Ford (crossing)

A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a

river

or

stream

may be crossed by wading, or inside a vehicle getting its wheels wet. A ford may occur naturally or be constructed. Fords may be impassable during high water. A low water crossing is a low bridge that allows crossing over a river or stream when water is low but may be covered by deep water when the river is high.

Description

A ford is a much cheaper form of river crossing than a

bridge

, and it can transport much more weight than a bridge, but it may become impassable after heavy rain or during flood conditions. A ford is therefore normally only suitable for very minor roads (and for paths intended for walkers and horse riders etc.). Most modern fords are usually shallow enough to be crossed by

car

s and other wheeled or tracked vehicles (a process known as "fording"). Fords may be accompanied by

stepping stones

for pedestrians.

The UK has more than 2,000 fords and most do not have any way of stopping vehicles from crossing when the water makes them impassable. According to The AA, many flood-related vehicle breakdowns are at fords.

In

New Zealand

, fords are a normal part of roads, including, until 2010, along State Highway 1 on the

South Island

's east coast. In dry weather, drivers become aware of a ford by crunching across outwash detritus on the roadway. A bailey bridge may be built off the mainline of the road to carry emergency traffic during high water.

At places where the water is shallow enough, but the material on the riverbed will not support heavy vehicles, fords are sometimes improved by building a submerged

concrete

floor. In such cases, a curb (kerb) is often placed on the downstream side to prevent vehicles from slipping off, as the growth of

algae

will often make the slab very slippery. Fords may be also equipped with a post indicating the water depth, so that users may know if the water is too deep to attempt to cross. Some have an adjacent footbridge so that pedestrians may cross dryshod.

Fords were sometimes the only way to cross, such as at the Milkhouse at Rock Creek in Washington, DC, but the regular use of this ford has been superseded by bridges. The crossing remained for "adventurous" drivers until 1996 when the National Park Service closed the ford to automobiles.

Watersplash

A road running below the water level of a stream or river is often known as a "watersplash". It is a common name for a ford or stretch of wet road in some areas, and sometimes also used to describe tidal crossings. They have become a common feature in rallying courses. There are enthusiasts who seek out and drive through these water features, recording details (such as wave created, position, and access) on dedicated websites.

There are many old fords known as watersplashes in the

United Kingdom

. Examples are at Brockenhurst in

Hampshire

, Wookey in

Somerset

, and Swinbrook in

Oxfordshire

. Some of these are being replaced by bridges as these are a more reliable form of crossing in adverse weather conditions.

The Dean Ford in Kilmarnock,

Ayrshire

, is mentioned in the

deed

s of Dean Castle, which was gifted to the local people. The ford has had to be maintained as a property boundary feature, despite several cars a year being washed away.

Some very spectacular watersplashes can be found in diverse locations.

Australia

has the Gulf Savannah, and others may be found in

Canada

,

Italy

,

South Africa

, and

Finland

. They are also found on some

Tennessee

backroads, where they are referred to as "underwater bridges".

In

Israel

and part of the British areas under the mandate a low water crossing or watersplash had been known as "Irish bridge" in reference to the Anglo–Irish war.

Placenames

The names of many towns and villages are derived from the word 'ford'. Examples include

Oxford

(a ford where

ox

en crossed the river: see the Oxford coat of arms); Hertford, the county town of

Hertfordshire

(the ford where harts cross or "deer crossing"); Ammanford (a ford on the

River Amman

); Staffort crossing the river

Pfinz

; and Stratford (a ford on a

Roman street

). Similarly, the

German

word ''Furt'' (as in

Frankfurt

, the ford of the

Franks

;

Ochsenfurt

, synonymous to Oxford;

Schweinfurt

, a ford where swine crossed the river; and Klagenfurt, literally "ford of complaints") and the Dutch ''voorde'' (as in Vilvoorde,

Coevorden

,

Zandvoort

, or

Amersfoort

) are cognates with the same meaning, all deriving from Proto-Indo-European ''*pértus'' 'crossing'. This is the source of Brythonic and Gaulish ''ritus'' (modern Welsh ''rhyd''; the Welsh name of Oxford is ''Rhydychen'' "ford of oxen"), which underlies such names as Chambord (from Gaulish ''*Camboritum'' "ford at the bend") and

Niort

(''Novioritum'' "new ford").

