Henley Public Slipway

Right bank, the public slipway near the junction of New Street (A4130) and Wharfe Lane (Thamesside), in the centre of Henley, one hundred yards downstream of the bridge.  No parking, difficult to manoeuvre a trailer because of the traffic.  Suitable for light boats only. The depth by the slipway makes it most suitable for manual boats only! Owned by Henley Town Council for public use.
Ice-Cream Van tends to block access at critical moments. There would be a right-of-way to the slip which should be tactfully negotiated.

1890:-

Henley Public Slipway, 1890
Henley Public Slipway, Henry W Taunt, 1890
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT6614

Regatta 1890, Francis Frith:-

Henley Regatta, 1890
Henley Public Slipway, Regatta, 1890, Francis Frith

Henley Public Slipway
Henley Public Slipway

1827: Henley, anon, attributed Richardson
Listen to 'Henley'

Low in a vale, by wood-crown'd heights o'erhung,
Where fir, and larch, and beech are careless flung,
With silver Thames slow rolling at her feet,
Lies Henley - Contemplation's calm retreat.
In years the first of all her native shire,
This ancient town to notice may aspire;
 
For, though all spotless now the silver stream,
And smooth the fields which with rich harvests teem,
Fair is the prospect which these heights command,
Where now the willing pen obeys my hand;
Luxuriant fields, with hedges interspers'd,
And shadowing trees along the foreground burst.
 
While on the margin of the flowing tide
The poplar rears its head in graceful pride:
The town next rises in more dusky hue,
And swells in sloping fulness on the view:
The Gothic church, least sombre of the whole,
At once its pride, its beauty and its soul.
 
Beyond the town the distant uplands wear
The same rich proofs of Nature's fostering care:
Here fields and woods above each other rise
In fast succession till they reach the skies.
Bid your postillions roll the whirling wheel
Where Oxford, Bucks and Berks their bounds reveal.
 
For there lies Henley - if the heart be right -
It loveliness will yield unmix'd delight.
At morn, at noon, and at the evening hour
Calm nature here asserts exclusive power;
Her garb the same, and differing but in hue,
As clouds obscure or sunbeams gild the view.

 

Henley: John Betjeman -

I see the winding water make
A short and then a shorter lake
As here stand I,
And house-boat high
Survey the Upper Thames.
By sun the mud is amber-dyed
In ripples slow and flat and wide,
That flap against the house-boat side
And flop away in gems.
 
In mud and elder-scented shade
A reach away the breach is made
By dive and shout
That circles out
To Henley tower and town;
And "Boats for Hire" the rafters ring,
And pink on white the roses cling,
And red the bright geraniums swing
In baskets dangling down.
 
When shall I see the Thames again?
The prow-promoted gems again,
As beefy ATS
Without their hats
Come shooting through the bridge?
And "cheerioh" and "cheeri-bye"
Across the waste of waters die,
And low the mists of evening lie
And lightly skims the midge.