Sandford to Iffley, Sandford to Abingdon, Environment Agency 'Out and About' Guides
Maps
Left bank, tel:01865 775889, length: 174'0", width: 21'9"
Camping above Sandford Lock, 01865 244088
Kings Arms, Sandford, left bank immediately above lock. Good moorings for customers.
Sandford Lock.
Seen from below with a very high water level and Red Board Warning
The ancient Thames navigation channel at Sandford was that which now forms the western stream, now known as the backwater.
At the northern end where now stands the Big Lasher, stood the old navigation or flash weir, described in 1624 as 'Great Lockes'.
Passage through these locks was always difficult and dangerous, the process of removing paddles from the lock
and either pulling or hauling boats through against the strong stream, or riding the flash on the downstream journey.
Such a lock meant a great loss of water often leaving the upper reaches dry or low in water for days, boats then having to wait
until the water had risen again enough for further passage.
Clearly with the increase in traffic, these conditions could not continue as not only was the water-borne traffic slowed down - perhaps for days on end,
it also caused the mills on the river to cease working, due to lack of water.
Under the Oxford and Burcott Commission, the modern Pound Lock, having upper and lower mitre gates, was introduced to the Thames,
firstly in three places:- Swift-ditch near Abingdon, Iffley, and Sandford, which was probably the first around 1632.
The site of this old lock has now been filled in, but it's position can still be seen alongside the present lock.
Originally it was 87 ft in length but in 1793 was lengthened to 120 ft.
If one looks on the upstream side of the footbridge, the position of the upper gates can still be seen in the stonework.
A new lock on the present site was opened in September 1936 and it was much the original structure that was removed to build our present lock in 1972 – 3.
A SANDFORD TIMELINE
| WEIR STREAM | LOCK HOUSE | MODERN LOCK | LOCK SIDE | OLD LOCK | LEFT BANK |
| - 1294 - FLASH LOCK |
- | - | - 1294 - Mill |
- | - |
| FLASH LOCK | - | - | Mill | 1632 - POUND LOCK |
- |
| FLASH LOCK | - | - | Mill | 1793 - LOCK lengthened |
- |
| FLASH LOCK | 1790s Belanger Picture - | ||||
| FLASH LOCK | - | - | - | LOCK | 1824 - MILL REBUILT LEFT BANK - |
| - 1836? - LASHER |
- | 1836 - LOCK IN MODERN POSITION |
- | - OLD LOCK | - MILL - |
| - LASHER - | 1839 - LOCK HOUSE |
LOCK | - | LOCK disused | - MILL - |
| - LASHER - | LOCK HOUSE | LOCK | - | LOCK disused | 1875 MILL FIRE |
| - LASHER - | LOCK HOUSE | LOCK | - | 1881 - MILL EXTENSION over 1632 lock |
1881 MILL REBUILT |
| - LASHER - | 1914 - NEW LOCK HOUSE |
LOCK | - | MILL | MILL |
| - LASHER - | LOCK HOUSE | 1972 - LOCK REBUILT |
- | MILL | MILL |
| - LASHER - | LOCK HOUSE | LOCK | - | FLATS | FLATS |
Fred Thacker, The Thames Highway, Volume 2, Locks and Weirs, 1920 Order changed to date order -
1294: Sandford Mill built by the Knights Templar.
1294?: Henry, son of Adam the ferryman, grants the ferry to John Golding of Newnham, and Scolastica his wife.
1327-1377: An early instance of the immemorial disputes between the mills and the water traffic is recorded by Anthony à Wood as having occurred
under Edward III; when "the men of Oxon broke down the locks of Sandford which 'the brethren' there raised".
This is my earliest allusion to the flashlock; built by the preceptory, doubtless for the benefit of the mill; to the enragement of the bargemen of Oxford.
1348 & 1361: the Ferry was part of a fee for masses in Witney Church.
1506: Wm. Bushe appointed as the ferryman in room of Thos. Hunt, deceased.
1514: Wm. Bushe noted as the ferryman.
1520: the "mill and the fishweir called the lok" were let for £12 yearly.
1530: John Dale appointed ferryman.