Towns such as

Maastricht

,

Dordrecht

, and

Utrecht

also formed at fords. The endings , , and are derived from the

Latin

word ''traiectum'', meaning "crossing". Thus the name Utrecht, originally the Roman fort of Traiectum, is derived from "Uut Trecht", meaning "downstream crossing". The Afrikaans form was taken into South African English as drift and led to place names like Rorke's Drift and

Velddrift

. Similarly, in

Slavic languages

, the word brod comes from the linguistic root that means "river-crossing" or "place where a river can be crossed". Although today ''brod'' in the Serbo-Croatian means 'ship',

Slavonski Brod

in Croatia, as well as

Makedonski Brod

in North Macedonia and other place names containing ''Brod'' in Slavic countries, where ''brod'' is still the word for 'ford', are named after fords.

Famous battles

In historic times, positioning an army in large units close to a river was thought best for direct defense as well as to attack the enemy at any crossing points. Therefore, a ford was often a strategic military point with many famous battles were fought at or near fords.

*Battle of Xiaoyao Ford, 215–217, during the wars at the end of the Han dynasty in

China

*

Battle of Fulford

, 1066, on the Ouse River during Harald Hardrada's invasion of England
*Battle of Jacob's Ford, 1179, on the

Jordan River

during the period between the Second and Third Crusade
* Battle of Imjin River, 1592, on the Imjin River during the Japanese invasion of Korea
*Battle of the Yellow Ford, 1598, on the Blackwater River during the Nine Years' War in

Ireland

*Battle of Newburn Ford, 1640, on the Tyne River during the Second Bishops' War in Scotland
*

Battle of the Boyne

, 1690, on the Boyne River during the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland
*Battle of Matson's Ford, 1777, on the Schuylkill River during the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War in

Pennsylvania

*Battle of Brandywine, 1777, on Brandywine Creek during the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War in Pennsylvania
*Battle of Minisink, 1779, on the

Delaware River

during the Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War in New York
*Battle of Cowan's Ford, 1781, on the Catawba River during the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War in

North Carolina

*

Battle of Assaye

, 1803, on the Kalina River during the Second Anglo-Maratha War in

India

*Battle of Blackburn's Ford, 1861, on Bull Run Creek during the Manassas campaign of the American Civil War in Virginia
*Battle of Kelly's Ford, 1863, on the

Rappahannock River

during the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War in Virginia
*Battle of Buffington Island, 1863, on the Ohio River during Morgan's Raid in the American Civil War in Ohio and West Virginia
*

Battle of Chancellorsville

, 1863, on the

Rappahannock River

during the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War in Virginia
*Battle of Byram's Ford, 1864, on the Blue River (Missouri River tributary), Blue River during Price's Missouri Expedition in the American Civil War in Missouri
*Battle of Morton's Ford, 1864, on the Rapidan River during the American Civil War in Virginia
*Battle of Rorke's Drift, 1879, on the Buffalo River (Eastern Cape), Buffalo River during the Anglo-Zulu War in

South Africa

*Battle of Cut Knife, 1885, on the North Saskatchewan River during the North-West Rebellion in

Canada

In fiction

*Achilles Fights the River, Trojan War, as found in ''Iliad, The Illiad'', by Homer, Book 21, line 1
*The Defence of Duffer's Drift, 1900
*First and Second Battles of the Fords of Isen, (''The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'')

Gallery

File:Rye Water Ford, Dalry.JPG, The Rye Water Ford in North Ayrshire, an unmodernised crossing of a minor river
File:2014-10-20 12 12 09 View north along Rock Springs Road (Elko County Route 763) about 22.8 miles north of Wilkins-Montello Road (Elko County Route 765) at the Little Goose Creek in Elko County, Nevada.JPG, A ford along List of county routes in Elko County, Nevada, Elko County Route 763 (Rock Springs Road) in rural northeastern Nevada, United States
File:Stanhope Ford.jpg, A ford in Stanhope, County Durham, Stanhope, England, that has been closed
File:Ford-Across-the-Way.jpg, A ford in a 19th-century oil painting. In this instance, the ford may have artistic or symbolic significance
File:ST-berberfamily.jpg, A Berber people, Berber family crossing a ford in Algeria
File:Brockenhurst Ford.jpg, The ford at Brockenhurst following heavy rain

File:Ahne Furt Steg bei Weimar v O.jpg, A ford, with pedestrian footbridge, on a minor road near Ahnatal-Weimar, Weimar bei Kassel in Germany
File:Fording an Indian River.jpeg, Fording an Indian River, c. 1905

See also

* Causeway
* Stepping stones

References

External links

List of British fords

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford (Crossing)
Road infrastructure
Pedestrian crossings
Water transport infrastructure
River crossings
Water streams
Rally racing
Road hazards
Place name element etymologies

kk:Брод (Хасково облысы)