Maps
This section in The Stripling Thames by Fred Thacker
1610: Camden -
Isis, having received Windrush, passeth downe to Einsham, in the Saxon tongue Eignesham ,
a Manour in times past of the Kings, seated among most pleasant Meadowes,
which Cuthwulfe the Saxon was the first that tooke from the Britains, whom he had heereabout vanquished,
and long after Aethelmar, a Noble man, beautified it with an Abby.
The which Aethelred King of England in the yeere of salvation 1005 confirmed to the Benedictine Monkes,
and in his confirmation signed the priviledge of the liberty thereof (I speake out of the very originall
grant as it was written) with the signe of the sacred Crosse,
but now is turned into a private dwelling house and acknowledgeth the Earle of Derby Lord thereof.
1636: A party of Welsh
Sherriffs bringing money for Charles I were crossing when 3 or 4 were
drowned and £800 lost for a time and 8 persons escaped by swimming.
1692: Baskervile – the ferry has “a great boat to bear horses over”.
1764: Ferry noted by Rocque.
1764: Yet in that same year John Wesley crossed on horseback here.
There was a ferry and a ferryman, but also a causeway ford -
Between twelve and one we crossed Eynsham
Ferry. The water was like a sea on both
sides. I asked the ferryman,
“Can we ride the Causeway?” He said,
“Yes, sir; if you keep in the middle.”
But this was the difficulty, as
the whole causeway was covered with water to a considerable depth;
and this in many parts ran over the causeway with the swiftness and violence of a sluice.
Once my mare lost both her fore feet, but she gave a spring, and recovered the causeway;
otherwise we must have taken a swim, for the water on either side was
ten or twelve feet deep. However, after
one or two plunges more, we got through, and came safe to Witney.
1769: It is said that King George III's coach nearly came to grief here because the
river was in flood and the ford under deep water. To encourage the 4th Earl of Abingdon
to build a bridge he decreed that tolls collected should be tax free FOR EVER!
1777: Bridge built by the Earl of Abingdon.
1791: Samuel Ireland -
... the ancient village
of Ensham, near which is an elegant
bridge of stone, consisting of three arches,
erected about 15 years since, by Lord Abingdon, whose liberality and public spirit have,
I am credibly informed, been amply repaid by the revenue derived from this undertaking.
The building at the extremity of the bridge was intended for an inn ; but, though
provided with all proper accommodation and
out-buildings, has not proved so fortunate a
speculation, having never yet, in any way,
been occupied.
THE situation of this bridge is truly picturesque : the river considerably expands itself, and beautifully meanders amidst the
neighbouring meadows, fertile in pasture,
and happily screened by the contiguous hills,
which form a gentle slope towards its margin.
On the Oxfordshire side, the various
breaks in the distant scenery, the happy
combination of village objects, and tinkling
of the distant folds, seem to give an additional
beauty and serenity to the landscape,
in the minds of those who chance to trace
this spot, in the close of a genial summer evening.
Swinford Bridge, 1790s, Ireland.
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; D294660a
1859: Swinford Bridge –
Swinford Bridge, 1859.
1885: Swinford Bridge, Henry Taunt -
Swinford Bridge, Henry Taunt, 1885
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT04328
1885: The Royal River -
Eynsham Bridge does not look so old as it really is. It is a very conspicuous,
and, indeed, handsome structure, with eight arches and a liberal amount of balustrading
in the central divisions of the parapets.
Eynsham, Ensham, Eynesham, or Emsham, has a history which goes beyond the Conquest,
and it is by right, therefore, that the bridge is name after the village,
though its real name, as decided by the Ordnance Map, is Swinford Bridge.
Early in the eleventh century and abbey was founded here by the then Earl of Cornwall,
and Ethelred, the reigning king, signed the privilege of liberty
with the sign of the holy cross. At the Dissolution the abbey and its site passed
into the ownership of the Stanley family, but no ruins have been preserved.
Ensham, or Eynsham Cross, stands in the market place of the village, opposite the church.
The bridge, as we now see it, was built sixty years ago.
[ 1777, when the bridge was built, was 108 years before the above was written -
I have no note of any rebuilding in 1825 ]
1909: The Stripling Thames, Fred Thatcher –
[Above Eynsham Lock] you come, round a sharp bend southwestwards, full upon the splendid bridge named of Eynsham,
or officially of Swinford; one of the noblest and most impressive bridges on the whole River,
seven and a half miles from Folly Bridge.
