Maps
This section in The Stripling Thames by Fred Thacker
Cambridge wooden punt poles are now made in Bossom’s Boatyard:
Oxford punt poles are aluminium,
Cambridge are wood – don’t ask me why – but I will tell you my opinion anyway –
aluminium is far more idiot and vandal proof than wood – and in Cambridge they
have a slightly more controlled and protected environment in the backs and its
hiring stations than is the case in Oxford.
(And as a humble Cambridge man I would not even dream of adding 'and less idiots' -
In case I might be proved wrong!)
Having said that I have been converted! From being a convicted wooden
pole punter, via finding increasing difficulty and expense in obtaining
reasonable wooden poles (together with my altogether unreasonable wish for a
twenty foot pole) I finally tried an aluminium pole and, after the initial
negative reaction, came to like it. I found the transition from wood to aluminium
relatively painless. What one looses in
the feel and spring of the pole one makes up for in not having to be so careful
to protect the pole from any leverage that could break it.
I use 16’ and 20’ poles – though
received opinion is that 18’ is the very longest that could possibly be
handled. Certainly 20' can sometimes be
difficult in a following wind. Nothing
between Iffley and Godstow needs a 20’ pole, though on the Iffley to Sandford
reach there are places where even 20’ is not long enough.
There is a fundamental divide between the
racing style punters who take only one grip on the pole during the shove, and
the pleasure style punters who move hand over hand up the pole during the
shove. The former will favour shorter
poles (and can be quite rude about the rest of us)
whereas for the pleasure punter (all other things being equal) the longer
the pole - the faster the punting.
Oxford punters have the received opinion that wooden poles being more buoyant need to
be thrust down into the water more determinedly. Uh … maybe - but I really have not
noticed. Certainly it matters little in
practice. One of the incidental
advantages of aluminium is that since the surface holds the water less than a
well used wooden pole, one tends to spray it around less -
which passengers (and shirt sleeves) appreciate.
from "Barbara Goes to Oxford" by Oona Ball -
Then said Mr. Bent, "Have you been on the Upper River?"
When he heard that we had not, he said it was imperative that we should go.
"We will have supper at Godstow and come back by moonlight", said he.
...
We were all to meet at Bossom's on the Upper River.
It was so gay at Bossoms. All the
boats rocked and danced on the sunlit
water which plashed and gurgled invitingly against the side of the raft.
Mrs. Oglander and Brownie minded the steering ; I was glad to lie quiet in the bows.
Mr. Bent stroked and Mr. Enderby pulled in time.
Away across the fields on our left we
passed Binsey, the little village to which
Frideswide fled and where her well is to
this day.
Up to the lock at Godstow the
river is broad and fairly straight, running
along by the side of Port Meadow, a great
open space which has belonged to the
citizens of Oxford for ever and ever.
At Godstow we came to the little that
remains of the nunnery where Fair Rosamund lived in penitence and died.
Hereabouts the woods come closer to the river
and the stream gets narrower and twists and turns.
"A little further on", said Mr. Bent,
"and you shall hear the nightingales singing in the woods at Wytham."
I thought that this seemed hardly likely, as I have never met a nightingale that
sang to me in August. I did not, however, like to contradict. I suppose that
learned persons have no time to verify
such details.
A long way they rowed us
past fields of corn and meadows full of
flowers and lush grass; here and there
a fisherman sat upon the bank or a pair
of lovers walked along the tow-path. We
had our impromptu supper on the bank,
and Mr. Bent prevailed upon Brownie to
go with him to listen for those nightingales.
"I am sure," said he, "that I heard them beautifully when I came here last."
"Very likely", said Mr. Enderby to me.
"I was here with him, and it was early June".
But Brownie looked quite content when she came back, and so did Mr. Bent.
We slipped home through the lovely quiet night. The river was all silver
and black and mysterious ; the moon rose into a sky left warm and palpitating by the sunset.
1880: Bossom’s Boatyard, Medley, Henry Taunt (© English Heritage). But don't bother to click it unless you want to check - because Dredge in 1895 used the same photo, and though for copyright reasons I can't show the original, I do have permission to show Dredge's copy -
Medley, Boatyards, Dredge, 1895
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; D250353a
The view is facing upstream on the Old
Navigation with Medley footbridge hidden behind the trees on the left.
The boatyard on the right is Beesley's. That on the left is Bossom's.
The Bossoms and the Beesleys
were both watermen’s families living in Oxford
since the late 17th century.
Two Abel Beesleys, father and son, were both champion punters and
university boatmen.
Photograph of Abel Beesley punting, 1901.
That this boatyard
is here is possibly because it was above the Medley weir and therefore gave
unimpeded access to this popular reach up to Godstow.
Undated postcard
On the left bank is Port Meadow. Low water meadow with views
of the Oxford skyline.
