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Whitchurch to Cleeve, Whitchurch to Mapledurham, Environment Agency 'Out and About' Guides
Maps
Left bank, length: 135'3", width: 18'0"
The Swan (with small Slipway only just above weir, fee, light craft 0118 984 4494) right bank
NB It is said that this is the only lock on the Thames without pedestrian right of way and access.
There is therefore no launching here for small boats -
...lack of pedestrian access to Whitchurch lock. There is no public pedestrian right of way to or from this lock which may catch some people out, (as in the case of the canoeists last weekend thinking they could get to it on foot, or for boaters thinking they could pop into Pangbourne for shopping).
There are small slipways on both Whitchurch and Pangbourne sides below the lock.
See Whitchurch Bridge
1580-5: Bishop – Whitchurch Lock (ie Weir) belongs to
Harry Knappes and is kept by Nicholas Wilford
1786: An Eye Sketch of the River Thames & flash
lock between Whitchurch & Pangbourn taken 21 April 1786 to determine the
most proper place to erect a pound lock –
Map:
So how did this towing and winching a
barge up a weir work? – almost nobody living can have
experience of it – so what follows is just guess work –
With a long towline the barge is steered into the bank (bottom
centre, with the horse(s) near the weir.
the line is loosed from the horse(s) and carried out over the weir and looped
round the roller marked near the opening and then round the roller to the
left of the weir and then re-attached to the horses.
The horses then tow the barge so that it approaches the gap in
the weir.
Meanwhile a line on a float is towed by boat from the winch
into a position such that it naturally floats down through the gap and can
be picked up by the barge.
The barge is attached to the winch line and loosed from the
horse line.
See Hurley for a picture of an old winch.
The winch slowly winds the barge up through the gap – the
steering of the barge being crucial!
The breaking strain of the hand made rope will of course not be
known. It was accepted that most
lines would not outlast one voyage up the river. It would of course have broken at the
moment of greatest strain when the barge was half way up the weir …
Once safely above the weir the horse line is rowed out to the
barge which continues on its way.
Going down is
simpler – but maybe nerve racking! The
towline has to be cast off in good time with the barge in such a position that
it can be steered to shoot the weir.
Below the weir the line must be taken out to the barge and reattached –
by whom? Or did the barge come into the
bank – not if it could help it is my guess – because towing a heavy barge off a
bank with horses on that same side would be a difficult matter.
When Captain Horatio Hornblower steered a fast passenger barge down the Thames and Severn
and Thames to Oxford through several flashlocks it was done without loosing the towline.
(Captain Hornblower and the Atropos, C.S.Forester) Of
course this is somewhat thin evidence being fiction – or maybe that was
possible on the small flashlocks above Oxford
but I can’t see how it could work at Whitchurch in the sketch.
1787: May “For winching the Boat up the flash lock 22 shillings.”
1787: Poundlock built
1792: Pictureque Views on the Thames by Samuel Ireland -
AT Pangbourn the river widens considerably, and the fall of water is so great on the opening of the lock, as to cause much delay in the progress of the navigation.
1793: Whitchurch, Boydell’s History of the Thames -
Whitchurch. June 1, 1793.
J. Farington R.A. delt. J.C. Stadler sculpt.
(Published) by J. & J. Boydell, Shakespeare Gally. Pall Mall & (No. 90) Cheapside (London)
1794: Boydell –
... the falls of water pouring over, or bursting through, the floodgates of the [flash] lock.
1802: Mylne -
This poundlock is of Oak and very badly and ignorantly framed.
1829: Lock House built.
1874: Whitchurch Lock, Henry Taunt -
Whitchurch Lock, Henry Taunt, 1874
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT01350
1876: Lock rebuilt.
1873: Advertisement -
1873 Advertisement
1906: Whitchurch Lock House, Mortimer Menpes -
Whitchurch Lock House, 1906, Mortimer Menpes
1955: Whitchurch Lock, Francis Frith -
1955: Whitchurch Lock, Francis Frith
1887: Weir and Swan Hotel Pangbourne, Henry Taunt, the weir is hardly running at all -
Weir and Swan Hotel Pangbourne, Henry Taunt, 1887
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT5138
The Swan at Pangbourne
1889: Jerome K Jerome's three men (not to mention the dog)
started their river trip from Kingston,
went up to Oxford and then returned to the Swan at Pangbourne,
and, after two days of rain, ended their trip here -
… Twenty minutes later, three figures, followed by a shamed-looking dog,
might have been seen creeping stealthily from the boat-house at the "Swan"
towards the railway station. …
"Well," said Harris, reaching his hand out for his glass,
"we have had a pleasant trip, and my hearty thanks for it to old Father Thames -
but I think we did well to chuck it when we did.
Here's to Three Men well out of a Boat!"
1886: Taken In Tow, Pangbourne, Streatley & Goring, J Ashby-Sterry -
How blithely the beauties break into a canter
And over the sward how their feet pit-a-pat !
The limber young lass in a white Tam o’Shanter,
The pouting young puss in a sailor-boy hat !
O, PANGBOURNE is pleasant in sweet Summertime,
And Streatley and Goring are worthy of rhyme:
The sunshine is hot and the breezes are still,
The river runs swift under Basildon Hill !
To lounge in a skiff is delightful to me,
I’m feeling as lazy as lazy can be;
I don’t care to sail and I don’t care to row –
Since I’m lucky enough to be taken in tow !
Though battered am I, like the old Téméraire,
My tow-ers are young and my tow-ers are fair:
The one is Eleven, the other Nineteen,
The merriest maidens that ever were seen.
They pull with a will and they keep the line tight,
Dimpled Dolly in blue and sweet Hetty in white;
And though you may think it is not comme il faut,
‘Tis awfully nice to be taken in tow.
I loll on the cushions, I smoke and I dream,
And list to the musical song of the stream;
The boat gurgles on by the rushes and weeds,
And, crushing the lilies, scroops over the reeds.
The sky is so blue and the water so clear,
I’m almost too idle to think or to steer !
Let scullers delight in hot toiling, but O ! –
Let me have the chance to be taken in tow !
The dragon-fly hums and the skiff glides along,
The leaves whisper low and the stream runneth strong,
But still the two maidens tramp girlfully on,
I’ll reward them for this when we get to the “Swan”;
For then shall be rest for my excellent team,
A strawberry banquet, with plenty of cream ! –
Believe me, good people, for I ought to know,
‘Tis capital fun to be taken in tow !
1906: Pangbourne from the Swan Hotel, Mortimer Menpes -
Pangbourne from the Swan Hotel, Mortimer Menpes 1906
Pangbourne College Boat Club
Right bank
Map. The seven deadly sins
The seven deadly sins are Pangbourne
villas on the right bank above Whitchurch Lock -
This photo by Eric de Mare in Oxfordshire County Archives is said to show one of the “Seven Deadly Sins” -
however I can't make it fit. I think there is a road between the Pangbourne Villas and the river.
I have been told this is a house on the river above Reading.
[Probably not ] One of the Seven Deadly Sins, Eric de Mare
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; AA98/05810
1929: A Thames Survey -
The row of villas near Pangbourne are an example of the pretentious and expensive sort of building which has not been mitigated by gardening. These houses have been locally christened the Seven Deadly Sins, which is sufficiently indicative of the opinion of the public upon such architectural disfigurement.
[ These particular deadly sins seem to me to have become less fatal with age! Perhaps time and gardening have now mitigated what obviously looked brash when first built. I suspect that the particular deadly sin with which they can now be associated is Jealousy. How many people who love the river would not want to live there? ]
(Hartswood Reach)
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