Swift Ditch remains of old 17C pound lock

The Swift Ditch is a long artificial channel that formed a short-cut for river traffic to and from

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 ...

, across a

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...

of 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 ...

in England. It was formerly the primary navigation channel. With the main river, it creates

Andersey Island Andersey Island is a area of flood-meadow and former flood-meadow south-east of Abingdon Bridge, Abingdon, Oxfordshire on the reach above Culham Lock in Culham, which parish it lies however maintaining close links with Abingdon by virtue of its ...

on the left bank of the Thames opposite

Abingdon-on-Thames Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England, on the River Thames. Historic counties of England, Historically the ...

. Within a poem published in 1632, the ''Water Poet'' John Taylor wrote:

History

When

Ordric Ordric was a monk at Abingdon who was elected Abbot of Abingdon The Abbot of Abingdon was the head (or abbot) of Anglo-Saxon and eventually Benedictine house of Abingdon Abbey at Abingdon-on-Thames in northern Berkshire (present-day Oxfordshir ...

was elected

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

at the

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 ...

in Abingdon in 1052, the River Thames was the main transport route for goods between London and Oxford. There were complaints from people in both these towns that, where it passed the Abbey, the River Thames was so blocked up that river traffic was seriously hampered. In response Ordric ordered a new navigation channel to be excavated, possibly enlarging a previous less navigable one. The channel left the main stream near Thrupp, and passed through the meadows of Andersey to the south of the Abbey Church, flowing back into the Thames at Culham. This new channel remained the main navigation for over seven centuries. The toll per boat was a hundred herrings in Lent. Around 960 AD, the monks had built a head mill stream to the Abbey from the direction of the Swift Ditch. During Tudor times, the channel was known as ''Purden's Stream''. However by the end of the Tudor period it was known as Swift Ditch, remaining the faster route.
Victoria County History - A History of the County of Oxford
' Volume 7, pages 27-39 (Culham). Retrieved 21 July 2020. The

Oxford-Burcot Commission The Oxford-Burcot Commission was the first Commission concerned with the management of the River Thames, appointed by an Act of Parliament of 1605 by James I to make the stretch of river from Burcot to Oxford navigable. The Commission took respons ...

of 1605 and 1624 sought to develop the Swift Ditch as the main route for boats. One of the first three River Thames

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 ...

s was built at its head in about 1636. In 1788 several influential citizens of Abingdon wanted to divert navigation back to the current course and as a result

Abingdon Lock Abingdon Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, less than 1 mile east and upstream of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, on the opposite bank of the river. It was originally built in 1790 by the Thames Navigation Commission. The weir runs acro ...

was built near the town. Within ten years, the

Wilts & Berks Canal The Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Abingdon. ...

connected to the current navigation channel at Abingdon.

Configuration

There are two outflows from the Thames into the Swift Ditch about apart. The upstream one has a small weir that leads to the remains of the pound lock and the downstream one is a larger weir. The two arms flow together a short distance below the end of the pound lock. Around the midpoint of the channel there is a widened section where there used to be 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 ...

. The banks are tree-lined and the vegetation intrudes into the channel. However, the Swift Ditch is used by

canoeists A canoe is a lightweight narrow watercraft, water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British Englis ...

. At the southern, downstream end, the Swift Ditch is crossed by three bridges. The original Culham Bridge was built in 1416 - the same time as the

Abingdon Bridge Abingdon Bridge crosses the River Thames at the town of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. It carries the A415 road from Abingdon to Dorchester, Oxfordshire, over the reach of the Thames between Culham Lock and Abingdon Lock. The bridge is ac ...

s across the Thames - and was the site of a

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

skirmish in 1645. It was supplemented in 1928 by an adjacent bridge carrying the present A415 Abingdon-Burcot road. A wooden footbridge further downstream carries 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 ...

References

{{authority control Rivers of Oxfordshire 0SwiftDitch

History

Configuration

See also

References