From Matthew Arnold's Thyrsis a Monody -
…And that sweet city with her dreaming spires,
She needs not June for beauty's heightening, …
"that sweet city with her dreaming spires"
more like “city of perspiring dreams” in 2003!
Last time I was there someone was board
skating across this view towed at enormous speeds by a kite.
Like a rich gem, in circling gold enshrined,
Where Isis’ waters wind
Along the sweetest shore
That ever felt fair culture’s hands,
Or spring’s embroidered mantle wore –
Lo! Where majestic Oxford stands.
Oxford, from Westall's Picturesque Tour of the Thames
1822: Oxford, taken near Oseney, Cooke’s views of the Thames.
Oxford, taken near Oseney. Drawn by P. Dewint from a
Sketch by G. Hollis. July 1,1822.
F W Faber -
OXFORD FROM THE ISIS
AND there the golden city lay
Safe in her leafy nest,
And softly on her clustering towers
The blush of dawn did rest.
Onward for many and many a mile,
Through fields that lay below,
Old Isis with his glassy stream
Came pleasantly and slow.
The spring with blossoms rich and fair
Had fringed the river's edge,
Pale Mayflowers and wild hyacinths
And spears of tall green sedge.
The ripple on the flowery marge
A pleasant sound did yield,
And pleasant was the wind that waved
The long grass in the field.
1932: England by Ronald Carton -
Spires and towers, roofs and quadrangles gardens and ancient trees, placid, open to the sky, seen distantly and as one, make a spectacle of almost startling beauty; so that the spectator whose eyes may lately have been delighted only by scenes of natural grandeur will catch his breath and wonder that anything that has been made can be so exquisite as this.
Dreaming Spires - Oxford, Ashley Bryant
1885: The Royal River -
... the noble array of pinnacles, towers, and spires across Port Meadow,
presented as a free common to the city by William the Conqueror,
and so to this day preserved. The towers and spires have an imposing effect,
with Shotover Hill behind.
The most prominent objects are St Philip's and St Jame's Church, the Roman Catholic Church,
the Observatory, the Radcliff, the Sheldonian, St Mary's, All Saint's,
Tom Tower and the Cathedral, and, nestling down among the trees,
the square grey tower of Oxford Castle. ...
The River Thames round Port Meadow is more disgracefully weedy and neglected
than any other portion of its course.
The banks on either side can be shallow
and there may be a weed problem on the right bank.
Gerard Manley Hopkins, Binsey Poplars (Felled 1879) -
My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,
Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,
All felled, felled, are all felled;
Of a fresh and following folded rank
Not spared, not one
That dandalled a sandalled
Shadow that swam or sank
On meadow and river wind-wandering weed-winding bank.
O if we but knew what we do
When we delve or hew -
Hack and rack the growing green!
Since country is so tender
To touch, her being só slender,
That, like this sleek and seeing ball
But a prick will make no eye at all,
Where we, even where we mean
To mend her we end her,
When we hew or delve;
After-comers cannot guess the beauty been.
Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve
Strokes of havoc únselve
The sweet especial rural scene,
Rural scene, a rural scene,
Sweet especial rural scene.
[ It has been strongly suggested that the
poet was not much of an environmentalist and that the poplars had reached the
natural end of their lives and needed to be replaced anyway.
In which case it cries out for a parody about
the misuse of words by “sensitive” poets who get hold of the wrong end of the
stick and then wax lyrical about it … ]
Map: Medley Sailing Club
Right bank.
1793: See an account of a sail from Folly Bridge to Sandford
and then on to Nuneham in June 1793.
There is a description of trimming the sails to get close to the wind and the patience needed in tacking.
1909: The Stripling Thames, Fred Thacker -
Above [Medley] Weir, one afternoon in the young summer, the wide water was alive with yachts
fluttering ready at the River's edge, or tacking against the clean fresh wind.
For here is the Oxford sailing gound, sailing for mere pleasure being tabu[sic] below Folly Bridge,
owing to its interference with other craft in those somewhat narrow waters.
At a spot a quarter of a mile above Medley Weir is a once important crossing of the River
known as Binsey Ford; a few yards above the causeway across Binsey Green.
Hearne says this was the old ford from which Oxford has its name;
but several other spots claim the honour; one by Folly Bridge, one over the old navigation,
and others. All these last have fallen into disuse, but the Binsey ford is still clear to see,
with its hard gravel foothold. It was in active use, indeed, within living memory, for the horses
at grass on Port Meadow used to become so wild that they had to be headed across this ford
on to Binsey Green, where they could more easily be caught.
"Where islands have formed on the meadow side there was formerly a foot or more of water, says Mr.Taunt;
but on account of the dredging "near half the broad stream in the summer is entirely dry".
(Upstream to The Perch)
Introduction
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