Duke's Cut is a short waterway in
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
, England, which connects the
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to th ...
with 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, s ...
via the Wolvercote Mill Stream. It is named after
George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough, across whose land the waterway was cut. It is seen as a
branch
A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins.
History and etymology
In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includ ...
of the Oxford Canal.
History
The Cut was constructed at the request of the
Duke of Marlborough. The
Duchy of Marlborough had owned
Wolvercote
Wolvercote is a village in the Oxford district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is about northwest of the city centre, on the northern edge of Wolvercote Common, which is itself north of Port Meadow and adjoins the River Thames.
H ...
paper mill since 1720, and much of the surrounding land belonged to their
Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace ( ) is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. Originally called Blenheim Castle, it has been known as Blenheim Palace since the 19th century. One of England's larg ...
estate.
In the 1790s, the Duke saw the benefit of bringing
Warwickshire coal to the area, as the upper
Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...
area typically only received fuel from the
Northumberland Coalfield via
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, and consequently little cargo was left by the time vessels reached the upper river.
As owner of the land between the
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to th ...
and the mill stream, the Duke was aware of how level it was (and thus suited to a waterway) and permitted construction of a cut between the two waterways. The millstream provided a connection to the Thames above
King's Weir, bypassing the
flash lock
A flash lock is a type of lock (water transport), 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 ...
.
The cut opened in 1789; the exact date is unknown but an advertisement carried in William Jackson's ''Oxford Journal''—published by the tenant of Wolvercote Mill
and printed on the mill's paper—showed that the cut had opened by 3 October.
It was conveyed
in trust to the Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
and the
Mayor of Oxford
The earliest recorded mayor of Oxford in England was Laurence Kepeharm (1205–1207?).
On 23 October 1962 the city was granted the honour of electing a Lord Mayor. Notable figures who have been Lord Mayor of Oxford include J. N. L. Baker (1964 ...
in 1792.
Adjacent to the cut is Duke's Lake, a
reservoir
A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation.
Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...
also used for
carp
The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...
,
roach,
tench
The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a freshwater, fresh- and brackish water, brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including Great Britain, Britain and Ireland east into Asia as far ...
, and
bream
Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...
angling.
Today, the cut is the preferred boating route from the Oxford Canal to the Thames;
the alternative route is at Oxford via and
Isis Lock and the
Sheepwash Channel. Until 1937, the latter was the only route between King's Lock and the lower Thames without having to navigate the
flash lock
A flash lock is a type of lock (water transport), 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 ...
at Medley Weir near
Godstow Lock.
Description
In 1802,
Robert Mylne surveyed the cut and reported his findings to the
Thames Commissioners
The Thames Navigation Commission managed the River Thames in southern England from 1751 to 1866. In particular, they were responsible for installing or renovating many of the Canal lock, locks on the river in the 18th and early 19th centuries
H ...
. He described how the cut had a
stop lock near Wolvercote Junction where it meets the canal; the
beam of this was given as .
Bradshaw's ''Canals and Navigable Waterways of England and Wales'' (1904) noted that the lock gates were reversible to be usable regardless of which waterway was higher.
The canal usually discharged towards the Thames,
with an average pen of , although when in flood, the Thames could rise to be up to above the canal.
The lock, known as Duke's Cut Lock, is designated 44A;
the numbering is inherited from that on the Oxford Canal. The lock is crossed by the
Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway, which opened in 1850. In 1987, the lock was granted
Grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
status.
At the junction with the mill stream, fed from the Thames, was a single gate of . Mylne stated that this
floodgate
Floodgates, also called stop gates, are adjustable gates used to control water flow in flood barriers, reservoir, river, stream, or levee systems. They may be designed to set spillway crest heights in dams, to adjust flow rates in sluices and ...
was of poor seal and water easily flowed into the canal at times the river was of a higher level.
In 1933, the
Oxford–Witney road was constructed, and a large single-span
skew arch bridge (designated 232U) was built across the cut.
The cut had a towing path along its north bank, which ran to the Thames in the west and connected with that of the Oxford Canal.
The towing path on the Oxford Canal crosses the cut by means of a brick arch bridge which also has Grade II listed status.
At Duke's Cut Junction, a three-way
Inland Waterways Association fingerpost sign provides navigational guidance, and shows that the Wolvercote Mill Stream below the junction was only for access to the mill.
References
{{End box
1789 establishments in England
Canals in England
Transport in Oxfordshire
Tourist attractions in Oxfordshire
Canals opened in 1789
CDukes
Oxford Canal