The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the
River Isis
"The Isis" () is an alternative name for the River Thames, used from its source in the Cotswolds until it is joined by the Thame at Dorchester in Oxfordshire. It derives from the ancient name for the Thames, ''Tamesis'', which in the Middle ...
, is a river that flows through
southern England
Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes ...
including
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the
second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the
River Severn
, name_etymology =
, image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG
, image_size = 288
, image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle
, map = RiverSevernMap.jpg
, map_size = 288
, map_c ...
.
The river rises at
Thames Head in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of ...
, and flows into the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...
near
Tilbury
Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an anc ...
, Essex and
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...
, Kent, via the
Thames Estuary
The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain.
Limits
An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...
. From the west it flows through
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
(where it is sometimes called the Isis),
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
,
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckin ...
and
Windsor. The Thames also drains the whole of
Greater London.
In August 2022, the source of the river moved five miles to beyond
Somerford Keynes due to the heatwave in July 2022.
The lower reaches of the river are called the
Tideway
The Tideway is a part of the River Thames in England which is subject to tides. This stretch of water is downstream from Teddington Lock. The Tideway comprises the upper Thames Estuary including the Pool of London.
Tidal activity
Depending on ...
, derived from its long
tidal reach
A reach is a segment of a stream, river, or arm of the sea, usually suggesting a straight, level, uninterrupted stretch.
They are traditionally defined by the capabilities of sailing boats, as a stretch of a watercourse which, because it is stra ...
up to
Teddington Lock
Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames between Ham and Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Historically in Middlesex, it was first built in 1810.
The limit of legal po ...
. Its tidal section includes most of its London stretch and has a rise and fall of . From Oxford to the Estuary the Thames drops by 55 metres. Running through some of the drier parts of mainland Britain and heavily abstracted for drinking water, the Thames' discharge is low considering its length and breadth: the Severn has a discharge almost twice as large on average despite having a smaller
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
. In
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, the
Tay
Tay may refer to:
People and languages
* Tay (name), including lists of people with the given name, surname and nickname
* Tay people, an ethnic group of Vietnam
** Tày language
*Atayal language, an Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan (ISO 639 ...
achieves more than double the Thames' average discharge from a drainage basin that is 60% smaller.
Along its course are 45
navigation locks with accompanying
weirs. Its
catchment area
In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
covers a large part of south-eastern and a small part of western England; the river is fed by at least
50 named tributaries. The river
contains over 80 islands. With its waters varying from freshwater to almost seawater, the Thames supports a variety of wildlife and has a number of adjoining
Sites of Special Scientific Interest, with
the largest being in the
North Kent Marshes and covering .
Etymology
According to Mallory and Adams, the Thames, from
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...
''Temese'', is derived from the
Brittonic name for the river, ''Tamesas'' (from *''tamēssa''),
[Mallory, J.P. and D.Q. Adams (1947). ''The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture''. London: Fitzroy and Dearborn. p. 147.] recorded in Latin as ''Tamesis'' and yielding modern Welsh ''Tafwys'' "Thames". The name may have meant "dark" and can be compared to other
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...
s such as Russian темно (
Proto-Slavic *''tĭmĭnŭ''),
Lithuanian ''tamsi'' "dark",
Latvian ''tumsa'' "darkness",
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
''
tamas'' and Welsh ''tywyll'' "darkness" and
Middle Irish
Middle Irish, sometimes called Middle Gaelic ( ga, An Mheán-Ghaeilge, gd, Meadhan-Ghàidhlig), is the Goidelic language which was spoken in Ireland, most of Scotland and the Isle of Man from AD; it is therefore a contemporary of late Old Engl ...
''teimen'' "dark grey".
The origin is shared by many other river names in Britain, such as the
River Tamar at the border of
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
and
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...
, several
rivers named Tame in
the Midlands and
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...
, the
Tavy on
Dartmoor, the
Team
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal.
As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...
of the North East, the
Teifi and
Teme
The River Teme (pronounced ; cy, Afon Tefeidiad) rises in Mid Wales, south of Newtown, and flows southeast roughly forming the border between England and Wales for several miles through Knighton before entering England in the vicinity of ...
of
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, the
Teviot in the
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lot ...
and a Thames tributary the
Thame.
Kenneth H. Jackson proposed that the name of the Thames is not
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
(and of unknown meaning), while Peter Kitson suggested that it is Indo-European but originated before the
Britons and has a name indicating "muddiness" from a root ''*tā-'', 'melt'.
Indirect evidence for the antiquity of the name 'Thames' is provided by a Roman potsherd found at Oxford, bearing the inscription ''Tamesubugus fecit'' (Tamesubugus made
his. It is believed that Tamesubugus' name was derived from that of the river. Tamese was referred to as a place, not a river in the
Ravenna Cosmography (c. AD 700).
The river's name has always been pronounced with a simple ''t'' /t/; the
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...
spelling was typically ''Temese'' and the Brittonic form ''Tamesis''. A similar spelling from 1210, "Tamisiam" (the accusative case of "Tamisia", see
Kingston upon Thames#Early history), is found in the
Magna Carta
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by t ...
.
The Thames through
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
is sometimes called
the Isis. Historically, and especially in
Victorian times, gazetteers and cartographers insisted that the entire river was correctly named the Isis from its source down to
Dorchester on Thames and that only from this point, where the river meets
the Thame and becomes the "Thame-isis" (supposedly subsequently abbreviated to Thames) should it be so called.
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...
maps still label the Thames as "River Thames or Isis" down to Dorchester. Since the early 20th century this distinction has been lost in common usage outside of Oxford, and some historians suggest the name ''Isis'' is nothing more than a
truncation of ''Tamesis'', the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
name for the Thames. Sculptures titled ''Tamesis'' and ''
Isis
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...
'' by
Anne Seymour Damer
Anne Seymour Damer, ''née'' Conway, (26 October 1748 – 28 May 1828) was an English sculptor. Once described as a 'female genius' by Horace Walpole, she was trained in sculpture by Giuseppe Ceracchi and John Bacon. Influenced by the Enlighten ...
can be found on the
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...
at
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckin ...
,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...
(the original terracotta and plaster models were exhibited at the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, in 1785. They are now on show at the
River and Rowing Museum
The River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, is located on a site at Mill Meadows by the River Thames. It has three main themes represented by major permanent galleries, the non-tidal River Thames, the international s ...
in Henley).
Richard Coates
Richard Coates (born 16 April 1949, in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and educated at Wintringham School) is an English linguist. He was Professor of Linguistics (alternatively Professor of Onomastics) at the University of the West of England, Bristo ...
suggests that while the river was as a whole called the Thames, part of it, where it was too wide to ford, was called *''(p)lowonida''. This gave the name to a settlement on its banks, which became known as
Londinium
Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. It was originally a settlement established on the current site of the City of London around AD 47–50. It sat at a key cros ...
, from the Indo-European roots *''pleu-'' "flow" and *''-nedi'' "river" meaning something like the flowing river or the wide flowing unfordable river.
The river gives its name to three informal areas: the
Thames Valley, a region of England around the river between Oxford and West London; the
Thames Gateway; and the greatly overlapping
Thames Estuary
The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain.
Limits
An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...
around the tidal Thames to the east of London and including the waterway itself.
Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, coverin ...
is a formal body that takes its name from the river, covering three
counties. In non-administrative use, the river's name is used in those of
Thames Valley University,
Thames Water
Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is a large private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in most of Greater London, Luton, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, north W ...
,
Thames Television, publishing company
Thames & Hudson,
Thameslink
Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...
(north–south rail service passing through
central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
) and
South Thames College. An example of its use in the names of historic entities is the
Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company
The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Limited was a shipyard and iron works straddling the mouth of Bow Creek at its confluence with the River Thames, at Leamouth Wharf (often referred to as Blackwall) on the west side and at Canni ...
.
Administration
The administrative powers of the
Thames Conservancy
The Thames Conservancy (formally the Conservators of the River Thames) was a body responsible for the management of the that river in England. It was founded in 1857 to replace the jurisdiction of the City of London up to Staines. Nine years la ...
to control river traffic and manage flows have been taken on with some modifications by the
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and en ...
and, in respect of the Tideway part of the river, such powers are split between the agency and the
Port of London Authority
The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...
.
Human activity
The marks of human activity, in some cases dating back to
Pre-Roman Britain, are visible at various points along the river. These include a variety of structures connected with use of the river, such as navigations, bridges and
watermills, as well as prehistoric
burial mounds.
The lower Thames in the Roman era was a shallow waterway winding through marshes. But centuries of human intervention have transformed it into a deep tidal canal flowing between 200 miles of solid walls; these defend a floodplain where 1.5 million people work and live.
A major maritime route is formed for much of its length for shipping and supplies: through the
Port of London
The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North ...
for international trade, internally along its length and by its connection to the British canal system. The river's position has put it at the centre of many events in British history, leading to it being described by
John Burns
John Elliot Burns (20 October 1858 – 24 January 1943) was an English trade unionist and politician, particularly associated with London politics and Battersea. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was ...
as "liquid history".
Two broad canals link the river to other
river basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
s: the
Kennet and Avon Canal (
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
to
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
) and the
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...
(London to the Midlands). The Grand Union effectively bypassed the earlier, narrow and winding
Oxford Canal which also remains open as a popular scenic recreational route. Three further cross-basin canals are disused but are in various stages of reconstruction: the
Thames and Severn Canal
The Thames and Severn Canal is a canal in Gloucestershire in the south-west of England, which was completed in 1789. It was conceived as part of a cargo route from Bristol and the Midlands to London, linking England's two largest rivers for bett ...
(via
Stroud
Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021.
Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Va ...