1585: Bishop – “Samford Lock kept by John Ovens”. [In Volume 1, p.56 is added "The Locke in the P ish [Parish] of Kennington" i.e. this was a flash lock on
what we now know as the weir stream on the right bank perhaps near the modern lasher]
1632: As I have remarked under Iffley, the poundlock here was one of the the three installed by the Oxford-Burcot Commission;
and therefore one of the first three on the river. I cannot fix its completion earlier than 1632, when John Taylor
mentions it in his rhymed survey of the River.
1639: Edmund Powell was in charge of it for the Commission; under whose authority it remained until their works were sold in 1790.
1761: John Rocque's map of Sandford and Iffley -
John Rocque, 1761
1767: The pound was rented by Mrs. Hill;
1780: [The pound was rented ] by Beckley;
1791: the weir belonged to another Hill [see 1767]. At Michaelmas this year Beckley paid fifteen guineas for one year's rent of the lock. A puny amount ...
1790s: Sandford Hill, Louis Belanger -
Sandford Mill, Louis Belanger
NB The title is Sandford HILL and the subscription Sandford MILL
Fred Thacker, The Thames Highway, Volume 2, Locks and Weirs, 1920 Order changed to date order -
1793: It was decided to lengthen the lock from 87 to 120 ft.
1794: it was reported that "the walls of the lock appear to be blowing away, and the whole work is in a very dangerous
and precarious situation". So probably nothing had been done.
1795: Things being "worse than ever" rebuilding was immediately started.
Harris "the Oxford gaoler", having charge of the work.
The expense was nearly £1800, and the criticism was made that a less sum would have built a new lock in a better situation.
The passage was stopped for a year;
"and the navigators obliged to change boats and shift their cargoes over the meadows or shoot the old flash Lock at very great risk;
one boat being sunk in the experiment."
1796: Bickford or Beckley (perhaps the man named in 1780 and 1791) was the first keeper named under the Thames Commissioners.
He stayed untill at least 1798.
1810: Danby the Iffley Miller succeeded [Bickford] before 1810; with the same privilege as at Iffley with respect of pleasure tolls.
1818: [Danby] died in or before Novemeber 1818; and Thomas Day had his place.
1821 & 1822: H Swann the miller had charge at 36s. monthly remuneration.
1824: The mill was rebuilt about 1824.
1826: the lock is described as having a fall of "about 7 feet".
1836: A new lock, on the present site, was opened in September 1836 alongside the old Jacobean structure.
1838: The City of London committee reported very warmly in its praise:
"in place of the old decayed and shallow lock, impassable at low water seasons without large and frequent flashes.
1839: A lockhouse was ordered in October 1839.
1842: Wm. Haines (possibly of the Old Windsor family) was keeper in 1842.
1846: J. Swann is named as weir owner.
1850: In a sale catalogue of the property dated August 1850, paper is indicated as the product of the mill.
The freehold tolls of the "old lock" (flash) are stated to have produced an average of £200 annually during the previous ten years.
1854: A press cutting of December 1854, referring to the Abingdon branch railway line, then being inaugurated, reads'
"It is reported that Mr. Norris has personal motives for decrying this railway.
As lessee of Sandford Lock he will lose £100 a year toll when the railway is open."
This is probably J.T.Norris, of Sutton Courtenay also. I do not know how he comes to be located at Sandford,
unless he had the mill and was financing Wyatt; whom the official records name as lessee of the lock at this date.
...
1861: Ravenstein paid his usual 6d. here in 1861.
1865: At the parliamentary inquiry of 1865 it was stated that here "was a lock some years ago
which was given up, and the millowner had very indiscreetly opened the
sluice of this lock, allowing the water to rush through with tremendous
force, and allowed the water to undermine the embankment between that
lock and the next"; i.e. between the old pound and the new one beside it.
1866-1877: The iron bridge over the main stream above the lock was built between 1866 and 1877.
...
1870: Taunt picture of Sandford Mill
Sandford Mill 1870
1870: Taunt picture of Sandford Lock
Sandford Lock 1870
1870s: [The Mill] had been burnt down two or three years earlier [than 1877] and rebuilt, the head being raised from five to nine feet. At that time it made paper for the Clarendon Press; but ruined everybody that has ever come to it. It is the real fall of the Thames; and when there is a flood it is grand to see the fall.
