Bablock Hythe
Bablock Hythe is a hamlet in Oxfordshire, England, some five miles (8 km) west of Oxford city centre. There was a ferry across the River Thames at Bablock Hythe from the 13th century. The hand-propelled cable ferry was said to be the first along the Thames and was still in use for cars and other road vehicles up until 1959.[1]
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Heritage
The earliest reference to a ferry is in 1279; later ones continued to cross until the mid-20th century. The ferry was a wide-beamed ferry punt with a rope or chain in the river, which presented something of a hazard to navigation.[2] There was also an ancient inn, described by William Senior in his Royal River in the 1880s. This was rebuilt in the early 1990s.[3] The site is overlooked by the "Warm green-muffled Cumnor Hills", which now holds an extensive caravan site.[4] The poet Matthew Arnold described the area in his 1853 work "The Scholar Gipsy":
- Thee, at the ferry, Oxford riders blithe,
- Returning home on summer nights, have met
- Crossing the stripling Thames at Bablock-hithe
- Trailing in the cool stream thy fingers wet
- As the slow punt swings round.
References
- "Correspondence". The Autocar. London: Ilffe & Sons Ltd: 440. 30 March 1959.
- Thacker, Frederick Samuel (1968) [1920]. The Thames Highway: A History of the Inland Navigation. Vol. II Locks and Weirs. David & Charles.
- Winn, Christopher (2010). I Never Knew That about the River Thames. London: Ebury Press. p. 39. ISBN 0091933579.
- Goldsack, Paul (2003). River Thames: In the Footsteps of the Famous. Bradt/English Heritage. ISBN 1841620440.