), which operated until 1927 (to the west coast of England), the
Wey and Arun Canal to
Littlehampton, which operated until 1871 (to the south coast), and the
Wilts and Berks Canal
The Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon. The North Wilts Canal merged with it to become a ...
.
Rowing and sailing clubs are common along the Thames, which is navigable to such vessels.
Kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits faci ...
and
canoeing
Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other act ...
also take place. Major annual events include the
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thr ...
and
the Boat Race, while the Thames has been used during two
Summer Olympic Games
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...
:
1908 (
rowing) and
1948 (
rowing and
canoeing
Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other act ...
). Safe headwaters and reaches are a summer venue for organised swimming, which is prohibited on safety grounds in a stretch centred on
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
.
Physical and natural aspects
The usually quoted
source of the Thames is at
Thames Head (at ). This is about north of
Kemble parish church in southern
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of ...
, near the town of
Cirencester, in the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of J ...
.
However,
Seven Springs near
Cheltenham, where the
Churn (which feeds into the Thames near
Cricklade) rises, is also sometimes quoted as the Thames' source,
as this location is farthest from the mouth, and adds some to the river's length. At Seven Springs above the source is a stone with the Latin
hexameter inscription "Hic tuus o Tamesine pater septemgeminus fons", which means "Here, O Father Thames,
syour sevenfold source".
The
springs at Seven Springs flow throughout the year, while those at Thames Head are only seasonal (a
winterbourne). With a length of , the Thames is the longest river entirely in England. (The
longest river in the United Kingdom, the
Severn, flows partly in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
.) However, as the River Churn, sourced at Seven Springs, is longer than the section of the Thames from its traditional source at Thames Head to the confluence, the overall length of the Thames measured from Seven Springs, at , is greater than the Severn's length of . Thus, the "Churn/Thames" river may be regarded as the longest natural river in the United Kingdom.
The stream from Seven Springs is joined at
Coberley by a longer tributary which could further increase the length of the Thames, with its source in the grounds of the
National Star College at
Ullenwood.
The Thames flows through or alongside
Ashton Keynes,
Cricklade,
Lechlade,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
,
Abingdon-on-Thames
Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England, on the River Thames. Historically the county town of Berkshire, since 1974 Abingdon has been ...
,
Wallingford,
Goring-on-Thames and
Streatley,
Pangbourne and
Whitchurch-on-Thames,
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
,
Wargrave,
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckin ...
,
Marlow,
Maidenhead,
Windsor and
Eton,
Staines-upon-Thames
Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred t ...
and
Egham,
Chertsey,
Shepperton,
Weybridge
Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...
,
Sunbury-on-Thames,
Walton-on-Thames,
Molesey and
Thames Ditton. The river was subject to minor redefining and widening of the main channel around Oxford, Abingdon and Marlow before 1850, since when further cuts to ease navigation have reduced distances further.
Molesey faces
Hampton, and in
Greater London the Thames passes
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
,
Surbiton
Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it ha ...
,
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...
,
Teddington,
Twickenham,
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, Californi ...
(with a famous view of the Thames from Richmond Hill),
Syon House
Syon House is the west London residence of the Duke of Northumberland. A Grade I listed building, it lies within the 200-acre (80 hectare) Syon Park, in the London Borough of Hounslow.
The family's traditional central London residence h ...
,
Kew,
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings wh ...
,
Chiswick
Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and F ...
,
Barnes,
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London ...
,
Fulham,
Putney,
Wandsworth,
Battersea and
Chelsea. In
central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
, the river passes
Pimlico and
Vauxhall, and then forms one of the principal axes of the city, from the
Palace of Westminster to the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
. At this point, it historically formed the southern boundary of the medieval city, with
Southwark, on the opposite bank, then being part of
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...
.
Beyond central London, the river passes
Bermondsey,
Wapping,
Shadwell,
Limehouse,
Rotherhithe,
Millwall,
Deptford,
Greenwich,
Cubitt Town,
Blackwall,
New Charlton
Charlton Riverside, previously known as New Charlton, is the area along the south bank of the river Thames at Charlton, London, which forms part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It was formerly a primarily industrial zone, known for the glass a ...
and
Silvertown
Silvertown is a district in the London Borough of Newham, in east London, England. It lies on the north bank of the Thames and was historically part of the parishes of West Ham and East Ham, hundred of Becontree, and the historic county ...
, before flowing through the
Thames Barrier, which protects central London from flooding by
storm surge
A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...
s. Below the barrier, the river passes
Woolwich,
Thamesmead
Thamesmead is an area of south-east London, England, straddling the border between the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Charing Cross, north-east of Woolwich and west of Erith. It mainly consi ...
,
Dagenham
Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross.
It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fore ...
,
Erith
Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies nort ...
,
Purfleet,
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...
,
West Thurrock
West Thurrock is an area, former civil parish and traditional Church of England parish in Thurrock, Essex, England, located 17.5 miles (28.1 km) east south-east of Charing Cross, London. In 1931 the parish had a population of 5,153. On 1 Apr ...
,
Northfleet,
Tilbury
Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an anc ...
and
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...
before entering the
Thames Estuary
The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain.
Limits
An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...
near
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north ...
.
Sea level
Sediment cores up to 10 m deep collected by the
British Geological Survey from the banks of the tidal River Thames contain geochemical information and fossils which provide a 10,000-year record of sea-level change.
Combined, this and other studies suggest that the Thames sea-level has risen more than 30 m during the Holocene at a rate of around 5–6 mm per year from 10,000 to 6,000 years ago.
The rise of sea level dramatically reduced when the ice melt nearly concluded over the past 4,000 years. Since the beginning of the 20th century, rates of sea level rise range from 1.22 mm per year to 2.14 mm per year.
Catchment area and discharge
The Thames River Basin District, including the Medway catchment, covers an area of .
The river basin is a mixture of urban through to rural in the east and northern parts while the western parts of the catchment are predominantly rural with many towns to a suburban layout such as, archetypically
Swindon
Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon unitary authority area had a population ...
. The area is among the driest in the United Kingdom. Water resources consist of
groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit ...
from aquifers and water taken from the Thames and its tributaries, much of it stored in large
bank-side reservoirs.
The Thames itself provides two-thirds of London's drinking water while groundwater supplies about 40 percent of public water supplies in the total catchment area. Groundwater is an important water source, especially in the drier months, so maintaining its quality and quantity is extremely important. Groundwater is vulnerable to surface pollution, especially in highly urbanised areas.
The non-tidal section
Brooks, canals and rivers, within an area of ,
combine to form 38 main tributaries feeding the Thames between its source and
Teddington Lock
Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames between Ham and Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Historically in Middlesex, it was first built in 1810.
The limit of legal po ...
. This is the usual
tidal limit
Head of tide, tidal limit or tidehead is the farthest point upstream where a river is affected by tidal fluctuations, or where the fluctuations are less than a certain amount. This applies to rivers which flow into tidal bodies such as oceans, ...
; however, high spring tides can raise the head water level in the reach above Teddington and can occasionally reverse the river flow for a short time. In these circumstances, tidal effects can be observed upstream to the next lock beside
Molesey weir,
which is visible from the towpath and
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...
beside
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
. Before Teddington Lock was built in 1810–12, the river was tidal at peak spring tides as far as
Staines upon Thames
Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred ...
.
In descending order, non-related tributaries of the non-tidal Thames, with river status, are the
Churn,
Leach
Leach may refer to:
* Leach (surname)
* Leach, Oklahoma, an unincorporated community, United States
* Leach, Tennessee, an unincorporated community, United States
* Leach Highway, Western Australia
* Leach orchid
* Leach phenotype, a mutatio ...
,
Cole,
Ray
Ray may refer to:
Fish
* Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea
* Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin
Science and mathematics
* Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point
* Ray (gr ...
,
Coln,
Windrush Windrush may refer to:
Places in England
* Windrush Square, precinct in south London
* River Windrush, a river in Gloucestershire
* Windrush, Gloucestershire, a village in Gloucestershire
** RAF Windrush, a Royal Air Force station in World War I ...
,
Evenlode,
Cherwell,
Ock,
Thame,
Pang,
Kennet,
Loddon Loddon may refer to:
*Loddon, Norfolk in England, UK
*Shire of Loddon in Victoria, Australia (since 1995)
**Bridgewater On Loddon, Victoria in Australia
*River Loddon, flows into the River Thames near Reading
* Loddon River, flows north from south o ...
,
Colne
Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds.
The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne ...
,
Wey
Wey may refer to:
Places
*Wey (state) (衞), or Wei, ancient Chinese state during the Zhou Dynasty
*River Wey, river in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex, England
*River Wey (Dorset), river of Dorset, south west England
*Wey and Arun Canal, canal ...
and
Mole. In addition, there are occasional backwaters and artificial cuts that form islands,
distributaries (most numerous in the case of the
Colne
Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds.
The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne ...
), and man-made distributaries such as the
Longford River
The Longford River is an artificial waterway, a distributary designed to embellish a park, that diverts water from the River Colne at Longford near Colnbrook in England, to Bushy Park and Hampton Court Palace. Its main outlet is to the re ...
. Three canals intersect this stretch: the
Oxford Canal,
Kennet and Avon Canal and
Wey Navigation.
Its longest artificial secondary channel (cut), the
Jubilee River, was built between Maidenhead and Windsor for flood relief and completed in 2002.
The non-tidal section of the river is managed by the
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and en ...
