Category: Updates

It is confirmed that the ferry at Benson, replacing the closed weir crossing for walkers, is running 9am to 5pm daily.

Those walking upstream on the towpath from Wallingford will find a notice at Benson Lock displaying the phone number to call the ferry service. The ferry point is just upstream of the lock where the

The landing on the far side is the slipway by the Waterfront Cafe.

The vessel Ferret once operated at Brixham in Devon and has taken month to renovate. The ferry is operating where the Benson Horse Ferry used to carry the horses of the towing barges.

Fare: £2 (child £1).

A new edition of the Cicerone guide Walking the Thames Path is now available.

There are many new photographs and new points of interest such as Truss’s Island, named after the former prime minister’s ancestor, and Agatha Christie’s favourite riverside walk behind her house.

New refreshment stops highlighted include The Medley next to Medley Bridge where in summer pizzas are served in a riverside farmhouse garden.

A route has been added from the Source to nearby Thames Head Inn where you can celebrate the completion of your walk and also stay the night.

Walking the Thames Path (£17.95) is available via Cicerone website.

A ferry boat named Ferret will operate at Benson from Sunday 7 May.

This service is being introduced whilst the foot crossing at Benson Lock is closed. Repair which has yet to commence is expected to take some time.

The ferry is to run upstream of the lock daily from 8am to 6pm; tickets £2 (child £1).

The landing on the Benson bank is at the Waterfront Cafe.

LATEST: On Wed 5 April Thames Path National Trail office said that the path is open. Updates expected from Network Rail over coming days.

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The Thames Path is closed under Nuneham Railway Bridge.

The bridge is thought to have developed a structural fault, maybe due to flooding, and trains have stopped crossing the river.

Nuneham is a remote area between Abingdon and Radley.

Walkers reaching Abingdon may wish to catch the bus to Radley (or take a road route) where you can rejoin the river above Nuneham Bridge.

There is a shuttle train from Oxford Station to Radley Station.

Those wishing to travel by train between London Paddington and Oxford are having to change at Didcot Parkway and use a replacement bus services.

Disruption is expected to continue beyond Easter Bank Holiday Monday and into Easter Week.

Walkers on the Thames Path over the past week at dusk have been noticing the spire on Rotherhithe Church tower lit up.

It is also being seen from some distance away including by those crossing London and Tower Bridges.

The unannounced switch-on had been long planned and is made possible by the US Embassy downstream at Nine Elms. Rotherhithe has a resonance for the USA as it was from there that the Mayflower set out for America with the Pilgrim Fathers.

The 400th anniversary was commemorated by the Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle and the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi with low key ceremonies during the pandemic.

The Christopher Jones memorial in the churchyard is also illuminated until 11pm. Jones was Master of the Mayflower and after bringing her back from America he continued to live in Rotherhithe until his death in 1622. His statue by Jamie Sargeant was commissioned to mark the 375th anniversary of the voyage to America in 1995.

An official switch-on ceremony on the riverside is expected to be announced shortly.

The East Greenwich Residents Association has expressed concern about dust blowing along the Thames Path on Saturday 4 March.

The epicentre appeared to be at Tunnel Wharf, between Morden Wharf and downstream Bay Wharf, where work was in progress on that Saturday morning.

This section of path is well-known for its willow trees which are under threat of being felled.

A spokesperson for the nearby upstream Victoria Deep Water Terminal, which once had tunnels to shelter walkers, says that the dust is unlikely to have emanated from its operations.

‘As a result of our recent investment the plant has extensive mitigation measures built in, including for dust suppression.’

The annual Blessing of the River Thames t0ok place on Baptism Sunday 8 January with prayers for those working on the river. A wooden cross, inspired by the Epiphany Orthodox tradition on twelfth day of Christmas, is cast into the water.

Processions of clergy and congregation from Southwark Cathedral on the south bank and St Magnus the Martyr Church on the north bank met in the middle of London Bridge’s downstream side.

St Magnus, the northern gateway church, has the pavement of Old London Bridge, which was a different alignment, running through the base of tower entrance. The church also displays a model of Old London Bridge.

Pictures by Claire Meunier.

A statue of Virginia Woolf has been unveiled on the Thames Path at Richmond.

The writer lived in the town for a decade from 1914 and liked to walk along the Thames every day.

Now she is depicted sitting on a long seat where today’s walkers can join her to look at the river.

Virginia and her husband Leonard lived at Hogarth House in Paradise Road where they founded the Hogarth Press on the kitchen table.

At first the couple published their own work on a small hand-printing press but later expanded the business to include work by emerging authors such as Katherine Mansfield.

The first UK edition of TS Eliot’s The Wasteland was published a century ago by the Hogarth Press with the typesetting for the 450 copies being undertaken by Virginia.

The bronze figure is by Laury Dizengremel and was unveiled by Virginia Woolf’s great great nieces Sophie Partridge and Emma Woolf.

The ceremony took place on Wednesday afternoon as the tide fell to one of its lowest levels during the current draw-off when the lock gates are left open to allow for the riverbed to be exposed.

The seat with Virginia Woolf can be found up a few steps on Richmond Riverside opposite the former Jesus College Oxford barge immediately downstream of Richmond Bridge.

Day’s Lock Meadow beside the River Thames has been voluntarily registered by landowner Keith Ives.

Mr Ives bought the land in 2020 and, as a person with a strong sense of community, agreed voluntarily to register the site so that it can continue to be enjoyed by the public.

Thanks to a long campaign by residents of nearby Dorchester-on-Thames and the Open Spaces Society, the meadow has been added to the village green register.

The struggle began in 2016 when an earlier landowner of Bishops Court Farm erected fencing.

Keith Ives has also made it possible for the nearby ancient Dyke Hills, crossed if walking into Dorchester, to be registered at the same time.

Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, says: ‘We are delighted to have helped secure people’s access to these special place for ever. 

‘We congratulate the residents for their perseverance and determination, and we thank Mr Ives most warmly for his gift to the community.  He is a fine example to other landowners.  The society is encouraging landowners voluntarily to register their land as greens to protect it for public enjoyment.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, current favourite to win the Conservative leadership and become Prime Minister, is a descendant of the City of London’s famous Navigation Clerk of Works Charles Truss.

Truss’s Island in the River Thames is named after him.

The island, restored in 1992 with water again on all sides, is on the right bank between Laleham and Staines.

The stone, bearing the City Corporation shield and the island’s name, was placed in the centre in 1804 but has the date 1774 which is the year Charles Truss was appointed.

The City, responsible for the Thames as far as Staines, had allowed the river to become so obstructed and towpaths so eroded that it was in danger of losing its ancient rights.

Truss spent 36 years restoring the river, which saw a huge increase in traffic with the opening of the Thames and Severn Canal.

The island is largely inhabited by swans and Canada geese leaving little room for visitors seeking out the blackberries hanging down to the water.

The towpath is on the left bank and although from a distance the wooded island on the right bank appears to merge with the background it’s easily located by the swans. They often cross the river tempted by a constant offering of bread from walkers despite a recently posted notice from the Queen’s Swan Marker asking people to desist from feeding.

Another descendant of Charles Truss is The Revd Richard Truss, Liz Truss’s uncle, who has served in riverside parishes of Shepperton and Waterloo.