found in the present edifice. But it stands in so beautiful a position,
and commands such lovely views, that its artificial appearance will be readily forgiven.
Once upon a time there was indeed a very important monastery here ...
Their rules certainly would not have suited Wilkes and his friends.
"They neither wore skins, nor shirts, nor even eat flesh, except in sickness;
and abstained from fish, eggs, mlk and cheese;
they lay upon straw beds in tunics and cowls;
they rose at midnight to prayers;
they spent the day in labour, reading, and prayer;
and in all their exercises observed a continual silence."
This cheerful community held possession of the abbey for several hundred years. ...
1886: Julia Isham Taylor, Down the Thames -
Late in the afternoon we passed Medmenham Abbey. That bête noir of self-restrained respectability in the 18th century is now a strikingly neat reformed appearing ruin and is probably trying to atone for the wildly defiant orgies of its past.
1889: Jerome K Jerome, Three Men in a Boat -
... nestling by a sweet
corner of the stream, is what is left of Medmenham Abbey.
The famous Medmenham monks, or "Hell Fire Club,"
as they were commonly called, and of whom the
notorious Wilkes was a member, were a fraternity whose motto was
"Do as you please," and that invitation still stands over the ruined
doorway of the abbey.
Many years before this bogus abbey, with its
congregation of irreverent jesters, was founded, there stood upon this same
spot a monastery of a sterner kind, whose monks were of a somewhat different
type to the revellers that were to follow them, five hundred years
afterwards. The Cistercian monks, whose
abbey stood there in the thirteenth century, wore no clothes but rough tunics
and cowls, and ate no flesh, nor fish, nor eggs. They lay upon straw, and they rose at
midnight to mass. They spent the day in
labour, reading, and prayer; and over all their lives there fell a silence as
of death, for no one spoke. A grim
fraternity, passing grim lives in that sweet spot, that God had made so
bright! Strange that Nature's voices all
around them - the soft singing of the waters, the whisperings of the river
grass, the music of the rushing wind - should not have taught them a truer
meaning of life than this. They listened
there, through the long days, in silence, waiting for a voice from heaven; and
all day long and through the solemn night it spoke to them in myriad tones, and
they heard it not.
[ Jerome obviously has read, and quotes, Dickens. He perhaps takes his clue from the word
"cheerful" - "this cheerful community" which Dickens, in his restrained humour uses.
One cannot help thinking that somehow
Jerome has, without thinking, sacrificed any appreciation of silent spirituality
in order to gain contrast for his comic moments. The silence was not repressive but purposive.
Why does he think the monks were drawn to
that spot if not to hear the voice of God speaking to them in the silence?
Walk, paddle, row, or punt alone and you will soon have to decide whether silence is grim,
or, as I strongly believe, healing.
There are pressures in our modern way to make anyone spending some time alone, feel as if they
are, or ought to feel, lonely and somehow pathetic. But everyone ought to spend some time alone.
It is an antidote to the busy-ness of life. It gets you back in touch with what matters.
The river is a great way to do this! ]
1890: Medmenham Abbey, Francis Frith -
1890: Medmenham Abbey, Francis Frith
1891: The Stream of Pleasure, Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Pennell-
Medmenham Abbey 1891, Pennell
We dropped down to the Abbey towards noon ... just as the first picnic party
was landing in the near meadows.
For this place, where for centuries men worked in silence and knew not pleasure;
where later those who wore the brown robes obeyed no law but the
"Fay ce que voudras" carved above their doorway, is now but a popular picnicing ground.
Even in its degeneracy, however it is true to its traditions.
Medmenham monks, of the Cistercian order and of the Hell-fire Club, were alike in this:
whatsoever their hands found to do, they did it with their might;
they were no less great in vice than in virtue.
And so to-day, those who come there, picnic with all their might,
and are great in the lunches they spread upon the grass and the games of tennis
they play on the lawn of the big new hotel,
where we saw a Gentleman Gipsy's van in the shade and a Gentleman Waterman's boat
by the shore.
We, too, have lunched at Medmenham. We had been but a few weeks in England then,
and I remember how we wondered at the energy of the young girls in fresh muslins
who unpacked the hampers, laid the cloth, and washed the dishes;
and how we thought nothing prettier than the old Abbey turned into a farmhouse,
with its cloisters and ivy-grown ruined tower.
