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The Thames Path
The Thames Path is a National Trail following the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Woolwich foot tunnel, south east London. It is about long. A path was first proposed in 1948 but it only opened in 1996. The Thames Path's entire length can be walked, and a few parts can be cycled. Some parts of the Thames Path, particularly west of Oxford, are subject to flooding during the winter. The river is also tidal downstream from Teddington Lock and the lower parts of these paths may be underwater if there is a particularly high tide, although the Thames Barrier protects London from catastrophic flooding. The Thames Path uses the river towpath between Inglesham and Putney and available paths elsewhere. Historically, towpath traffic crossed the river using many ferries, but few of these crossings exist now and some diversion from the towpath is necessary. Description and access to the river The general aim of the path is to provide walkers with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thames Barrier
The Thames Barrier is a retractable Flood barrier, barrier system built to protect the floodplain of most of Greater London from exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the North Sea. It has been operational since 1982. When needed, it is closed (raised) during high tide; at low tide, it can be opened to restore the river's flow towards the sea. Built about east of the Isle of Dogs, its northern bank is in Silvertown in the London Borough of Newham and its southern bank is in the New Charlton area of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. History Background Flooding in London has been a problem since Roman Britain, Roman times. In 1954, the Waverley Committee, established to investigate the serious North Sea flood of 1953 which affected parts of the Thames Estuary and parts of London, recommended that "as an alternative to raising the banks, the possibility and cost of erecting a structure across the Thames which could be closed in a surge should be urgently in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi. Ferries form a part of the public transport systems of many waterside cities and islands, allowing direct transit between points at a capital cost much lower than bridges or tunnels. Ship connections of much larger distances (such as over long distances in water bodies like the Mediterranean Sea) may also be called ferry services, and many carry vehicles. History In ancient times The profession of the ferryman is embodied in Greek mythology in Charon, the boatman who transported souls across the River Styx to the Underworld. Speculation that a pair of oxen propelled a ship having a water wheel can be found in 4th century Roman literature "''Anonymus De Rebus Bellicis''". Though impractical, there is no reason why it could not work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cotswold Water Park
The Cotswold Water Park is the United Kingdom's largest marl lake system, straddling the Wiltshire–Gloucestershire border, northwest of Cricklade and south of Cirencester. There are 180 lakes, spread over . The park is a mix of nature conservation activities, including nature reserves; recreation, including sailing, fishing, a country park and beach with water sports and play areas; rural villages; and holiday accommodation. It is a significant area for wildlife and particularly for wintering and breeding birds. The local wildlife trusts (Gloucestershire and Wiltshire) are involved in partnership with the Cotswold Lakes Trust charity in working with local communities and organisations in the area. Origins The lakes were created in the second half of the 20th century by extraction of glacial Jurassic limestone gravel, which had eroded from the Cotswold Hills, and these filled naturally from rivers and streams after workings began to be exhausted in the early 1970s.Kelham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watermills
A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of many material goods, including flour, lumber, paper, textiles, and many metal products. These watermills may comprise gristmills, sawmills, paper mills, textile mills, hammermills, trip hammering mills, rolling mills, wire drawing mills. One major way to classify watermills is by wheel orientation (vertical or horizontal), one powered by a vertical waterwheel through a gear mechanism, and the other equipped with a horizontal waterwheel without such a mechanism. The former type can be further divided, depending on where the water hits the wheel paddles, into undershot, overshot, breastshot and pitchback (backshot or reverse shot) waterwheel mills. Another way to classify water mills is by an essential trait about their location: tide mills ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bourne (stream)
A bourne is an intermittent stream, flowing from a spring. Frequent in chalk and limestone country where the rock becomes saturated with winter rain, that slowly drains away until the rock becomes dry, when the stream ceases. The word is from the Old English language, Anglo-Saxon language of England. The word can be found in northern England in placenames such as: Redbourne and Legbourne, Lincolnshire, Legbourne but is commonly in used in southern England (particularly Dorset) as a name for a small river, particularly in compound names such as winterbourne (stream), winterbourne. A winterbourne is a stream or river that is dry through the summer months. Bourne is used as a place name or as a part of a place name, usually in chalk downland countryside. Alternative forms are bourn or borne or born. The apparent variant, borne found in the placename: Camborne, arises from the Cornish language and is in fact a false friend: it refers to a hill (Cornish: ''bronn'', from Common Brittonic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somerford Keynes