, which is responsible for managing the flow of water to help prevent and mitigate flooding, and providing for navigation: the volume and speed of water downstream is managed by adjusting the sluices at each of the weirs and, at peak high water, levels are generally dissipated over preferred flood plains adjacent to the river. Occasionally, flooding of inhabited areas is unavoidable and the agency issues flood warnings. Due to stiff penalties applicable on the non-tidal river, which is a drinking water source before treatment,
sanitary sewer overflow from the many
sewage treatment plant
Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding en ...
s covering the upper Thames basin should be rare in the non-tidal Thames. However, storm sewage overflows are still common in almost all the main tributaries of the Thames despite claims by Thames Water to the contrary.
The tidal section
Below Teddington Lock (about upstream of the Thames Estuary), the river is subject to
tidal activity from the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...
. Before the lock was installed, the river was tidal as far as Staines, about upstream. London, capital of
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...
, was established on two hills, now known as
Cornhill and
Ludgate Hill. These provided a firm base for a trading centre at the lowest possible point on the Thames.
A river crossing was built at the site of
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It re ...
. London Bridge is now used as the basis for published tide tables giving the times of
high tide. High tide reaches Putney about 30 minutes later than London Bridge, and Teddington about an hour later. The
tidal stretch of the river is known as "the
Tideway
The Tideway is a part of the River Thames in England which is subject to tides. This stretch of water is downstream from Teddington Lock. The Tideway comprises the upper Thames Estuary including the Pool of London.
Tidal activity
Depending on ...
". Tide tables are published by the
Port of London Authority
The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...
and are available online. Times of high and low tides are also posted on Twitter.
The principal
tributaries of the River Thames
This article lists the tributaries of the River Thames from the sea to the source, in England. There are also secondary lists of backwaters of the river itself and the waterways branching off.
Note: the River Medway shares the saline lower Th ...
on the Tideway include the rivers
Crane,
Brent,
Wandle,
Ravensbourne (the final part of which is called
Deptford Creek
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Doc ...
),
Lea (the final part of which is called
Bow Creek),
Roding,
Darent
The Darent is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames and takes the waters of the River Cray as a tributary in the tidal portion of the Darent near Crayford, as illustrated by the adjacent photograph, snapped at high tide. 'Darenth' is frequen ...
and
Ingrebourne. At London, the water is slightly
brackish
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estua ...
with sea salt, being a mix of sea and fresh water.
This part of the river is managed by the
Port of London Authority
The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...
. The flood threat here comes from high tides and strong winds from the North Sea, and the Thames Barrier was built in the 1980s to protect London from this risk.
The Nore is the
sandbank that marks the mouth of the
Thames Estuary
The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain.
Limits
An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...
, where the outflow from the Thames meets the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...
. It is roughly halfway between
Havengore Creek in Essex and Warden Point on the
Isle of Sheppey
The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is deriv ...
in Kent. Until 1964 it marked the seaward limit of the Port of London Authority. As the sandbank was a major hazard for shipping coming in and out of London, in 1732 it received the world's first
lightship. This became a major landmark, and was used as an assembly point for shipping. Today it is marked by Sea Reach No. 1 Buoy.
Islands
The River Thames contains over 80 islands ranging from the large estuarial marshlands of the
Isle of Sheppey
The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is deriv ...
and
Canvey Island
Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics ...
to small tree-covered islets like
Rose Isle
Rose Isle is an island in the River Thames in England just downstream of Kennington Railway Bridge on the reach above Sandford Lock, near Kennington, Oxfordshire.
The island is tree-covered and has a narrow channel behind it crossed by a footbr ...
in Oxfordshire and
Headpile Eyot
Headpile Eyot is long and narrow eyot in the River Thames, situated just above Bray Lock. It is also near the village of Bray, Berkshire.
The island is small and covered with trees such as Horse chestnut and English oaks. Bronze Age finds have ...
in Berkshire. They are found all the way from the
Isle of Sheppey
The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is deriv ...
in Kent to
Fiddler's Island in Oxfordshire. Some of the largest inland islands, for example
Formosa Island near Cookham and
Andersey Island
Andersey Island is a area of flood-meadow and former flood-meadow south-east of Abingdon Bridge, Abingdon, Oxfordshire on the reach above Culham Lock in which parish it lies however maintaining close links with Abingdon by virtue of its curren ...
at Abingdon, were created naturally when the course of the river divided into separate streams.
In the Oxford area the river splits into several streams across the
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
(
Seacourt Stream,
Castle Mill Stream,
Bulstake Stream and others), creating several islands (
Fiddler's Island,
Osney and others).
Desborough Island
Desborough Island is a manmade island in the River Thames on the reach above Sunbury Lock in Surrey, England. It was formed in the 1930s by the digging of a channel – the Desborough Cut – by the Thames Conservancy as a meander cutoff of ...
,
Ham Island
Ham Island is an inhabited man-made island of roughly 50 hectares (125 acres) in the River Thames in Old Windsor in England. It was a mature meander of the Thames until a channel was dug, the New Cut, to build Old Windsor Lock which reduced ...
at Old Windsor and
Penton Hook Island
Penton Hook Island is a mainly wooded former peninsula created into a series of three weir-divided islands in the River Thames in England, so created in river modifications since 1815 with a navigable lock and weir stream channel to form meander ...
were artificially created by lock cuts and navigation channels.
Chiswick Eyot is a landmark on the Boat Race course, while
Glover's Island
Glover's Island (originally called Petersham Ait) is in a tree-lined section of river, formerly known as Horse Reach on the tidal Thames, between Richmond Lock and Teddington Lock in the Borough of Richmond upon Thames, London, England.
Des ...
forms the centre of a view from
Richmond Hill.
Islands of historical interest include
Magna Carta Island
Magna Carta Island is an ait in the River Thames in England, on the reach above Bell Weir Lock. It is in Berkshire facing water-meadows forming Runnymede. Its civil and ecclesiastical parish is Wraysbury so it was transferred from Buckinghamsh ...
at
Runnymede
Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with its adjoining ...
,
Fry's Island at Reading, and
Pharaoh's Island
Pharaoh's Island ( ar, جزيرة فرعون ''Jazīrat Fir‘aun''), whose current popular name is Coral Island, is a small island in the northern Gulf of Aqaba some east off the shore of Egypt's eastern Sinai Peninsula. Some scholars identif ...
near Shepperton. In more recent times
Platts Eyot
Platt's Eyot or Platt's Ait is an island on the River Thames at Hampton, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England, on the reach between Molesey Lock and Sunbury Lock.
Geography
The island was a typical ait used for growing osier ...
at
Hampton was the place where
Motor Torpedo Boats (MTB)s were built,
Tagg's Island near Molesey was associated with the impresario
Fred Karno and
Eel Pie Island at Twickenham was the birthplace of the South East's
R&B music scene.
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
and the
Palace of Westminster (commonly known today as the
Houses of Parliament) were built on
Thorney Island, which used to be an
eyot.
Geological and topographic history
Researchers have identified the River Thames as a discrete drainage line flowing as early as 58 million years ago, in the
Thanetian
The Thanetian is, in the ICS Geologic timescale, the latest age or uppermost stratigraphic stage of the Paleocene Epoch or Series. It spans the time between . The Thanetian is preceded by the Selandian Age and followed by the Ypresian Age ( ...
stage of the late
Palaeocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pala ...
epoch.
Until around 500,000 years ago, the Thames flowed on its existing course through what is now
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...
, before turning to the north-east through
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...
and
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
and reaching the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...
near present-day
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
.
At this time the river-system headwaters lay in the English
West Midlands and may, at times, have received drainage from the
Berwyn Mountains
The Berwyn range ( Welsh: ''Y Berwyn'' or ''Mynydd y Berwyn'') is an isolated and sparsely populated area of moorland in the northeast of Wales, roughly bounded by Llangollen in the northeast, Corwen in the northwest, Bala in the southwest, an ...
in
North Wales
North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, ...
.
Ice age
About 450,000 years ago, in the most extreme
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
of the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
, the
Anglian, the furthest southern extent of the ice sheet reached
Hornchurch in east London, the Vale of St Albans, and the
Finchley Gap
The Finchley Gap (or "Finchley depression") is a location centred on Church End, Finchley, in north London, England. As a topographical feature approximately eight kilometres wide, lying between higher ground to the north-west (Mill Hill) and t ...
.
It dammed the river in
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...
, resulting in the formation of large ice lakes, which eventually burst their banks and caused the river to divert onto its present course through the area of present-day London.
The ice lobe which stopped at present-day
Finchley deposited about 14 metres of
boulder clay there. Its torrent of
meltwater gushed through the
Finchley Gap
The Finchley Gap (or "Finchley depression") is a location centred on Church End, Finchley, in north London, England. As a topographical feature approximately eight kilometres wide, lying between higher ground to the north-west (Mill Hill) and t ...
and south towards the new course of the Thames, and proceeded to carve out the
Brent Valley in the process.
The Anglian ice advance resulted in a new course for the Thames through
Berkshire and on into London, after which the river rejoined its original course in southern
Essex
Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
, near the present
River Blackwater estuary. Here it entered a substantial freshwater lake in the southern North Sea basin, south of what is called
Doggerland. The overspill of this lake caused the formation of the
Channel River and later the
Dover Strait gap between present-day
Britain and France. Subsequent development led to the continuation of the course that the river follows at the present day.
Most of the
bedrock of the
Vale of Aylesbury comprises
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...
and
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. C ...
that formed at the end of the
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
and at one time was under the
Proto-Thames. At this time the vast underground reserves of water formed that make the
water table
The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated.
T ...
higher than average in the Vale of Aylesbury.
At the height of the
last ice age, around 20,000 BC, Britain was connected to mainland Europe by a large expanse of land known as
Doggerland in the southern
North Sea Basin
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...
. At this time, the Thames' course did not continue to Doggerland but flowed southwards from the eastern Essex coast where it met the waters of the proto-
Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta flowing from what are now the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
. These rivers formed a single river – the
Channel River (''Fleuve Manche'') – that passed through the Dover Strait and drained into the Atlantic Ocean in the western
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...