1875: Taunt picture of the ruined mill after the fire.
Sandford Mill in Ruins after the 1870s fire
Fred Thacker, The Thames Highway, Volume 2, Locks and Weirs, 1920 Order changed to date order -
1880: The part of the mill astride [the old pound] was built in 1880.
1881: In February the Clarendon Press, having bought the mill, asked to buy the old pound for an extra wheel. It was still to be seen in
1913, in site though not in actual masonry identical with the James I
work.
1882: Sandford Mill and Lock, Henry Taunt -
Sandford Mill and Lock, Henry Taunt, 1882
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive;
1894: Sandford Mill and Lock, Henry Taunt -
Sandford Mill and Lock, Henry Taunt, 1894
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive;
1895: Sandford Lock and Bridge, Henry Taunt -
Sandford Lock and Bridge, Henry Taunt, 1895
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT210
1914: The current lock house was built -
Sandford Lock House
1955: Sandford Lock, Francis Frith -
1955: Sandford Lock, Francis Frith
1955: Sandford Lock, Francis Frith
1955: Sandford Lock, Francis Frith
1972-3: The lock was
reconstructed. It was the first of a series of locks built with an
underfloor filling system.
1973: Plaque on the left bank lock wall downstream of the bottom gates -
CONSERVATORS OF THE RIVER THAMES
This plaque was unveiled on the 2nd June 1973 by
THE LORD NUGENT OF GUILDFORD R.S.
Chairman of the Conservators
in the presence of
the Chairman of Oxfordshire County Council
ALD. THE RT.HON THE VISCOUNTESS PARKER
To commemorate the reconstruction of
SANDFORD LOCK
1906: G.E.Mitton -
and then we come to Sandford itself, with charms almost as great as,
though entirely different from, those of Iffley.
The approach is disappointing. The tall mill
chimney and the new brick houses are bare and ugly. The mill is a paper mill,
and supplies the Clarendon Press. It stands close to the old-fashioned and
pretty hotel, so completely ivy-covered that even one of the tall chimneys is
quite overgrown. When close to the lock the mill is not noticeable and has the
advantage of affording some shelter.
… heigh-ho for the
King's Arms Hotel at Sandford, and a cup of the good hot tea that the landlady
knows so well how to make! -
1821: The Oxford university and city guide -
On the river, between Iffley and Nuneham, is a pleasant and much frequented house of entertainment for water parties; where fish dinners are provided at a short notice. It is situated in the village of Sandford ...
King’s Arms Hotel Advertisement
King’s Arms Hotel, Henry Taunt, 1904
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT9204
The Kings Arms, Sandford, 1906, Mortimer Menpes
1955: The King’s Arms, Sandford, Francis Frith
The King’s Arms, Sandford, 2004
From 'The Burden Of Itys', Oscar Wilde -
Of the lone Farm a flickering light shines out
Where the swinked shepherd drives his bleating flock
Back to their wattled sheep-cotes, a faint shout
Comes from some Oxford boat at Sandford lock,
And starts the moor-hen from the sedgy rill,
And the dim lengthening shadows flit like swallows up the hill.
… It was a dream, the glade is tenantless,
No soft Ionian laughter moves the air,
The Thames creeps on in sluggish leadenness,
And from the copse left desolate and bare
Fled is young Bacchus with his revelry,
Yet still from Nuneham wood there comes that thrilling melody
So sad, that one might think a human heart
Brake in each separate note, a quality
Which music sometimes has, being the Art
Which is most nigh to tears and memory;
Poor mourning Philomel, what dost thou fear?
Thy sister doth not haunt these fields, Pandion is not here, …
… And far away across the lengthening wold,
Across the willowy flats and thickets brown,
Magdalen's tall tower tipped with tremulous gold
Marks the long High Street of the little town,
And warns me to return; I must not wait,
Hark! 't is the curfew booming from the bell at Christ Church gate.
Above Sandford Lock and Mill we are on the mill stream on the left bank with the bulk of the river below us on the right bank.
Fiddler's Elbow
The bend below the start of the weir stream above Sandford Lock
(Upstream to Rose Island)
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