Somerford Keynes (, ) is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, close to the River Thames and about 5 miles (8 km) from its source. It lies on the boundary with Wiltshire, midway between Cirencester, Swindon and Malmesbury. The parish population at the 2011 census was 479. A 2019 estimate put it at 558. Early history A series of salvage excavations at Spratsgate Lane in 1986–1988 revealed part of an Iron Age and Roman settlement. The earliest finds were a series of curvilinear enclosures from the early 1st to the early 2nd century CE, which may have formed part of a farmstead. A religious focus is also suggested by an unusually large number of coins and brooches, which may have been votive offerings. Stone sculptural fragments were found of an eagle and a shield. These could belong to a representation of the Roman Capitoline triad of the gods Jupiter, Juno and Minerva), which again points to a formal religious presence. The village first appears in writing i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rill
In hillslope geomorphology, a rill is a shallow channel (no more than a few inches/decimeters deep) cut into soil by the erosive action of flowing surface water. Similar but smaller incised channels are known as microrills; larger incised channels are known as gullies. Artificial rills are channels constructed to carry a water supply from a distant water source. In landscape or garden design, constructed rills are an aesthetic water feature. Rills created by erosion Rills are narrow and shallow channels which are eroded into unprotected soil by hillslope runoff. Since soil is regularly left bare during agricultural operations, rills may form on farmland during these vulnerable periods. Rills may also form when bare soil is left exposed following deforestation, or during construction activities. Rills are fairly easily visible when first incised, so they are often the first indication of an ongoing erosion problem. Unless soil conservation measures are put into place, ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spring (hydrology)
A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh water, especially in arid regions which have relatively little annual rainfall. Springs are driven out onto the surface by various natural forces, such as gravity and hydrostatic pressure. Their yield varies widely from a volumetric flow rate of nearly zero to more than for the biggest springs. Formation Springs are formed when groundwater flows onto the surface. This typically happens when the groundwater table reaches above the surface level. Springs may also be formed as a result of karst topography, aquifers, or volcanic activity. Springs also have been observed on the ocean floor, spewing hot water directly into the ocean. Springs formed as a result of karst topography create karst springs, in which ground water travels through ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fosse Way
The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bath), Corinium (Cirencester), and Ratae Corieltauvorum (Leicester). Roman route The word ''Fosse'' is derived from the Latin , meaning 'ditch'. For the first few decades after the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 CE, the Fosse Way marked the western frontier of Roman rule in Iron Age Britain. It is possible that the road began as a defensive ditch that was later filled in and converted into a road, or possibly a defensive ditch ran alongside the road for at least some of its length. The road joined Akeman Street and Ermin Way at Cirencester, crossed Watling Street at ''Venonis'' (High Cross) south of Leicester, and joined Ermine Street at Lincoln. The Antonine Itinerary (a 2nd-century Roman register of roads) includes the section between High Cross ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Source
The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The United States Geological Survey (USGS) states that a river's "length may be considered to be the distance from the mouth to the most distant headwater source (irrespective of stream name), or from the mouth to the headwaters of the stream commonly known as the source stream". As an example of the second definition above, the USGS at times considers the Missouri River as a tributary of the Mississippi River. But it also follows the first definition above (along with virtually all other geographic authorities and publications) in using the combined Missouri—lower Mississippi length figure in lists of lengths of rivers around the world. Most rivers have numerous tributaries and change names often; it is customary to regard the longest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inglesham
Inglesham is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England, notable for the Grade-I listed St John the Baptist Church. The village is just off the A361 road about south-west of Lechlade in Gloucestershire. Most of the population lives in the hamlet of Upper Inglesham, which is on the main road about south of the village. The parish forms the extreme north-east corner of the Borough of Swindon and County of Wiltshire, and is bounded to the west and north by the River Thames (which also forms the county boundary with Gloucestershire), and to the east by the county boundary with Oxfordshire ( Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes). The River Cole forms part of the eastern boundary. As the parish's population is small it has a parish meeting instead of a parish council. The Round House, Inglesham is often used by boaters as a landmark to denote the westernmost point most cabin cruisers and narrowboats can travel along the Thames, as bey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