.
Upon the valley sides of the Thames and some of its tributaries can be seen other terraces of
brickearth, laid over and sometimes interlayered with the clays. These deposits were brought in by the winds during the
periglacial periods, suggesting that wide, flat marshes were then part of the landscape, which the new rivers proceeded to cut into.
The steepness of some valley sides indicates very much lower
mean sea level
There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value ( magnitude and sign) of a given data set.
For a data set, the '' ...
s caused by the glaciation locking up so much water upon the land masses, thus causing the river water to flow rapidly seaward and so erode its bed quickly downwards.
The original land surface was around above the current sea-level. The surface had sandy deposits from an ancient sea, laid over sedimentary clay (this is the blue
London Clay
The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from ...
). All the erosion down from this higher land surface, and the sorting action by these changes of water flow and direction, formed what is known as the Thames
River Gravel Terraces.
Since Roman times and perhaps earlier, the
isostatic rebound from the weight of previous ice sheets, and its interplay with the
eustatic change in sea level, have resulted in the old valley of the River Brent, together with that of the Thames, silting up again. Thus, along much of the Brent's present-day course, one can make out the
water-meadows of rich alluvium, which is augmented by frequent floods.
Conversion of marshland
After the river took its present-day course, many of the banks of the
Thames Estuary
The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain.
Limits
An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...
and the
Thames Valley in London were partly covered in
marshland, as was the adjoining
Lower Lea Valley
The Lower Lea Valley is the southern end of the Lea Valley which surrounds the River Lea. It is part of the Thames Gateway redevelopment area and was the location of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
A 2005 documentary ''What Have You Done Today, Mer ...
. Streams and rivers like the
River Lea,
Tyburn Brook
Tyburn Brook was a small tributary stream to the West Bourne or Westbourne and ran mainly in Hyde Park for a few hundred metres south by south-west. It has lost its catchment to natural drainage into the gravelly topsoil and to surface water, ...
and
Bollo Brook
Stamford Brook was a tributary of the Tideway stretch of the River Thames in west London supplied by three headwaters. Historically used as an irrigation ditch or dyke the network of small watercourses had four lower courses and mouths.
Histo ...
drained into the river, while some islands, e.g.
Thorney Island, formed over the ages. The northern tip of the ancient parish of
Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area e ...
, for example, was marshland known as ''Lambeth Marshe'', but it was drained in the 18th century; the street name
Lower Marsh preserves a memory.
The
East End of London
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have univ ...
, also known simply as the East End, was the area of London east of the medieval walled
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
and north of the River Thames, although it is not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries; the
River Lea can be considered another boundary. Most of the local riverside was also marshland. The land was drained and became farmland; it was built on after the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
.
Canvey Island
Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics ...
in southern Essex (area ; population 40,000) was once marshy, but is now a fully reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, separated from the mainland of south
Essex
Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
by a network of creeks. Lying below sea level, it is prone to flooding at exceptional tides, but has nevertheless been inhabited since Roman times.
Wildlife
Various species of birds feed off the river or nest on it, some being found both at sea and inland. These include
cormorant,
black-headed gull
The black-headed gull (''Chroicocephalus ridibundus'') is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic including Europe and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but some birds ...
and
herring gull Herring gull is a common name for several birds in the genus ''Larus'', all formerly treated as a single species.
Three species are still combined in some taxonomies:
* American herring gull (''Larus smithsonianus'') - North America
* European h ...
. The
mute swan
The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurosiberia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home ...
is a familiar sight on the river but the escaped
black swan
The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon ...
is more rare. The annual ceremony of
Swan Upping
Swan upping is an annual ceremony in England in which mute swans on the River Thames are rounded up, caught, ringed, and then released.
History
By prerogative right, the British Crown enjoys ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open wate ...
is an old tradition of counting stocks.
Non-native geese that can be seen include
Canada geese,
Egyptian geese
The Egyptian goose (''Alopochen aegyptiaca'') is a member of the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae. It is native to Africa south of the Sahara and the Nile Valley.
Egyptian geese were considered sacred by the Ancient Egyptians, and appe ...
and
bar-headed geese
The bar-headed goose (''Anser indicus'') is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It ...
, and ducks include the familiar native
mallard, plus introduced
Mandarin duck and
wood duck. Other water birds to be found on the Thames include the
great crested grebe,
coot
Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually ...
,
moorhen,
heron
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychu ...
and
kingfisher. Many types of British birds also live alongside the river, although they are not specific to the river habitat.
The Thames contains both sea water and fresh water, thus providing support for seawater and freshwater fish. However, many populations of fish are at risk and are being killed in tens of thousands because of pollutants leaking into the river from human activities.
Salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...
, which inhabit both environments, have been reintroduced and a succession of
fish ladders have been built into
weirs to enable them to travel upstream.
On 5 August 1993, the largest non-tidal salmon in recorded history was caught close to
Boulters Lock
Boulter's Lock is a lock and weir on the River Thames in England north-east of Maidenhead town centre, Berkshire. The present 1912-built lock replaces those at this point of the river to the immediate east dating from the late 16th century and ...
in
Maidenhead. The specimen weighed and measured in length. The
eel is particularly associated with the Thames and there were formerly many eel traps. Freshwater fish of the Thames and its tributaries include
brown trout
The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morp ...
,
chub
Chub is a common fish name. It pertains to any one of a number of ray-finned fish in several families and genera. In the UK, the term ''chub'' usually refers to the species '' Squalius cephalus''. In addition, see sea chub.
In family Cyprinida ...
,
dace,
roach
Roach may refer to:
Animals
* Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea
* Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae
** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes
* California roa ...
,
barbel,
perch
Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...
,
pike,
bleak
Bleak may refer to:
Fish
* Species of the genus '' Alburnus''
* ''Alburnoides bipunctatus'', also known as the schneider
Music
* "Bleak", a song by Opeth from ''Blackwater Park
''Blackwater Park'' is the fifth studio album by Swedish progressi ...
and
flounder
Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuaries.
Taxonomy
The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related species, thou ...
. Colonies of
short-snouted seahorses as well as
tope and
starry smooth-hound sharks have also recently been discovered in the river. The Thames is also host to some invasive crustaceans, including the
signal crayfish and the
Chinese mitten crab.
Aquatic mammals are also known to inhabit the Thames. The population of
grey
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be compos ...
and
harbour seals numbers up to 700 in the Thames Estuary. These animals have been sighted as far upriver as Richmond.
Bottlenose dolphins and
harbour porpoises are also sighted in the Thames.
On 20 January 2006, a northern
bottle-nosed whale
''Hyperoodon'' (or ''Hyperoödon'') is a genus of beaked whale, containing just two species: the Northern and Southern bottlenose whales.
While not in the genus ''Hyperoodon'', Longman's beaked whales are alternatively called tropical bottle ...
was seen in the Thames as far upstream as Chelsea. This was extremely unusual: this whale is generally found in deep sea waters. Crowds gathered along the riverbanks to witness the spectacle but there was soon concern, as the animal came within yards of the banks, almost beaching, and crashed into an empty boat causing slight bleeding. About 12 hours later, the whale is believed to have been seen again near
Greenwich, possibly heading back to sea. A rescue attempt lasted several hours, but the whale died on a barge. ''See
River Thames whale
The River Thames whale, affectionately nicknamed Willy by Londoners, was a juvenile female northern bottlenose whale which was discovered swimming in the River Thames in central London on Friday 20 January 2006. According to the BBC, she was f ...
''.
Human history
The River Thames has played several roles in human history: as an economic resource, a maritime route, a boundary, a fresh water source, a source of food and more recently a leisure facility. In 1929,
John Burns
John Elliot Burns (20 October 1858 – 24 January 1943) was an English trade unionist and politician, particularly associated with London politics and Battersea. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was ...
, one-time MP for Battersea, responded to an American's unfavourable comparison of the Thames with the
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
by coining the expression "The Thames is liquid history".
There is evidence of human habitation living off the river along its length dating back to
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
times. The
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
has a decorated bowl (3300–2700 BC), found in the river at
Hedsor, Buckinghamshire, and a considerable amount of material was discovered during the excavations of
Dorney Lake
Dorney Lake (also known as Eton College Rowing Centre, and as Eton Dorney as a 2012 Summer Olympics venue) is a purpose-built rowing lake in England. It is near the village of Dorney, Buckinghamshire, and is around 3 km (2 miles) west of ...
. A number of
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
sites and artefacts have been discovered along the banks of the river including settlements at
Lechlade,
Cookham and
Sunbury-on-Thames.
[The Physique of Middlesex](_blank)
, A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1: Physique, Archaeology, Domesday, Ecclesiastical Organisation, The Jews, Religious Houses, Education of Working Classes to 1870, Private Education from Sixteenth Century (1969), pp. 1–10. Date Retrieved 11 August 2007.
So extensive have the changes to this landscape been that what little evidence there is of man's presence before the ice came has inevitably shown signs of transportation here by water and reveals nothing specifically local. Likewise, later evidence of occupation, even since the arrival of the Romans, may lie next to the original banks of the Brent but have been buried under centuries of silt.
Roman Britain
Some of the earliest written references to the Thames ( la,
Tamesis
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 the ...
) occur in
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
's account of his second expedition to Britain in 54 BC, when the Thames presented a major obstacle and he encountered the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
Belgic tribes the
Catuvellauni and the
Atrebates
The Atrebates (Gaulish: *''Atrebatis'', 'dwellers, land-owners, possessors of the soil') were a Belgic tribe of the Iron Age and the Roman period, originally dwelling in the Artois region.
