Osney Bridge is a road bridge 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 ...

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 ...

, England, built in 1888 to replace a stone bridge which collapsed in 1885. It carries the

Botley Road Botley Road is the main road into the centre of Oxford, England from the west. It stretches between Botley, on the Oxford Ring Road ( A34) to the west of the city, and Frideswide Square at the junction with Oxford railway station, close t ...

( A420) from Botley into Oxford. 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 on this bridge, just above

Osney Lock Osney Lock is a lock on the River Thames in Oxford, England, where the village or island of Osney is next to the river. The first lock was built of stone by Daniel Harris for the Thames Navigation Commission in 1790. Across the weir poo ...

. The original bridge was probably built by the monks of

Osney Abbey Osney Abbey or Oseney Abbey, later Osney Cathedral, was a house of Augustinian canons at Osney in Oxfordshire. The site is south of the modern Botley Road, down Mill Street by Osney Cemetery, next to the railway line just south of Oxford s ...

, to carry the main road across the millstream of

Osney Mill Osney Mill is a former flour mill on a branch of the River Thames in Oxford, England, located south of the Botley Road, down Mill Street. While the mill was gutted by a fire in 1945 and remained derelict for over 60 years, the exterior walls w ...

west of the island then known as

Osney Osney or Osney Island (; an earlier spelling of the name is ''Oseney'') is a riverside community in the west of the city of Oxford, England. In modern times the name is applied to a community also known as Osney Town astride Botley Road, just we ...

. By the early 17th century it was a three-arch stone construction. In 1790 the millstream became the main navigation channel of the river, and the bridge had become a serious obstruction to navigation by the mid 19th century. In 1885 the central arch collapsed, leaving massive piers. Osney bottleneck

Proposals to raise Osney Bridge

Osney Bridge has the lowest headroom (less than 7 feet 6 inches, or 2.3 metres) of any bridge across the navigable Thames; this limits the size of boats that can travel past it without having to be removed from the water and replaced upstream of the bridge. Some boats that are able to pass upstream at "low water" may then become trapped as the water level rises. Whereas some"WHERE THAMES SMOOTH WATERS GLIDE

/ref> are happy with the restriction: ''"I would be sorry to see it changed. The river above here is special and I would not want to see boats any larger than those currently using it"'', many feel that the bridge should be raised to accommodate taller boats. Since the upper reaches of the River Thames will in due course link again with the Gloucester & Sharpness Ship Canal via the Stroudwater Canal and the Thames & Severn Canal (the latter two currently incomplete and in need of restoration), the Osney Bridge would seem an unacceptable obstacle to the growing popularity of canal and river navigation. When the canal link is fully restored, it could substantially relieve the congestion of the

Kennet & Avon Canal The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the cent ...

east-west route, but only if the Osney Bridge is raised.

References

{{S-end Bridges across the River Thames Bridges in Oxford Bridges completed in 1889 Road bridges in England

Proposals to raise Osney Bridge

See also

References