The Earl of Abingdon of the time erected it in 1777; and his successor still maintains the toll-house
at its northern end. Ireland drily comments that the builder's "liberality and public spirit have,
I am credibly informed, been amply repaid by the revenue derived from this undertaking".
He also mentions a building at one end of the bridge, intended, but never actually used, as an inn.
Boydell says it was a "spacious and handsome mansion", against the Berkshire end of the bridge;
and there you will still find it. It found use as a posting house in the coaching days;
and it is now divided up into cottages, but still a handsome old building;
constituting, with its clustering cots and barns, that "tithing of Cumner" called Swinford
from which the bridge derives its offcial title.
Whenever you come downstream, notice how delightfully
the spire of Cassington frames itself in one of the arches.
1929: A Thames Survey -
Swinford Bridge, Eynsham. In our opinion, this is one of the finest bridges across the Thames.
Rocque's survey in 1764 notes a coach-ferry at this point. It carried the mail coaches from Oxford
to Cheltenham and the road today carries heavy traffic.
The present bridge was built in 1777 by the Earl of Abingdon and obviously designed by an architect
or engineer of taste and ability. The facing material is stone, all arches semi-circular;
three central arches with rusticated voussoirs over the river and three smaller arches
each side for flood water, and towpath (Berkshire bank). There is a stone balustrade over
the three main arches. Cut-waters on the upper side only; 1894 flood-mark level with top of
cut-waters.
Tolls (fixed in the seventh year of George III) are still payable at the toll-house
on the Oxfordshire side. This toll-house is an essential feature of the bridge composition
and of charming design. Bridge and toll-house should be preserved, but we suggest that tolls
payable on a road of such national importance should be abolished as soon as possible.
Swinford Bridge
2005: Swinford Bridge, Doug Myers -
Swinford Bridge, Doug Myers © 2005
2009 -
For sale
The 240-year-old bridge that will cost £1.65m - but earn you £113k a year in tax-free tolls.
Under an Act of Parliament passed when the bridge was built in 1767,
all income derived from it is exempt from income tax.
And the structure itself is not liable for inheritance tax, capital-gains levies or stamp duty.
More than £100,000 is collected annually from vehicles that use the crossing,
three miles north-west of Oxford. Cars are charged 5p, motorcycles 2p and lorries 50p a time.
The tolls have been fixed since 1994 and can be altered only by Parliament.
Built in the 18th Century by the fourth Earl of Abingdon at a cost of around £5,000, the bridge carried pigs and other animals over the Thames, hence the name Swinford
(a contraction of ‘swine ford’).
In return for the Earl’s investment,
King George III passed an Act of Parliament stipulating that the toll income
would belong to the Earl and his ‘heirs and assignees for ever’.
The bridge was owned by his family until 1985, when it was sold for £275,000.
The bridge’s owner must provide a ferry in case the bridge is out of action.
He or she also has the right to seize the car of anyone trying to cross without paying.
2009: Sold -
A toll bridge built in 1769 across the River Thames sold for more than 1 million pounds ($1.66 million)
at an auction Thursday.
The Swinford bridge brings in about 190,000 pounds (US$320,000)
in toll payments from about 4 million vehicle crossings a year.
Due to a quirk in British law, toll revenue collected from the picturesque stone structure
about 65 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of London can be collected tax-free.
It has been free of income tax since the 18th century,
when Parliament granted ownership of the bridge and its tolls
to the Earl of Abingdon and "his heirs and assignees forever."
Residents have complained that the archaic toll rules create serious traffic jams.
They had asked Oxfordshire County Council to buy the bridge and abolish the tolls,
but the local government said in a statement that it could not afford to.
Neil Mackilligin at London auction house Allsop, which sold the bridge,
said its new owner did not want his name to be disclosed.
Mackilligin said the new owner was based in the U.K. but did not live near the bridge.
Aerial view upstream from Swinford Bridge -
Upstream from Swinford Bridge.
Above Swinford there was a horseshoe bend.
Map
[The remains of it is clearly visible on the Virtual Earth view, one field upstream
of Swinford Bridge.]
1815: a warping roller was ordered (to help tow round the sharp bend).
1890: the Conservancy decided to “make a cutting through the horseshoe bend above
Swinford Bridge”.
1900: Cutting dug.
1920: Fred Thacker's Map -
Fred Thacker’s map, 1920.
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