We pulled pins about 10am and set off down river.
Domesday in the 11th century recorded a mill on the River Thames at
nearby Sutton Courtenay, where the river originally meandered. However, in
those days the lock (probably a flash weir) was difficult to negotiate by boat
due to the shallow river - and the tolls were said to be the highest on the
Thames, making it unpopular with merchants using the river. Eventually, in 1809, a new deeper Culham Cut
- and a new pound lock - were excavated and both were welcomed by all who used
them if only because the tolls were not so high.
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| Culham Lock |
Apparently Culham is a 'shrunken village' - that is, it's much smaller
today than its original size. It is a mystery why this happened. Suggestions
include the Black Death and poor harvests following wet summers in the 14th
century.
Clifton Lock - or Clifton Hampden Lock as it's also known - was first
talked about way back in 1793, and discussions continued in 1811. But it wasn't
until 1822 that this lock was constructed.
Originally, the River Thames flowed in a loop towards Long Wittenham
village but it was decided to dig a new, more direct, cut to by-pass the longer
route. So today's lock, a hydraulic pound type operated electrically, looks
very much like it did when it was built nearly 200 years ago, but without the
heavy oak beams used to operate the lock manually.
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| Clifton Lock |
Apparently St Michael & All Angels Church at Clifton Hampden was
originally built on an ancient volcano blow-hole.
Just before Day’s Lock we spotted Still Rockin and No Problem moored
up. We pulled over and had a quick chat
before going down to the lock.
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| Day's Lock |
The area around Day's Lock is said to be the most historic place in
Oxfordshire. There are many reasons for this: a hilltop fort was built by
iron-age man on Castle Hill and when the Romans invaded they built a camp where
the nearest town would be founded - Dorchester.
For centuries this has been a religious area. Neolithic man built ritual
henges a mile upstream. During the sixth century, St Birinus established the first
cathedral in Wessex. From the lock you
can see two hills topped by trees. These are the Sinodun Hills - known usually
as the Wittenham Clumps and less respectfully as Mother Dunch's Buttocks. The
unfortunate Mother Dunch was the wife of a less-than-popular local medieval
squire.
Day's Lock is the main gauging station for measuring the flow of water
in the river. It has another claim to fame too - in 1605 King James I
instigated the Oxford-Burcot Commission which built the first locks on the
Thames in the 1620s. Burcot is a small village near Day's Lock.
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| Shillingford Court |
Before Shillingford is Shillingford Court probably my favourite house on the Thames. It is only a semi nowadays but I can just imagine it when it was built in the late 19th century. One part of the house with six bedrooms was on the market in 2012 for £1,295,000!
Benson lock was on self-service – I think that’s only the second this
year.
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| Benson Lock |
Benson Lock's history goes back into the late 1300s, when a mill and
weir were recorded. It wasn't until 1788 that the first timber lock was built
and in turn this was converted to a stone lock in 1870. There used to be a
ferry operating here, but this stopped running when the weir walkway and lock
gates became available to the public.
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| Wallingford Bridge |
We moored up in Wallingford and had a wander up to the town. There really is very little in the way of
shops except for a very good hardware shop and a Waitrose. We returned to Mary H and sat out on the bank
with Steve and Diane until about 6.30pm when the cold really got to us!!
Our flights to the US have been booked today – only 229 days to go!
Strictly started tonight – yeeeeees!
12.83 miles
4 locks
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