Day's Lock is a lock on 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 ...

near

Dorchester-on-Thames Dorchester on Thames (or Dorchester-on-Thames) is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about northwest of Wallingford and southeast of Oxford. The town is a few hundred yards from the confluence of the River Thames and River Thame. A c ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on the Dorchester side of the river. The

pound lock A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water lev ...

was built in 1789 by the Thames Navigation Commissioner. The lock is across the river from the small village of

Little Wittenham Little Wittenham is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south bank of the River Thames, northeast of Didcot in South Oxfordshire. In Local Government Act 1972, 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire to the county of Oxfo ...

and is overlooked from the south by the hills of

Wittenham Clumps Wittenham Clumps are a pair of wooded chalk hills in the Thames Valley, in the civil parish of Little Wittenham, in the historic county of Berkshire, although since 1974 administered as part of South Oxfordshire district. The higher of the two, ...

, with a particularly good view from Round Hill. The weir runs straight across the river from the other side of the lock island. Day's Lock is the main gauging station for the measurement of the water flow in the River Thames. The

Thames Path The Thames Path is a National Trail following the River Thames from its source near Kemble, Gloucestershire, Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Woolwich foot tunnel, south east London. It is about long. A path was first proposed in 1948 but it onl ...

crosses the river here. The ''World

Poohsticks Poohsticks is a game first mentioned in '' The House at Pooh Corner'', a Winnie-the-Pooh book by A. A. Milne. It is a simple game which may be played on any bridge over running water; each player drops a stick on the upstream side of a bridge ...

Championships'', on behalf of the

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

, have taken place annually here since 1983.

History

The name ''Day's Lock'' comes from the Day family, local

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

yeomen since the 17th century. During the 16th century, there was a

flash lock A flash lock is a type of lock for river or canal transport. Early locks were designed with a single gate, known as a flash lock or staunch lock. The earliest European references to what were clearly flash locks were in Roman times. Developme ...

here. The pound lock was staked out in August 1788. It was judged best to build it on the Oxfordshire bank provided the existing weir owner would "remove his

buck Buck may refer to: Common meanings * A colloquialism for a dollar or similar currency * An adult male in some animal species - see List of animal names * Derby shoes, nicknamed "bucks" for the common use of buckskin in their making People *Buck ...

s"(eel traps). In 1865 it was reported to be in utter ruin and dangerous, but reconstruction did not take place until 1871. In 1882 a bell push to summon the keeper was installed, there being no lock keeper's house at that time.Fred. S. Thacker ''The Thames Highway: Volume II Locks and Weirs'' 1920 - republished 1968 David & Charles The lock house was not built until 1928 when it was erected on Lock House Island next to Little Wittenham Bridge.

Access to the lock

A short way downstream of the lock is

Little Wittenham Bridge Little Wittenham Bridge is a footbridge across the River Thames in England near Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. It is just downstream of Day's Lock on the reach above Benson Lock and connects Little Wittenham to Dorchester. The bridge span ...

which spans the river in two sections with an island between. Using this, the lock is a short walk from Little Wittenham where is a car park near St Peter's Church. The lock is a little further to walk to from Dorchester.

Reach above the lock

On the eastern bank to the north-east is the historic town of Dorchester with its ancient

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

. The river follows a long bend round to

Clifton Hampden Clifton Hampden is a village and civil parish on the north bank of the River Thames, just over east of Abingdon in Oxfordshire. Since 1932 the civil parish has included the village of Burcot, east of Clifton Hampden. The 2011 Census record ...

. Here it goes under

Clifton Hampden Bridge Clifton Hampden Bridge is a road bridge crossing the River Thames in Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire, England, situated on the reach below Clifton Lock. Originally it joined Oxfordshire on the north bank with Berkshire on the south but in 1974 t ...

and past the historic Barley Mow public house, as mentioned in the book, ''

Three Men in a Boat ''Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)'',The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: ''Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog!'' published in 1889, is a humorous account by English writer Jerome K. Jerome of a tw ...

''. After the bridge and before Clifton lock, the river divides between the old river course, past

Long Wittenham Long Wittenham is a village and small civil parish about north of Didcot, and southeast of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, and from the former Wallingford Rur ...

; with the navigation following the Clifton Cut. The river meander is now a weirstream and has almost no public footpath access. The

follows the western/southern bank to Clifton Hampden Bridge, where it crosses to the opposite northern bank to continue to Clifton Lock. There are

navigation transit markers Navigation Transit Markers are posts placed alongside a navigation to allow powered craft to check their speed. Examples of these markers can be found at several locations along the River Thames in England. A navigation marker consists of a blac ...

upstream of the lock to allow boats to check their speed. A powered boat should take more than one minute to pass between the markers.

External links

About the Thames — Day's Lock

Thames Path — National Trails — Day's Lock

References

{{Reflist Locks on the River Thames Locks of Oxfordshire 1789 establishments in England

History

Access to the lock

Reach above the lock

See also

External links

References