Bablock Hythe is a hamlet in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, England, some five miles (8 km) west of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

city centre. There was a ferry across the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

at Bablock Hythe from the 13th century. The hand-propelled

cable ferry A cable ferry (including the terms chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...

was said to be the first along the Thames and was still in use for cars and other road vehicles up until 1959.

Heritage

The earliest reference to a ferry is in 1279; later ones continued to cross until the mid-20th century. The ferry was a wide-beamed ferry punt with a rope or chain in the river, which presented something of a hazard to navigation. There was also an ancient inn, described by William Senior in his ''Royal River'' in the 1880s. This was rebuilt in the early 1990s. The site is overlooked by the "Warm green-muffled

Cumnor Cumnor is a village and civil parish 3½ miles (5.6 km) west of the centre of Oxford, England. The village is about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Botley and its centre is west of the A420 road to Swindon. The parish includes Cumnor ...

Hills", which now holds an extensive caravan site. The poet

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lite ...

described the area in his 1853 work "

The Scholar Gipsy "The Scholar-Gipsy" (1853) is a poem by Matthew Arnold, based on a 17th-century Oxford story found in Joseph Glanvill's ''The Vanity of Dogmatizing'' (1661, etc.). It has often been called one of the best and most popular of Arnold's poems, and ...

": :Thee, at the ferry, Oxford riders blithe, :Returning home on summer nights, have met :Crossing the stripling Thames at Bablock-hithe :Trailing in the cool stream thy fingers wet :As the slow punt swings round.

References

External links

Canal Plan Gazetteer
River Thames ferries Hamlets in Oxfordshire {{oxfordshire-geo-stub

Heritage

See also

References

External links