After the tribes of Gallia Belgica were defeated by ...
along the river. 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). In the late 1980s a large
Romano-British settlement was excavated on the edge of the village of
Ashton Keynes in Wiltshire.
Starting in AD 43, under the
Emperor Claudius, the
Romans occupied England and, recognising the river's strategic and economic importance, built fortifications along the Thames valley including
a major camp at
Dorchester.
Cornhill and
Ludgate Hill provided a defensible site near a point on the river both deep enough for the era's ships and narrow enough to be bridged;
Londinium
Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. It was originally a settlement established on the current site of the City of London around AD 47–50. It sat at a key cros ...
(London) grew up around the
Walbrook on the north bank around the year 47.
Boudica
Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She ...
's
Iceni
The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the we ...
razed the settlement in AD 60 or 61 but it was soon rebuilt and, following the completion of its bridge, it grew to become the provincial capital of the island.
The next Roman bridges upstream were at
Staines on the
Devil's Highway between Londinium and
Calleva (
Silchester). Boats could be swept up to it on the rising tide with no need for wind or muscle power.
Middle Ages
A Romano-British settlement grew up north of the confluence, partly because the site was naturally protected from attack on the east side 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.
Competition for the use of the river created the centuries-old conflict between those who wanted to dam the river to build millraces and fish traps and those who wanted to travel and carry goods on it. Economic prosperity and the foundation of wealthy monasteries by the
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened ...
attracted unwelcome visitors and by around AD 870 the
Vikings
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
were sweeping up the Thames on the tide and creating havoc as in their destruction of
Chertsey Abbey.
Once
King William had won total control of the strategically important Thames Valley, he went on to invade the rest of England. He had many castles built, including those at
Wallingford,
Rochester,
Windsor and most importantly the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
. Many details of Thames activity are recorded in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
. The following centuries saw the conflict between king and barons coming to a head in AD 1215 when
King John was forced to sign the
Magna Carta
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by t ...
on an island in the Thames at
Runnymede
Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with its adjoining ...
. Among a host of other things, this granted the barons the right of Navigation under Clause 23.
Another major consequence of John's reign was the completion of the multi-piered
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It re ...
, which acted as a barricade and barrage on the river, affecting the tidal flow upstream and increasing the likelihood of the river freezing over. In
Tudor and
Stuart times, various kings and queens built magnificent riverside palaces at
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chi ...
,
Kew,
Richmond on Thames
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...
,
Whitehall and
Greenwich.
As early as the 1300s, the Thames was used to dispose of waste matter produced in the city of London, thus turning the river into an open sewer. In 1357,
Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...
described the state of the river in a proclamation: "... dung and other filth had accumulated in divers places upon the banks of the river with ... fumes and other abominable stenches arising therefrom."
[Peter Ackroyd, Thames: The Biography, New York: Doubleday, 2007. "Filthy River"]
The growth of the population of London greatly increased the amount of waste that entered the river, including human excrement, animal waste from slaughter houses, and waste from manufacturing processes. According to historian Peter Ackroyd, "a public lavatory on London Bridge showered its contents directly onto the river below, and latrines were built over all the tributaries that issued into the Thames."
Early modern period
During a series of cold winters the Thames froze over above London Bridge: in the first
Frost Fair in 1607, a tent city was set up on the river, along with a number of amusements, including ice bowling.
In good conditions, barges travelled daily from Oxford to London carrying timber, wool, foodstuffs and livestock. The stone from the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of J ...
used to rebuild
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...
after the
Great Fire in 1666 was brought all the way down from
Radcot. The Thames provided the major route between the City of London and Westminster in the 16th and 17th centuries; the clannish guild of watermen ferried Londoners from landing to landing and tolerated no outside interference. In 1715,
Thomas Doggett
Thomas Doggett (or Dogget) (20 September 1721) was an Irish actor. The birth date of 1640 seems unlikely. A more probable date of 1670 is given in the Encyclopædia Britannica.
Biography
Doggett was born in Dublin, and made his first stage app ...
was so grateful to a local waterman for his efforts in ferrying him home, pulling against the tide, that he set up a rowing race for professional watermen known as "
Doggett's Coat and Badge
Doggett's Coat and Badge is the prize and name for the oldest rowing race in the world. Up to six apprentice watermen of the River Thames in England compete for this prestigious honour, which has been held every year since 1715. The 4 mile 5 ...
".
By the 18th century, the Thames was one of the world's busiest waterways, as London became the centre of the vast, mercantile
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
, and progressively over the next century the docks expanded in the
Isle of Dogs
The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ha ...
and beyond. Efforts were made to resolve the navigation conflicts upstream by building locks along the Thames. After temperatures began to rise again, starting in 1814, the river stopped freezing over.
The building of a new
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It re ...
in 1825, with fewer
piers Piers may refer to:
* Pier, a raised structure over a body of water
* Pier (architecture), an architectural support
* Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name)
* Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...
(pillars) than the old, allowed the river to flow more freely and prevented it from freezing over in cold winters.
Throughout early modern history the population of London and its industries discarded their rubbish in the river. This included the waste from slaughterhouses, fish markets, and tanneries. The buildup in household cesspools could sometimes overflow, especially when it rained, and was washed into London's streets and sewers which eventually led to the Thames. In the late 18th and 19th centuries people known as
mudlarks scavenged in the river mud for a meagre living.
Victorian era
In the 19th century the quality of water in Thames deteriorated further. The discharge of raw
sewage into the Thames was formerly only common in the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
, making its tideway a harbour for many harmful bacteria.
Gasworks
A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space.
Early gasworks
Coal ...
were built alongside the river, and their by-products leaked into the water, including spent lime, ammonia, cyanide, and carbolic acid. The river had an unnaturally warm temperature caused by chemical reactions in the water, which also removed the water's oxygen. Four serious cholera outbreaks killed tens of thousands of people between 1832 and 1865. Historians have attributed
Prince Albert's death in 1861 to typhoid that had spread in the river's dirty waters beside Windsor Castle.
Wells with
water table
The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated.
T ...
s that mixed with tributaries (or the non-tidal Thames) faced such pollution with the widespread installation of the
flush toilet in the 1850s.
[Peter Ackroyd, ''Thames: The Biography''. 272 & 274.] In the '
Great Stink' of 1858, pollution in the river reached such an extreme that sittings of the
House of Commons at Westminster had to be abandoned. Chlorine-soaked drapes were hung in the windows of Parliament in an attempt to stave off the smell of the river, but to no avail.
A concerted effort to contain the city's sewage by constructing massive
sewer systems on the north and south river embankments followed, under the supervision of engineer
Joseph Bazalgette. Meanwhile, similar huge undertakings took place to ensure the water supply, with the building of reservoirs and pumping stations on the river to the west of London, slowly helping the quality of water to improve.
The
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...
was one of imaginative engineering. The coming of the railways added railway bridges to the earlier road bridges and also reduced commercial activity on the river. However, sporting and leisure use increased with the establishment of
regatta
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wat ...
s such as
Henley
Henley may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Henley, Dorset, a location
* Henley, Gloucestershire, a location
* Henley-on-Thames, a town in South Oxfordshire, England
** Henley (UK Parliament constituency)
** Henley Rural District, a former ru ...
and
the Boat Race. On 3 September 1878, one of the worst river disasters in England took place, when the crowded pleasure boat collided with the ''Bywell Castle'', killing over 640 people.
20th century
The growth of
road transport, and the decline of the
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
in the years following 1914, reduced the economic prominence of the river. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, the protection of certain Thames-side facilities, particularly docks and water treatment plants, was crucial to the munitions and water supply of the country. The river's defences included the
Maunsell fort
The Maunsell Forts are armed towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom. They were operated as army and navy forts, and named after their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were ...
s in the estuary, and the use of
barrage balloons to counter
German bombers using the reflectivity and shapes of the river to navigate during
the Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'.
The Germa ...
.
In the post-war era, although the
Port of London
The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North ...
remains one of the UK's three main ports, most trade has moved downstream from central London. In the late 1950s, the discharge of methane gas in the depths of the river caused the water to bubble, and the toxins wore away at boats' propellers.
The decline of heavy industry and tanneries, reduced use of oil-pollutants and improved sewage treatment have led to much better water quality compared to the late 19th and early- to mid-20th centuries and aquatic life has returned to its formerly 'dead' stretches.
Alongside the entire river runs the
Thames Path, a National Route for walkers and cyclists.
In the early 1980s a pioneering flood control device, the
Thames Barrier, was opened. It is closed to tides several times a year to prevent water damage to London's low-lying areas upstream (the
1928 Thames flood demonstrated the severity of this type of event).
In the late 1990s, the long
Jubilee River was built as a wide "naturalistic" flood relief channel from
Taplow to
Eton to help reduce the flood risk in
Maidenhead,
Windsor and Eton, although it appears to have increased flooding in the villages immediately downstream.
21st century
In 2010, the Thames won the largest environmental award in the world – the $350,000 International Riverprize. In August 2022, the source of the river moved five miles and is located beyond
Somerford Keynes due to the heatwave in July 2022.
The active river
One of the major resources provided by the Thames is the water distributed as drinking water by
Thames Water
Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is a large private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in most of Greater London, Luton, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, north W ...
, whose area of responsibility covers the length of the River Thames. The
Thames Water Ring Main
The Thames Water Ring Main (TWRM, formerly the London Water Ring Main) is a system of approximately of concrete tunnels which transfer drinking water from water treatment works in the Thames and River Lea catchments for distribution within ...
is the main distribution mechanism for water in London, with one major loop linking the
Hampton,
Walton,
Ashford Ashford may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Ashford, New South Wales
*Ashford, South Australia
*Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia
Ireland
*Ashford, County Wicklow
*Ashford Castle, County Galway
United Kingdom
*Ashford, Kent, a town
**B ...
and
Kempton Park Water Treatment Works with central London.
