River Cherwell
The
River Cherwell is a river which flows through the
Midlands of
England. It is a major
tributary of the
River Thames.
The general course of the River Cherwell is north to south and the 'straight-line' distance from its source to the Thames is about 40 miles. It flows from Hellidon through
Northamptonshire for about ten miles before passing into
Oxfordshire for the remainder of its journey to
Oxford, where it joins the Thames.
The River Cherwell rises in the
ironstone hills at
Hellidon, two miles west of
Charwelton near
Daventry. Helidon Hill immediately north of the source forms a
watershed: on the south side, the Cherwell feeds the River Thames and thence the North Sea at the
Thames Estuary; on the north side, the
River Leam feeds the
Warwickshire River Avon and the
River Severn and thence the Bristol Channel. (A third river system on this watershed rises east of Charwelton and feeds tributary streams of the
River Nene and thence the North Sea at
The Wash.)
South of Charwelton, the River Cherwell passes between the villages of
Hinton and
Woodford Halse. Woodford Halse was much expanded by the building of the
Great Central Railway in
1900.
Two miles further on, the River Cherwell swings westward for a few miles, passing below the village of
Chipping Warden through
Edgcote, site of a
Romano-British villa. The river passes from Northamptonshire into Oxfordshire at Hay's Bridge on the
A361 Daventry to
Banbury road.
Half-a-mile north of the village of
Cropredy, the River Cherwell turns southward again. The
Oxford Canal enters the river valley here and more or less follows the Cherwell on its route to
Oxford until it reaches
Thrupp near
Kidlington. The canal was projected to run connect the
Coventry Canal to the River Thames and the
Act of Parliament authorising it was passed in
1769. A few years earlier, Oxford merchants had proposed 'canal-ising' the River Cherwell upstream from their city to Banbury. Construction of the Oxford Canal began near
Coventry but the canal didn't reach Banbury until
1778 and it was a further 12 years before it was completed, the first boats reaching Oxford in January
1790.
The River Cherwell skirts the east side of Cropredy itself and passes under
Cropredy Bridge, site of a major battle in the
English Civil War in
1644. This was a protracted encounter with riverside skirmishes concentrated along a three-mile stretch of the River Cherwell between Hay's bridge and a ford at Slat Mill near Great Bourton.
King Charles's forces beat the
Parliamentarian army.
On Cropredy Bridge is a plaque bearing the words "Site of the Battle of Cropredy Bridge 1644. From Civil War deliver us." The bridge was rebuilt in 1780 and this plaque is a facsimile of the original one. Cropredy's church contains relics from the battle and it is said that local people hid the church's eagle
lectern in the River Cherwell in case marauding soldiers damaged or stole it.
South of Cropredy Bridge, the river skirts the fields used for the annual
Cropredy Festival, a three-day music event run by the band
Fairport Convention. It then passes the site of a former
water mill. A sufficient head of water to power the mill was assured by a
weir system to create a millpond. There may have been more rudimentary mill works upstream but this is the first major mill along the river's course.
After a few miles the River Cherwell passes under the
M40 motorway and enters the industrial hinterland of Banbury, passing the site of another water mill. From here, a main line railway runs alongside on the west side. This line was built by the
Great Western Railway and links
London and Oxford with
Birmingham and the north. South of this point, the railway closely follows the Cherwell valley.
The town of Banbury grew up alongside the River Cherwell. A Roman villa at nearby Wykham Park dates from around the year
250 but it was the
Saxons who built the first settlement west of the River Cherwell. On the opposite bank is the Saxon settlement of
Grimsbury, now absorbed into Banbury.
Banbury Castle was built in
1135 on the west bank of the Cherwell commanding the river. The castle was extended and rebuilt many times. In the English civil war the castle became a
Royalist stronghold and was besieged during the winter of
1644-45. A second siege began in January
1646 and lasted until April when a surrender was negotiated. Following a petition to the
House of Commons in
1648 the castle was demolished.
There was a substantial water mill on the River Cherwell near the castle. The brick-built mill building and the miller's cottage have been modernised and extended to serve Banbury as a theatre and arts centre.
South of Banbury, the valley of the River Cherwell widens out. On the west bank is a large housing estate built in the
1970s named Cherwell Heights and a mile south the ancient village of
Bodicote on higher ground to the west of the river. Downstream of Banbury, most of the villages in the Cherwell valley are similarly set back from the river on higher ground to avoid flooding.
After Bodicote, the river passes an industrial estate at
Twyford Mill before reaching
King's Sutton, a village noted for the splendid lofty
spire on its church which overlooks the river. Two miles further on, the Cherwell reaches the settlement of
Nell Bridge and passes under a main road leading to the village of
Aynho which is a mile to the east on a low hill overlooking the river.
Shortly after Nell Bridge, the River Cherwell crosses the Oxford Canal at a right-angle, flowing in on the east side and out over a weir on the west side. Such level river crossings are fairly uncommon on English canals. A few yards below this crossing is Aynho Weir
Lock. This lock is unusual in that instead of a rectangular chamber, it has a wide lozenge-shaped chamber. This is because the lock lowers the canal by only 12 inches and the extra width of the lock chamber compensates for the smaller amount of water which would otherwise be passed from the River Cherwell to feed the lower level of the canal.