That was four years ago, and in the interval we have seen much of England's loveliness.
Now, we were not so much impressed, though the Abbey makes a pleasant enough picture,
with its grey ivied arches and red roof and tall chimneys, and the beautiful
trees on either side. Even the tower, if it be but a sham ruin, is effective.
1906: Mortimer Menpes, Watercolour -
Medmenham Abbey, Mortimer Menpes, 1906
Medmenham Abbey, 2006
Map: Former Medmenham Ferry
Slipway, left bank, at end of Ferry Lane off A4155 (public)
1574: “Halles Stake in Boldes Meade” and “Bulbankes Ditche”
Fred Thacker says “An ancient Ferry”
1873: Advertisement for The Medmenham Ferry Hotel -
1873 Advertisement Medmenham Ferry Hotel
1890: I think this building no longer exists - it can be seen in this Taunt photograph of the Ferry Hotel and Medmenham Ferry -
Ferry Hotel and Medmenham Ferry, Henry Taunt, 1890
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT08265
Medmenham Ferry, Postcard, 1890s
©
Buckinghamshire County Council, may be used for non profit legal purposes.
1899: The High Court decided Medmenham Ferry was public. An edifice and plaque were put up to commemorate this. The money might have been better spent on ensuring the continuance of the ferry which shortly ceased -
Medmenham Ferry plaque
Medmenham Slipway 2006
1886: The Tiny Trip – Medmenham, by J. Ashby-Sterry -
THE BILL OF LADING
She was cargo and crew,
She was boatswain and skipper,
She was passenger too,
Of the Nutshell canoe;
And the eyes were so blue
Of this sweet tiny tripper !
She was cargo and crew,
She was boatswain and skipper !
THE PILOT
How I bawled, “Ship, ahoy !”
Hard by Medmenham Ferry !
And she answered with joy,
She would like a convoy,
And would love to employ
A bold pilot so merry:
How I bawled, “Ship, ahoy !”
Hard by Medmenham Ferry !
THE VOYAGE
‘Neath the trees gold and red,
In that bright autumn weather,
When our white sails were spread,
O’er the waters we sped –
What was it she said?
When we drifted together !
‘Neath the trees gold and red,
In that bright autumn weather !
THE HAVEN
Ah ! The moments flew fast,
But our trip too soon ended !
When we reached land at last,
And our craft was made fast,
It was six or half-past –
And Mama looked offended !
Ah ! The moments flew fast,
But our trip too soon ended !
[ Those who follow Joseph's contributions to this site may begin to see a theme developing here. I think if I were Mama I might have been a little worried. Joseph Ashby-Sterry looked like one of the villains from a Victorian melodrama, of the "Ah-ha mi' proud beauty" school ] -
Joseph Ashby-Sterry
1886: The Merry Young Water-Girl, Joseph Ashby-Sterry -
A NEW SONG TO AN OLD AIR
I waited last Monday at Medmenham Ferry, well –
Anxious for some one to ferry me o’er:
The man was at dinner, and I could tell very well
He would not return for an hour or more.
So I sat me down and smoked so steadily.
What should I do?
I could not tell readily.
A maiden rowed by who had soft sunny hair,
Whose dimples and eyes were beyond all compare –
This water-girl was so uncommonly fair !
But only to think, as I pondered there wearily,
And gazed at the Abbey, and thought it a bore,
She leant on her sculls, and she offered most cheerily
To row me across to the opposite shore !
I said “How kind !” She pouted capriciously !
I stepped aboard, and she smiled deliciously !
And rowed off at once with so charming an air,
And feathered her sculls with such neatness and care –
This water-girl was so delightfully fair !
For once I’m in luck – there is not the least doubt of it !
Alas that the voyage is concluded so soon !
The skiff’s by the shore, and I slowly get out of it,
And wish the fair damsel “a good afternoon”.
I raise my hat, and she looks so thrillingly !
I thank her much, and depart unwillingly !
She smiles, and she ripples her soft sunny hair;
And leaves a heart broken beyond all repair !
This Water-Girl was so surpassingly fair !
Upstream to Culham House
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