This section in The Stripling Thames by Fred Thacker
Wharf
Going upstream just as you come into the more or less straight reach, at the end of which is Halfpenny Bridge, on the left bank (your right) are trees concealing the old wharf.
Pronounced "haypney"!
Halfpenny Bridge, Lechlade.
1955: Lechlade, Francis Frith -
1955, Lechlade, Francis Frith.
Camping: Bridge House Camp Site, Bridge House, Lechlade, Glos. GL73AG. 01367 252348.
200 yards from river, up road away from Lechlade on left, 45 pitches
1st March to 31st October. WC, Showers, Waste disposal, Laundry, Wash basins, Shaver points,
power.
1720: Camden’s Magna Britannia -
Here (the river) begins to be navigable; and is here able to bear a Barge of 50 tun.
1792: Halfpenny Bridge built by James Hollingworth,
to replace a ferry when Lechlade was becoming a busy
inland port with all the new canal traffic.
Before that (and presumably before St John's Lock) there was
a ford here.
1793: from Fred Thacker, 1920 -
A Lechlade bargemaster stated in 1793 that the chief goods he carried down to London were: “Iron, Copper, Tin, manufactured and pig iron, Brass Spelter, Cannon, Cheese, Nails, all Iron goods and Bomb shells.” He took back “Groceries, Deals, Foreign Timber, Merchandise of every kind, a few coals, and of late Raw Hides for Tewkesbury and Worcester and Gunpowder to Bristol and Liverpool. Has been applied to last Time he was up, to take Sugars to be carried to Bristol, but did not take them, for when they came to enquire the Price, they found they could go cheaper by the Kennet to Newbury, and the rest of the way by Land Carriage”.
'Views on the Thames' by William-Bernard Cooke, George Cooke, Samuel Owen, Peter de Wint -
Lechlade, or Leach Lade, which is described by Leland -
"a praty old village with a stone spire to the church"
is now a small market town in the south-eastern extremity of the county of Gloucester.
It derives its name from the river Lech, which directs its course through the north side of the parish,
and the Saxon word Ladian, to empty, as it here falls into the Thames.
This river derives its name from the British word Lech, signifying a stone,
from the petrifying quality of its water.
The parish church is large and handsome, with a lofty spire, which offers a pleasing object
to the surrounding country.
The Thames, at this place, begins to be navigable for vessels of considerable dimensions.
Some of sixty tons burden and upwards reach this little town, and give it a commercial character:
but the frequent deficiency of water in the summer, as well as its floods in the winter,
have hitherto rendered the navigation of the river so uncertain, as to deprive Lechlade
of many advantages which it might be supposed to derive from its particular situation.
The Thames Committee have indeed made several improvements in the upper part of the river;
and the patriotic spirit, which, in defiance of expense and almost insurmountable difficulties,
has completed the canal that unites the Severn with the Thames,
promises to continue its zealous and indefatigable efforts to remove every existing impediment;
or, by opening new channels, to facilitate the navigation between this place and the metropolis.
Lechlade from ‘The Genius of the Thames’ by Thomas Love Peacock –
Where Lechlade sees thy current strong
First waft the unlaboring bark along;
1815: Halfpenny Bridge, Lechlade -
Lechlade. Drawn by S. Owen. Engraved by G. Cooke. July 1, 1815.
1815: Two months after the above picture was drawn, Shelley was there in Lechlade.
By Thames and Cotswold, W H Hutton -
In the churchyard, with its sober seventeenth century houses adjoining, even encroaching on,
the sacred enclosure, stood Shelley and Mary, Charles Clairmont and Thomas Love Peacock
on the September night in 1815 when the perfect 'summer evening' meditation was written down.
The yews stand now as they stood when Shelley saw them,
and still the 'aerial pile' shines in the setting sun.
Percy Bysshe Shelley -
A Summer Evening Churchyard, Lechlade, Gloucestershire.
THE wind has swept from the wide atmosphere
Each vapour that obscured the sunset's ray,
And pallid Evening twines its beaming hair
In duskier braids around the languid eyes of Day:
Silence and Twilight, unbeloved of men,
Creep hand in hand from yon obscurest glen.
They breathe their spells towards the departing day,
Encompassing the earth, air, stars, and sea;
Light, sound, and motion, own the potent sway,
Responding to the charm with its own mystery.
The winds are still, or the dry church-tower grass
Knows not their gentle motions as they pass.
Thou too, aerial pile, whose pinnacles
Point from one shrine like pyramids of fire,
Obey'st in silence their sweet solemn spells,
Clothing in hues of heaven thy dim and distant spire,
Around whose lessening and invisible height
Gather among the stars the clouds of night.
The dead are sleeping in their sepulchres:
And, mouldering as they sleep, a thrilling sound,
Half sense half thought, among the darkness stirs,
Breathed from their wormy beds all living things around,
And, mingling with the still night and mute sky,
Its awful hush is felt inaudibly.