In the past, commercial activities on the Thames included fishing (particularly eel trapping),
coppicing willows and
osiers which provided wood, and the operation of
watermills for flour and paper production and metal beating. These activities have largely disappeared.
The Thames is popular for a wide variety of riverside housing, including high-rise flats in central London and chalets on the banks and islands upstream. Some people live in houseboats, typically around
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings wh ...
and
Tagg's Island.
Transport and tourism
The tidal river
In London there are many sightseeing tours in tourist boats, past the more famous riverside attractions such as the
Houses of Parliament and the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
as well as regular riverboat services co-ordinated by
London River Services
London River Services Limited is a division of Transport for London (TfL), which manages passenger transport—leisure-oriented tourist services and commuter services—on the River Thames in London. It does not own or operate any boats itself ...
. London city Airport is situated on the Thames, in East London. Previously it was a dock.
The upper river
In summer, passenger services operate along the entire non-tidal river from Oxford to Teddington. The two largest operators are
Salters Steamers
Salters Steamers, formerly known as Salter Bros, is a family boating firm on the River Thames, founded in Oxford in 1858. Prior to that the family operated a riverside tavern in Wandsworth, having moved there around 1836. The company runs passen ...
and French Brothers. Salters operate services between
Folly Bridge, Oxford and Staines. The whole journey takes four days and requires several changes of boat. French Brothers operate passenger services between Maidenhead and Hampton Court.
Along the course of the river a number of smaller private companies also offer river trips at Oxford, Wallingford, Reading and Hampton Court. Many companies also provide boat hire on the river.
The leisure navigation and sporting activities on the river have given rise to a number of businesses including boatbuilding, marinas, ships chandlers and salvage services.
Cable car
The
London Cable Car over the Thames from the
Greenwich Peninsula to the
Royal Docks
Royal Docks is an area and a ward in the London Borough of Newham in the London Docklands in East London, England.
The area is named after three docks – the Royal Albert Dock, the Royal Victoria Dock and the King George V Dock. They are mo ...
has been in operation since the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...
.
Police and lifeboats
The river is policed by five police forces. The
Thames Division is the River Police arm of London's
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
, while
Surrey Police,
Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, coverin ...
,
Essex Police
Essex Police is a territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Essex, in the East of England. Essex Police is responsible for a population of over 1.8 million people and an area of .
The chief constable is Ben-Julian Harr ...
and
Kent Police
Kent Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the and approximately 1.8 million inhabitants of Kent, a county in the south east of England.
History
On 14 January 1857, a 222-strong 'Kent County Constabulary' was formed u ...
have responsibilities on their parts of the river outside the metropolitan area. There is also a
London Fire Brigade
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, inc ...
fire boat on the river. The river claims a number of lives each year.
As a result of the
Marchioness disaster in 1989 when 51 people died, the
Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
asked the
Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the
Port of London Authority
The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...
and the
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...
(RNLI) to work together to set up a dedicated Search and Rescue service for the tidal River Thames. As a result, there are four
lifeboat stations on the River Thames: at
Teddington,
Chiswick
Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and F ...
,
Tower
A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures.
Towers are specific ...
(based at
Victoria Embankment
Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London. It runs from the Palace of Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge in the City of London, and acts as a major thoroughfar ...
/
Waterloo Bridge) and
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...
.
Navigation
The Thames is maintained for navigation by powered craft from the estuary as far as
Lechlade in Gloucestershire and for very small craft to
Cricklade. The original
towpath extends upstream from
Putney Bridge as far as the connection with the now disused
Thames and Severn Canal
The Thames and Severn Canal is a canal in Gloucestershire in the south-west of England, which was completed in 1789. It was conceived as part of a cargo route from Bristol and the Midlands to London, linking England's two largest rivers for bett ...
at
Inglesham, one and a half miles upstream of the
last boat lock near
Lechlade. From Teddington Lock to the head of navigation, the navigation authority is the
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and en ...
. Between the sea and
Teddington Lock
Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames between Ham and Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Historically in Middlesex, it was first built in 1810.
The limit of legal po ...
, the river forms part of the
Port of London
The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North ...
and navigation is administered by the
Port of London Authority
The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...
. Both the tidal river through London and the non-tidal river upstream are intensively used for leisure navigation.
The non-tidal River Thames is divided into reaches by the 45
locks. The locks are staffed for the greater part of the day, but can be operated by experienced users out of hours. This part of the Thames links to existing navigations at the
River Wey Navigation
The River Wey Navigation and Godalming Navigation together provide a continuous navigable route from the River Thames near Weybridge via Guildford to Godalming (commonly called the Wey Navigation). Both waterways are in Surrey and are owned b ...
, the
River Kennet and the
Oxford Canal. All craft using it must be licensed. The
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and en ...
has patrol boats (named after tributaries of the Thames) and can enforce the limit strictly since river traffic usually has to pass through a lock at some stage. A speed limit of applies. There are pairs of
transit markers at various points along the non-tidal river that can be used to check speed – a boat travelling legally taking a minute or more to pass between the two markers.
The tidal river is navigable to large ocean-going ships as far upstream as the
Pool of London
The Pool of London is a stretch of the River Thames from London Bridge to below Limehouse.
Part of the Tideway of the Thames, the Pool was navigable by tall-masted vessels bringing coastal and later overseas goods—the wharves there were th ...
and
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It re ...
. Although London's upstream enclosed docks have closed and central London sees only the occasional visiting
cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...
or
warship, the tidal river remains one of Britain's main ports. Around 60 active terminals cater for shipping of all types including
ro-ro ferries, cruise liners and vessels carrying
containers
A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping.
Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The ter ...
, vehicles, timber, grain, paper,
crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
,
petroleum products,
liquified petroleum gas
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas) is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, propylene, butylene, isobutane and n-butane.
LPG is used as a fuel gas in heating appliances, cookin ...
etc. There is a regular traffic of
aggregate
Aggregate or aggregates may refer to:
Computing and mathematics
* collection of objects that are bound together by a root entity, otherwise known as an aggregate root. The aggregate root guarantees the consistency of changes being made within the ...
or
refuse vessels, operating from
wharves in the west of London. The tidal Thames links to the canal network at the
River Lea Navigation
The Lee Navigation is a canalised river incorporating the River Lea (also called the River Lee along the sections that are navigable). It flows from Hertford Castle Weir to the River Thames at Bow Creek; its first lock is Hertford Lock and i ...
, the
Regent's Canal at
Limehouse Basin and the
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...
at Brentford.
Upstream of
Wandsworth Bridge a speed limit of is in force for powered craft to protect the riverbank environment and to provide safe conditions for rowers and other river users. There is no absolute speed limit on most of the Tideway downstream of Wandsworth Bridge, although boats are not allowed to create undue wash. Powered boats are limited to 12 knots between
Lambeth Bridge and downstream of Tower Bridge, with some exceptions. Boats can be approved by the
harbour master to travel at speeds of up to 30 knots from below Tower Bridge to past the Thames Barrier.
History of the management of the river
In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...
exercised general jurisdiction over the Thames, one of the four royal rivers, and appointed
water bailiffs to oversee the river upstream of Staines. The
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
exercised jurisdiction over the tidal Thames. However, navigation was increasingly impeded by
weirs and mills, and in the 14th century the river probably ceased to be navigable for heavy traffic between Henley and Oxford. In the late 16th century the river seems to have been reopened for navigation from Henley to
Burcot.
The first commission concerned with the management of the river was the
Oxford-Burcot Commission, formed in 1605 to make the river navigable between Burcot and Oxford.
In 1751 the
Thames Navigation Commission was formed to manage the whole non-tidal river above Staines. The
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
long claimed responsibility for the tidal river. A long running dispute between the City and the Crown over ownership of the river was not settled until 1857, when the
Thames Conservancy
The Thames Conservancy (formally the Conservators of the River Thames) was a body responsible for the management of the that river in England. It was founded in 1857 to replace the jurisdiction of the City of London up to Staines. Nine years la ...
was formed to manage the river from Staines downstream. In 1866 the functions of the Thames Navigation Commission were transferred to the Thames Conservancy, which thus had responsibility for the whole river.
In 1909 the powers of the Thames Conservancy over the
tidal river, below Teddington, were transferred to the
Port of London Authority
The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...
.
In 1974 the Thames Conservancy became part of the new
Thames Water Authority
The Thames Water Authority was one of ten regional water authorities created in the UK on 1 April 1974 under the provisions of the Water Act 1973 to bring together all the water management functions of the region in one public body.
Predece ...
. When Thames Water was privatised in 1990, its river management functions were transferred to the
National Rivers Authority
The National Rivers Authority (NRA) was one of the forerunners of the Environment Agency of England and Wales, existing between 1989 and 1996.
Before 1989 the regulation of the aquatic environment had largely been carried out by the ten regio ...
, in 1996 subsumed into the
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and en ...
.
In 2010, the Thames won the world's largest environmental award at the time, the $350,000 International Riverprize, presented at the International Riversymposium in Perth, WA in recognition of the substantial and sustained restoration of the river by many hundreds of organisations and individuals since the 1950s.
The river as a boundary
Until enough crossings were established, the river presented a formidable barrier, with Belgic tribes and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms being defined by which side of the river they were on. When English counties were established their boundaries were partly determined by the Thames. On the northern bank were the ancient counties of
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of ...
, Oxfordshire,
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...
,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...
and
Essex
Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
. On the southern bank were the counties of
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, Berkshire,
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...
and
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
.
