The Goring Gap is the narrow valley, occupied by 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 ...

, between the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills is a chalk escarpment in England. The area, northwest of London, covers stretching from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast - across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshi ...

and the Berkshire Downs. It is approximately upstream of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

and downstream 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 ...

. The river here delimits

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

from

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, primaril ...

. The village of Goring, on the Oxfordshire side of the Thames, gives its name to the gap.

Formation

Half a million years ago the chalk hills mentioned formed a continuous

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

, thus the Thames flowed northeastwards to reach the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

sharing the catchment of the

Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the W ...

. A headwater of the latter still comes within of low-gradient Thames tributary the Cherwell in an almost flat landscape. During maxima of the recent

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

s, the plain of the lower course froze, leaving all of northern England covered in ice sheets. The sheets grew to reach a likely previous escape, an overflow via the deep valleys of the Bulbourne- Gade, upper

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne ...

, Stort and Stour. The Thames was thus halted, in a lake submerging the plain of Oxford: a winter-frozen but summer-thawed type. This eventually became so high that it overtopped the escarpment and cut a new route through the chalk, creating the Goring Gap. Since the ice sheets receded, the Thames has continued its new course – that is, one through Berkshire, to soon meet the River Kennet which had already carved out the lower Thames valley.

Context and localities

The Goring Gap constricts the Thames, narrowing the otherwise broad valley. Downstream lower hills almost face each other at

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckin ...

. Steep hills rise southwards to

Lardon Chase Lardon Chase is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Streatley in Berkshire. It is in the North Wessex Downs, which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is part of the Lardon Chase, the Holies and Lough Down National Trus ...

, the nearest section of the Berkshire Downs while the

rise to the north. The twin villages of Goring and Streatley face each other at the heart of the gap. The Thames Path local section between Reading and Oxford, and the Ridgeway (local successor to the

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, wi ...

) cross the Thames here. The Goring Gap forms an important communications and transportation corridor. Besides the river itself, which is now limited to navigation for leisure purposes, the gap accommodates the A329 road linking Reading and Oxford, along with the Great Western Main Line railway from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

and

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

Gallery

File:GoringGap01.JPG, A tree-lined part of the Thames in the Goring Gap. File:Goring Gap in winter.jpg, The river and gap seen from

on a snowy January day, with the Chilterns in the background

References

External links

* {{Coord, 51, 31, 23, N, 01, 08, 30, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Landforms of Berkshire Landforms of Oxfordshire Geology of Oxfordshire Geology of Berkshire Transport in Berkshire Transport in Oxfordshire Chiltern Hills Geography of the River Thames Landforms of England