Author: Leigh Hatts

Oxfordshire County Council reports today that work on improving the towpath upstream of Wallingford Bridge has been completed.

The path, alongside the castle’s meadows known as Queen’s Arbour and Castle Medow, was often slippery and wet weather halted work four times since last autumn. 

Councillor Roger Belson, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “I’m delighted to say the work has now been completed and that local people will be able to use this stretch of the towpath whatever the weather.

Work started on 1 July and cost £11,000.

A range of agencies contributed to the county council project, including the Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment, the Environment Agency, South Oxfordshire District Council and tenants who granted access to the site across their land.

See page 148.

The death of journalist John Whale has been followed by many interesting obituaries.

He had a very full life and saw many changes. For example he was an ITN political correspondent in the days when the reporter had to travel on the tube from Parliament to the central studio to deliver news of a Commons debate. Later, as editor of the Church Times, he saw the paper into a new office and managed the change to new technology.

He had a love of the Thames and he walked the Thames Path with his daughter-in-law. But this was not  a one off and he walked other routes around London.

In the guide I mention his custom, whilst still Church Times editor, of swimming once a year from Shillingford Wharf, near Dorchester in Oxfordshire, to nearby Shillingford Bridge. This is some distance and not a straight line. I don’t recommend anyone trying it today but Shillingford Wharf is a delightful spot to pause on the Thames Path for a picnic. 

His interest in the river was heightened when he lived at Barnes where he wrote a history of the church which had been consecrated in 1215 by Archbishop Stephen Langton on his way back from securing King John’s agreement to Magna Carta upstream at Runnymede. It was the destruction by fire of most of the church and the row about how to rebuild which led to John Whale and his wife Judy to move away and settled in central London. His view that a modern church should be built at the base of the surviving 16th-century tower prevailed.

See pages 52 and 150

This week there have been reports of flooding at Newbridge in Oxfordshire.

No more rain is forecast over the next fews days but as the water travels downstream from Newbridge flooding can be expected on other sections of the towpath.

The Environment Agency’s flood information number is 0845 988 1188 where you can hear recorded messages.

See page 182.

The Paynes & Borthwick Wharves redevelopment at Deptford has been halted.

The £60m project which would have included 275 flats and a diversion to the Thames Path has been delayed indefinately by developer Lane Castle.

Estate agent King Sturge launched the scheme last June at its Canary Wharf office backed by extensive advertising. The intended completion date was January 2009.

Planning permission was granted only after a long dispute with the Creekside Forum, representing local residents and conservationists, which objected to the demolition of Borthwick Wharf for an 18 storey tower. 

The current Thames Path upstream route follows Borthwick Street behind the wharves before turning inland into Watergate Street.

See page 19.

As many as 22 lock keepers’ cottages on the River Thames are to be sold or rented out. The lock keepers and their families must move out.

I am sorry to see this reported in The Times today. 

Marlow Lock’s cottage is one of ten to be sold and Cookham’s will be rented as the Environment Agency tries to reduce spending.

Eileen McKeever, the Environment Agency’s Thames manager, says: “We are aware that this is a very emotive issue for lock keepers and their families but we have been running the river in the same manner for 40 or 50 years and we need to modernise our working practices.”

What is wrong with the constant care and policing of the last 50 years? It works very well. Have the lock keepers been wasting their time? How much better railway stations were when they had a resident station master. There was no vandalism.

Lock keepers, who earn around £16,000 a year and are responsible for maintaining the water flow at weirs as well as looking after locks, will have to find a home elsewhere. The Chief Executive Baroness Young is paid £200,000 a year. 

55 year old Steve Drewett who has worked as a lock keeper for 23 years has been told that he and his family must leave his cottage at Sunbury Lock. 

Think about this as you walk the Thames Path this summer. Drop off at the Houses of Parliament and tell your MP what you think about the policy.

The arrival this weekend of the Olympic flame on the Thames Path at North Greenwich caused a brief closure of the route. Ellen McArthur carried the torch ashore for a handover before the ceremony outside the Dome.

The Dome, or O2 as it is now officially called, is one of the venues for the 2012 Olympics and will host the gymnastics, basketball and trampolining events. It will be interesting to see if the Thames Path can remain open during Games. It should be possible.Â

The Lea Valley Walk which runs alongside the Olympic Park is due to be open all the time.

Although much of the Thames towpath is a public footpath and part of a national trail it sometimes occurs to me that it would be difficult to tow a barge with a horse on the towpath.

The reason is that in some places trees now grow between the path and the water. 

Just prior to today’s Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race there has been tree felling on the towpath just upstream of Hammersmith Bridge. Residents in Chiswick across the water are not too happy at having their view changed and those living in Barnes residents claim that this summer there will not be the usual tunnel of trees shading them from the sun on the path.

Martin Garside of the Port of London Authority says: “The trees are slowly but surely destroying the stone wall, which is part of the flood defences. Ultimately the towpath would collapse and that’s just not an option.”

However, only every other tree has been removed from the stone wall this time although eventually all the trees will have to go. Maybe the work should have been done years ago.  

Cicerone who publish both The Thames Path guide and my Lea Valley Walk guide has launched the Cicerone Forum, e-newsletter and blog. To explore the website which shows the full range of guides and gives access to recent newsletters and the blog go to http://www.ciceronepress.co.uk

A plan for a new Walton Bridge has been approved by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn.

The present crossing is a temporary Bailey Bridge dating from 1953. It was erected following 1940 war damage. Earlier more attractive bridges here were painted by Canaletto and Turner.

The existing bridge will remain in place whilst the new one is built alongside over the coming years. The deadline is 2014.

The lavatory block on Cowey Sale, the Walton Bank with the Thames Path, is to be replaced by a cafe and toilets.

See page 70.

Following last year’s Putney Debates festival at Putney Parish Church I thought it was the right time to check out its new permanent exhibition which is the festival legacy.

Although the Thames Path signage at Putney still directs downstream walkers away from the river and along Putney Bridge Road this is out of date. St Mary’s Putney is on the Thames Path. Indeed the path loops round the back.

The church is famous for the Putney Debates staged in 1647 by Cromwellians during the civil war. The participants’ radical ideas were too radical for Cromwell but their principles were incorporated into the American constitution. Leading lawyer Geoffrey Robertson and television historian Tristram Hunt both rate the event as very significant.

The free exhibition is not only a fascinating account of the debates but gives the background to the church building and the riverside village of Putney. Well worth seeing is the Bishop West chantry chapel built for him during his lifetime by the masons working on St George’s chapel at Windsor. The bishop was the son of a Putney fishmonger. It is interesting to find that his arms in the church include a fine pomegranate insignia as he was chaplain to Catherine of Aragon who also used the pomegranate as a crest.

Entry to the church is through the cafe which is a perfect stop for coffee or lunch. Soup and crusty bread is £4.95. I had homemade fish cakes, chips and salad for £6. If you are starting out at Putney it’s worth knowing about “chef’s UBER breakfast (mega size)” at £7.

The cafe is open daily 8.30am-6.30pm; Sat 9.30am-6pm & Sun 10.30am-6pm.

Sunday Eucharist is at 10am when you might recognise the Vicar as he is Giles Fraser who has a regular slot on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

See pages 46-49.