Thus solemnized and softened, death is mild
And terrorless as this serenest night.
Here could I hope, like some enquiring child
Sporting on graves, that death did hide from human sight
Sweet secrets, or beside its breathless sleep
That loveliest dreams perpetual watch did keep.
1839: The bridge ceased to be strictly the "halfpenny bridge" when the local people
refused to pay anymore ...
1859: Lechlade Bridge, Mr & Mrs Hall -
1859: Lechlade Bridge, Mr & Mrs Hall.
1883: Halfpenny Bridge, Henry W Taunt -
Halfpenny Bridge, Henry W Taunt, 1883
© Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive; HT3772
1885: Dickens's Dictionary of the Thames -
[At Lechlade the Thames] first becomes navigable for practical purposes, and runs,
except in very dry seasons, in a goodly stream under the handsome arch of the bridge. ...
The ideas of [Lechlade's] inhabitants on the subject of paving are, it may be remarked,
open to considerable exception. ...
Lechlade is the point at which boats may be taken for the trip down the river ... and boats may
either be sent from Salter's at Oxford by van or by the Great Western Railway Company,
who make arrangements for conveying them from the station to the river.
There is a good hotel in the town (the "New Inn"), but boating parties occassionally
prefer to put up at the "Trout Inn", at St John's Bridge, about half a mile down the stream,
which is also favourably spoken of ...
1929: A Thames Survey -
Halfpenny Bridge carries the main road from Swindon to Burford and Banbury.
It was built under the Act of 1792, is of stone, well designed, with one large semi-circular arch
and small arch over the towpath on the Wiltshire bank, and a picturesque toll-house on the
Gloucestershire side which should be preserved, although the bridge is free from tolls.
The quay above the bridge is now the head of navigation, and there is water for barges and launches
and a wharf at the bridge. There is an opportunity here to make a more attractive approach to the town
by improving the appearance of the boat-builder's yard and sheds.
1937: "The Thames and its Story" -
Lechlade Bridge may be said to be the first worthy of the name upon the river.
Well built of stone, it rises with a smart gradient, carrying the Highworth Road
across on three arches, the central one of which is large enough to span the river from bank to bank.
The village, neat, substantial, and mature, rallies around the ivy-covered church
whose spire crowns the slope on which the village is built.
The village is extending; organ works have been established there,
and communication with the outer world is not now dependent upon the infrequent train service
of the Great Western, for a motor omnibus plies between Lechlade, Fairford and Cirencester.
1955: Halfpenny Bridge, Francis Frith -
1955: Halfpenny Bridge, Francis Frith.
2000: Lechlade Bridge -
Halfpenny Bridge.
2005: Lechlade Bridge, Doug Myers -
Halfpenny Bridge, Doug Myers © 2005.
Lechlade Day hire
Left bank, 01367 253599 / 252229
Riverside PH
Riverside.
1896: 'A Tale of the Thames' by Joseph Ashby-Sterry [they take a skiff from Lechlade downstream]
... down at the wharf getting the boat in order. They found the Otter just what the Colonel had described her - a light boat to pull, but by no means crank, and a very comfortable one to travel in - one in which you could lounge at ease, and one which would cause you no anxiety whatever, if it got considerably out of trim. There were plenty of comfortable cushions, and the craft would easily accommodate six - that is to say one man at the sculls, two at the oars, and three passengers. As they would only be a party of four to New Bridge, they had ample accommodation.
1955: Riverside Tea Rooms, Francis Frith -
1955: Riverside Tea Rooms, Francis Frith.
1956: And Robert Gibbings was there the next year and wrote in Till I End My Song -
… Peter Ford’s Boatyard.
“Peter is in the tea room”, said Gordon Hawke
his partner, from under a punt upturned on trestles on the slipway. Early in
the year to be open, I thought, as I turned the handle and went in.
Tea room indeed! It wasn’t tables with white cloths that I saw
before me but skiffs – two doubles looking twice the size they’d be on the
river.
“Yes”, he said, “scrub and scrape and paint through the winter.
Four coats of varnish on the clear wood. Floor boards, gratings, back rests,
stretchers, oars, and paddles, they’ve all got to be done…
The tea room had the appearance of a heraldic arsenal. A score of shining rudders
rested against one wall looking like medieval shields, dozens of oars like
jousting lances leaned against another wall, paddles lay about like clubs.
“Things may be quiet in the summer if the
weather’s bad”, said Peter, “but there’s no quiet in a boatyard in the winter.”
1960: Lechlade, The Wharf, Francis Frith -
1960: Lechlade, The Wharf, Francis Frith.
2000: Riverside, Lechlade -
Riverside, Lechlade, 2000
There is said to be a slipway for small boats at the end of Bell Lane.
I have yet to see for myself how small a boat can use it!
It is said to be the site of the old wharf, and also of Tidford Ford.
(Upstream to Lechlade Marina)
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