Adjacent to Aynho Weir, the railway route splits. South of this junction, the original line continues down the Cherwell valley to Oxford; east of it, a more direct route (opened in
1910 by the Great Western Railway) runs via
Bicester and
High Wycombe to
London, originally served by trains to
Paddington station but now by trains to
Marylebone station. On the line to Oxford, the River Cherwell supplied water to the railway, feeding long troughs laid on top of the sleepers between the rails so that locomotives could scoop up water to replenish their tanks without stopping.
From Aynho, the River Cherwell meanders in its valley overlooked by hilltop villages.
Somerton and Heyford are the only villages adjacent to the river itself and both once had water mills. The mill at
Lower Heyford was last rebuilt in the early
1800s and worked as a mill as recently as
1946. However, there was a mill here before the
Norman Conquest and this fact is mentioned in the
Domesday Book.
At
Rousham, the River Cherwell passes a famous
landscape garden designed by
William Kent. It features many statues and a temple which overlooks the River Cherwell. The terrace by the river is named the Praeneste after the ancient temple in
Palestrina near
Rome.
Two miles south of Rousham the river is crossed by a medieval packhorse bridge at Northbrook and a further mile south the course of
Akeman Street, a
Roman road, crosses the river. South of here, the Cherwell valley narrows and becomes more wooded.
The River Cherwell passes under the
Woodstock to
Bicester road and shortly after the Oxford Canal flows into it from the east. The next mile of the river is used by boats as part of the canal route. The canal and river pass a now-derelict cement works which was once supplied by canal
narrowboats and which used water extracted from the river.
After sharing their course for about one mile, the Oxford Canal and River Cherwell diverge at Shipton Weir Lock (a similar lozenge-shaped structure to the lock at Aynho Weir). To the west of the lock is the village of
Shipton on Cherwell. The bridge carrying the railway over the canal was the site of a major train crash in December
1874 in which more than 30 people died (
Shipton-on-Cherwell train crash).
East of Shipton, the deserted village of
Hampton Gay stands on the bank of the River Cherwell. The most substantial remnant is the church which stands in lonely isolation in the
watermeadows but there are ruins of a manor house too. Beyond here, the river reaches
Thrupp where the Oxford Canal finally leaves the Cherwell valley.
There was a Romano-British settlement not far from the River Cherwell near
Kidlington and a substantial Romano-British villa across the river at
Islip. To the east of Islip is a wide plain called
Otmoor drained by the
River Ray and its small tributaries. The Ray flows into the River Cherwell at Islip bridge.
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View of the Cherwell from the Fellows' Garden, Magdalen College, Oxford, as seen from near the entrance from Addison's Walk |
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Punts on the river at Oxford. |
The River Cherwell reaches the northern outskirts of
Oxford and runs south on the eastern edge of north Oxford town centre. Near
Summertown it passes the
Victoria Arms (or "Vicky Arms"), a popular riverside pub at
Marston and then under a modern bridge that is part of
Marston Ferry Road. A little further south, the Cherwell passes
Wolfson College (a graduate college of
Oxford University), the
Cherwell Boathouse (where
punts can be hired) and the playing fileds of the
Dragon School. Next is
Lady Margaret Hall, one of the previously all-women's Oxford colleges.
The river is then flanked by
University Parks and passes under
Rainbow Bridge.
Parson's Pleasure and
Dame's Delight used to provide nude bathing facilities for male and female bathers respectively, but both are now defunct. Below the Parks, the river splits into up to three streams, with a series of islands. One is
Mesopotamia, which is a long thin island just south of the Parks with a path that provides a pleasant walk. At the northern end, there are punt rollers next to a weir.
St Catherine's College is on the largest island formed by the split of the river. It also flows past
Magdalen College (pronounced 'maudlin').
The river conjoins again into two streams close together to flow under
Magdalen Bridge. Early on
May Morning, students sometimes jump off the bridge into the river, but this is a dangerous pastime, especially if the river is low. The river splits again past the bridge. To the west is the
Oxford Botanic Garden. To the east or
Magdalen College School and
St Hilda's College. The river then skirts
Christ Church Meadow before flowing into the
River Thames (or
Isis) through two branches. On the island in between these branches are many of the college
boathouses for
rowing on the Thames.
In summer,
punting is very popular on the Oxford stretch of the Cherwell. (A punt is a long flat bottom boat which is propelled by means of a pole pushed against the river bed.) Punts are typically hired from a punt station by
Magdalen Bridge, or the
Cherwell Boathouse (just to the north of the
University Parks). It is possible to punt all the way from the
Isis, north past the University Parks, and out beyond the
ring road.
The confluence of the Thames and Cherwell was the site of early settlements and the River Cherwell marked the boundary between the
Dobunni tribe to the west and the
Catuvellauni tribe to the east (these were pre-Roman
Celtic tribes).
A Romano-British settlement grew up north of the confluence, partly because the site was naturally protected from attack on the east by the River Cherwell and on the west by the River Thames. This settlement dominated the pottery trade in what is now central southern England and pottery was distributed by boats on the Thames and its tributaries.
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Wise Use of Floodplains â€" River Cherwell