Counting bridges to the far bank or to an island connected to such, the Thames has 223. From source to mouth a channel can be found with 138 bridges, plus the temporary footbridge often added during
Reading Festival. The river is heavily splayed in
Ashton Keynes and
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. Where the river is wide 17 tunnels that have been built, many of which for rail or notable electricity cables. The crossings have changed the dynamics and made cross-river development and shared responsibilities more practicable. In 1965, upon the creation of
Greater London, the
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the Londo ...
incorporated the former 'Middlesex and Surrey' banks,
Spelthorne moved from Middlesex to Surrey; and further changes in 1974 moved some of the boundaries away from the river. For example, some areas were transferred from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, and from Buckinghamshire to Berkshire. In many river sports and traditions – for example in rowing – the banks are referred to by their traditional county names.
Crossings
Many of the present-day road bridges are on the site of earlier fords, ferries and wooden bridges.
Swinford Bridge, known as the five pence toll bridge, replaced a ferry that in turn replaced a ford. The earliest known major crossings of the Thames by the Romans were at
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It re ...
and
Staines Bridge. At
Folly Bridge in Oxford the remains of an original Saxon structure can be seen, and medieval stone bridges such as
Newbridge,
Wallingford Bridge
Wallingford Bridge is a medieval road bridge over the River Thames in England which connects Wallingford and Crowmarsh Gifford, Oxfordshire (Wallingford was historically in Berkshire until 1974 reorganization). It crosses the Thames on the reac ...
and
Abingdon Bridge are still in use.
Kingston's growth is believed to stem from its having the only crossing between London Bridge and Staines until the beginning of the 18th century. During the 18th century, many stone and brick road bridges were built from new or to replace existing bridges both in London and along the length of the river. These included
Putney Bridge,
Westminster Bridge,
Datchet Bridge,
Windsor Bridge and
Sonning Bridge.
Several central London road bridges were built in the 19th century, most conspicuously
Tower Bridge, the only
Bascule bridge on the river, designed to allow ocean-going ships to pass beneath it. The most recent road bridges are the bypasses at
Isis Bridge and
Marlow By-pass Bridge
Marlow By-pass Bridge is a road bridge across the River Thames in England. It carries the A404 road between Maidenhead, Berkshire and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. and crosses the Thames on the reach between Cookham Lock and Marlow Lock.
Th ...
and the motorway bridges, most notably the two on the
M25 route:
Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and
M25 Runnymede Bridge
Runnymede Bridge is a motorway, A-road, pedestrian, and cycle bridge, built in the 1960s and 1980s and expanded in the 2000s, carrying the M25 and A30 across the River Thames near the uppermost end of the Staines upon Thames and Egham reach of ...
.
Railway development in the 19th century resulted in a spate of bridge building including
Blackfriars Railway Bridge and
Charing Cross (Hungerford) Railway Bridge in central London, and the railway bridges by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
at
Maidenhead Railway Bridge,
Gatehampton Railway Bridge and
Moulsford Railway Bridge
Moulsford Railway Bridge, also known locally as "Four Arches" bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges located a little to the north of Moulsford and South Stoke in Oxfordshire, UK. It carries the Great Western Main Line from Paddington, London t ...
.
The world's first underwater tunnel was Marc Brunel's
Thames Tunnel built in 1843 and now used to carry the
East London Line. The
Tower Subway was the first railway under the Thames, which was followed by all the deep-level tube lines. Road tunnels were built in East London at the end of the 19th century, being the
Blackwall Tunnel and the
Rotherhithe Tunnel. The latest tunnels are the
Dartford Crossings.
Many foot crossings were established across the weirs that were built on the non-tidal river, and some of these remained when the locks were built – for example at
Benson Lock
Benson Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, close to Benson, Oxfordshire but on the opposite bank of the river. The first pound lock here was built by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1788 and it was replaced by the present mas ...
. Others were replaced by a footbridge when the weir was removed as at
Hart's Weir Footbridge
Hart's Weir Footbridge is a single-span concrete footbridge across the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England. Locally, it is also known as Rainbow Bridge, due to its rainbow-arc appearance as seen from the horizon. It is situated on the reach abov ...
. Around 2000, several footbridges were added along the Thames, either as part of the Thames Path or in commemoration of the millennium. These include
Temple Footbridge
Temple Footbridge is a pedestrian only bridge near Hurley, Berkshire across the River Thames in England. It connects the Buckinghamshire and Berkshire banks. It crosses the Thames just above Temple Lock.
The bridge was built in 1989 specifica ...
,
Bloomers Hole Footbridge
Bloomers Hole Footbridge is a footbridge across the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England. It is situated on the reach above Buscot Lock and was installed in 2000 to carry the Thames Path across the Thames. It is built of steel encased in wood t ...
, the
Hungerford Footbridge
The Hungerford Bridge crosses the River Thames in London, and lies between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. Owned by Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd (who use its official name of Charing Cross Bridge) it is a steel truss railway bridge ...
s and the
Millennium Bridge, all of which have distinctive design characteristics.
Before bridges were built, the main means of crossing the river was by ferry. A significant number of ferries were provided specifically for navigation purposes. When the
towpath changed sides, it was necessary to take the towing horse and its driver across the river. This was no longer necessary when barges were powered by steam. Some ferries still operate on the river. The
Woolwich Ferry carries cars and passengers across the river in the Thames Gateway and links the
North Circular and
South Circular roads. Upstream are smaller pedestrian ferries, for example
Hampton Ferry and
Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry
The Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry is a pedestrian and cycle ferry service across the River Thames. The service has operated almost continuously for over 500 years.
Connected communities and landmarks
The ferry connects points remaining outside ...
, the last being the only non-permanent crossing that remains on the Thames Path.
Hydro-power
Whilst the use of the river to drive water-mills has largely died out, there has been a recent trend to use the head of water provided by the river's existing weirs to drive small
hydro-electric power plants, using
Archimedes screw turbine
Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in ...
s. Operational schemes include:
* A privately owned plant opened at
Mapledurham Watermill
Mapledurham Watermill is a historic watermill in the civil parish of Mapledurham in the English county of Oxfordshire. It is driven by the head of water created by Mapledurham Lock and Weir, on the River Thames. The mill was built in the 15th ...
in 2011, running in parallel to the
waterwheel driven
corn mill that still operates occasionally.
* A hydro-electric plant at
Romney Lock
Romney Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England near Windsor and Eton, about half a mile downstream of Windsor Bridge. It is on the Windsor side of the river next to a boatyard and adjoins Romney Island, a long strip-shaped ait in th ...
to power
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original c ...
using two Archimedes' screws, opened in 2013 by
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
.
*
Osney Lock Hydro
Osney Lock Hydro is a micro hydroelectric scheme in Oxford, England. It is located on the River Thames, using the head of water provided by the weir at Osney Lock
Osney Lock is a lock on the River Thames in Oxford, England, where the ...
, a community owned scheme at
Osney Lock in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, also opened in 2013.
*
Sandford Hydro
Sandford Hydro is a small hydroelectric scheme located on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England. It uses the head of water provided by the weir at Sandford Lock in Sandford-on-Thames, but is actually situated on the opposite bank of the riv ...
, a community owned scheme at
Sandford Lock
Sandford Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, situated at Sandford-on-Thames which is just south of Oxford. The first pound lock was built in 1631 by the Oxford-Burcot Commission although this has since been rebuilt. The lock has ...
to the south of Oxford, opened in 2017.
*
Reading Hydro
Reading Hydro is a micro hydroelectric scheme in Reading, England. It is located on the River Thames, at the upstream end of View Island and using the head of water provided by the weir at Caversham Lock. With a drop of about and an average ...
, a community owned scheme at
Caversham Lock in
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
, opened in 2021.
Pollution
Treated sewage
Treated
waste water from all the towns and villages in the Thames catchment flow into the Thames via sewage treatment plants. This includes all that from Swindon, Oxford, Berkshire and almost all of Surrey.
However, untreated sewage still often enters the Thames during wet weather. When
London's sewerage system was built, sewers were designed to overflow through discharge points along the river during heavy storms. Originally, this would happen once or twice a year, however overflows now happen once a week on average. In 2013, over 55 tonnes of dilute raw sewage overflowed into the tidal Thames. These discharge events kill fish, leave raw sewage on the riverbanks, and decrease the water quality of the river.
To reduce the release of this into the river, the
Thames Tideway Scheme
The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a combined sewer under construction running mostly under the tidal section (estuary) of the River Thames across Inner London to capture, store and convey almost all the raw sewage and rainwater that currently ove ...
is currently under construction at a cost of £4.2 billion. This project will collect sewage from the Greater London area before it
overflows, before channelling it down a 25 km (15 mi) tunnel underneath the tidal Thames, so that it can be treated at
Beckton Sewage Treatment Works
Beckton Sewage Treatment Works, formerly known as Barking Sewage Works, is a large sewage treatment plant in Beckton in the east London Borough of Newham, operated by Thames Water.
Since construction first began in 1864, the plant has been exten ...
. The project is planned to reduce sewage discharges into the Thames in the Greater London area by 90%, dramatically increasing water quality.
Mercury levels
Mercury (Hg) is an environmentally persistent heavy metal which can be toxic to
marine life
Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of seas or oceans, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. ...
and humans. Sixty sediment cores of 1 m in depth, spanning the entire tidal River Thames between
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings wh ...
and the
Isle of Grain, have been analysed for total Hg. The sediment records show a clear rise and fall of Hg pollution through history.
Mercury concentrations in the River Thames decrease downstream from London to the outer Estuary, with the total Hg levels ranging from 0.01 to 12.07 mg/kg, giving a mean of 2.10 mg/kg which is higher than many other UK and European river estuaries.
The most sedimentary-hosted Hg pollution in the Thames estuary occurs in the central London area between Vauxhall Bridge and Woolwich.
The majority of sediment cores show a clear decrease in Hg concentrations close to the surface, which is attributed to an overall reduction in polluting activities as well as improved effectiveness of recent environmental legalisation and river management (e.g. Oslo-Paris convention).
Sport
There are several watersports prevalent on the Thames, with many clubs encouraging participation and organising racing and inter-club competitions.
Rowing
The Thames is the historic heartland of
rowing in the United Kingdom. There are over 200 clubs on the river, and over 8,000 members of
British Rowing
British Rowing, formerly the Amateur Rowing Association (ARA), is the national governing body for the sport of rowing (both indoor and on-water rowing). It is responsible for the training and selection of individual rowers and crews representi ...
(over 40% of its membership). Most towns and districts of any size on the river have at least one club. Internationally attended centres are
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
,
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckin ...
and events and clubs on the stretch of river from
Chiswick
Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and F ...
to
Putney.
Two rowing events on the River Thames are traditionally part of the wider English sporting calendar:
The
University Boat Race (between
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
) takes place in late March or early April, on the
Championship Course
The Championship Course is a stretch of the River Thames between Mortlake and Putney in London, England. It is a well-established course for rowing races, particularly the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. The course is on the tidal reaches ...
from
Putney to
Mortlake in the west of London.
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thr ...
takes place over five days at the start of July in the upstream town of
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckin ...
. Besides its sporting significance the regatta is an important date on the English
social calendar
The social season, or season, refers to the traditional annual period in the spring and summer when it is customary for members of the social elite of British society to hold balls, dinner parties and charity events. Until the First World War, ...
alongside events like
Royal Ascot and
Wimbledon.
Other significant or historic rowing events on the Thames include:
* The
Head of the River Race and
Women's Eights Head of the River Race (8+) (i.e. coxed eights),
Schools' Head,
Veterans Head
The Vesta Veterans Head which often sees notable entries under the title the Vesta Veterans International Head of the River Race is a rowing race held annually on the River Thames over the Championship Course.
Course
The direction in which it is ...
,
Scullers Head
The Scullers Head of the River Race is a rowing race held annually on the River Thames Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney, open to single scullers only. The race is held in November or early December each year on a week usually to suit ...
,
Fours Head (HOR4s), and Pairs Head (shorter) on the
Championship Course
The Championship Course is a stretch of the River Thames between Mortlake and Putney in London, England. It is a well-established course for rowing races, particularly the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. The course is on the tidal reaches ...
*
The Wingfield Sculls
The Wingfield Sculls is a rowing race held annually on the River Thames in London, England, on the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake.
The race is between single scullers and is usually on the Saturday three to four weeks before the ...
on the same course: (1x) (
single sculling) championship
*
Doggett's Coat and Badge
Doggett's Coat and Badge is the prize and name for the oldest rowing race in the world. Up to six apprentice watermen of the River Thames in England compete for this prestigious honour, which has been held every year since 1715. The 4 mile 5 ...
for apprentice watermen of London, one of the oldest sporting events in the world
*
Henley Women's Regatta
Henley Women's Regatta, often abbreviated to "HWR" or "Women's Henley", is a rowing regatta held at Henley-on-Thames, England. Chris Aistrop and Rosemary Mayglothling were jointly responsible for setting up the Regatta in June 1988 and Aistrop w ...
* The
Henley Boat Races currently for the Lightweight (men's and women's) crews of Oxford and Cambridge universities
* The Oxford University
bumping races known as
Eights Week and
Torpids
Other
regatta
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wat ...
s,
head races and university bumping races are held along the Thames which are described under
Rowing on the River Thames.
Sailing
Sailing is practised on both the tidal and non-tidal reaches of the river. The highest club upstream is at Oxford. The most popular sailing craft used on the Thames are
lasers,
GP14s and
Wayfarers. One sailing boat unique to the Thames is the
Thames Rater, which is sailed around
Raven's Ait
Raven's Ait is an ait (island) in the Thames between Surbiton, Kingston and Hampton Court Park in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London, England, in the reach of the river above Teddington Lock. Used as a boating training cen ...
.
Skiffing
Skiffing has dwindled in favour of private motor boat ownership but is competed on the river in the summer months. Six clubs and a similar number of skiff regattas exist from
the Skiff Club
The Skiff Club is the oldest skiff and punting club in existence, having been founded in 1895. It is based on the River Thames in London, on the Middlesex bank between Teddington Lock and Kingston upon Thames.
The Club supports two traditional ...
,
Teddington upstream.
Punting
Unlike the "pleasure
punting" common on the
Cherwell in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and the
Cam in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, punting on the Thames is competitive as well as recreational and uses narrower craft, typically based at the few skiff clubs.
Kayaking and canoeing
Kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits faci ...
and
canoeing
Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other act ...
are common, with
sea kayakers using the
tidal stretch for touring. Kayakers and canoeists use the tidal and non-tidal sections for training, racing and trips.
Whitewater playboaters and
slalom
To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to:
Sports
;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding
* Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline
* Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline
* Super-G ...
paddlers are catered for at
weirs like those at
Hurley Lock
Hurley Lock is a lock and weir on the River Thames in England, situated in a clump of wooded islands close to the village of Hurley, Berkshire. The lock was first built by the Thames Navigation Commissioners in 1773.
There are several weirs b ...
,
Sunbury Lock
Sunbury Lock is a lock complex of the River Thames in England near Walton-on-Thames in north-west Surrey, the third lowest of forty four on the non-tidal reaches. The complex adjoins the right, southern bank about downstream of the Wei ...
and
Boulter's Lock
Boulter's Lock is a lock and weir on the River Thames in England north-east of Maidenhead town centre, Berkshire. The present 1912-built lock replaces those at this point of the river to the immediate east dating from the late 16th century and ...
. At Teddington just before the tidal section of the river starts is
Royal Canoe Club, said to be the oldest in the world and founded in 1866. Since 1950, almost every year at Easter, long distance canoeists have been competing in what is now known as the
Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race, which follows the course of the
Kennet and Avon Canal, joins the River Thames at Reading and runs right up to a grand finish at
Westminster Bridge.
Swimming
In 2006, British swimmer and environmental campaigner
Lewis Pugh
Lewis William Gordon Pugh, OIG, (born 5 December 1969) is a British-South African endurance swimmer and ocean advocate. Dubbed the "Sir Edmund Hillary of swimming", he is the first person to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean of th ...
became the first person to swim the full length of the Thames from outside Kemble to Southend-on-Sea to draw attention to the severe drought in England which saw record temperatures indicative of a degree of global warming. The swim took him 21 days to complete. The official headwater of the river had stopped flowing due to the drought, forcing Pugh to run the first .
Since June 2012, the
Port of London Authority
The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...
has made a
by-law
A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authori ...
, which it enforces, that bans swimming between Putney Bridge and
Crossness,
Thamesmead
Thamesmead is an area of south-east London, England, straddling the border between the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Charing Cross, north-east of Woolwich and west of Erith. It mainly consi ...
(thus including all of central London), without obtaining prior permission, on the grounds that swimmers in that area of the river endanger not only themselves, due to the strong current of the river, but also other river users.
Organised swimming events take place at various points generally upstream of
Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chi ...
, including Windsor, Marlow and Henley. In 2011, comedian
David Walliams swam the from Lechlade to Westminster Bridge and raised over £1 million for charity.
In non-tidal stretches swimming was, and still is, a leisure and fitness activity among experienced swimmers where safe, deeper outer channels are used in times of low stream.
Meanders
A Thames meander is a long-distance journey over all or part of the Thames by running, swimming or using any of the above means. It is often carried out as an athletic challenge in a competition or for a record attempt.
The Thames in the arts
File:Brooklyn Museum - Houses of Parliament Sunlight Effect (Le Parlement effet de soleil) - Claude Monet.jpg, Houses of Parliament Sunlight Effect (Le Parlement effet de soleil) – Claude Monet
File:Canaletto - Westminster Bridge, with the Lord Mayor's Procession on the Thames - Google Art Project.jpg, The first Westminster Bridge as painted by Canaletto in 1746.
Image:Canaletto london.jpg, ''The River Thames from Richmond House'' by Canaletto, 1747
Rain Steam and Speed the Great Western Railway.jpg, Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway, Maidenhead Railway Bridge as J. M. W. Turner, Turner saw it in 1844
London, the Houses of Parliament, Sunlight Opening in Fog, by Claude Monet.jpg, Claude Monet, Monet's ''Trouée de soleil dans le brouillard'', Houses of Parliament series (Monet), Houses of Parliament, London, Sun Breaking Through the Fog, 1904
File:James Abbot McNeill Whistler 006.jpg, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Whistler's ''Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Old Battersea Bridge'' (c. 1872–1875)
File:Brooklyn Museum - Foggy Morning on the Thames - James Hamilton - overall.jpg, ''Foggy Morning on the Thames'' – James Hamilton (between 1872 and 1878)
File:Boating on the Thames by John Lavery.jpeg, ''Boating on the Thames'' - John Lavery, circa 1890
Visual arts
The River Thames has been a subject for artists, great and minor, over the centuries. Four major artists with works based on the Thames are Canaletto, J. M. W. Turner, Claude Monet and James Abbott McNeill Whistler. The 20th-century British artist Stanley Spencer produced many works at
Cookham.
John Kaufman's sculpture ''The Diver, The Diver: Regeneration'' is sited in the Thames near Rainham, London, Rainham.
The river and bridges are portrayed as being destroyed – together with much of London – in the film ''Independence Day 2''.
Literature
The Thames is mentioned in many works of literature including novels, diaries and poetry. It is the central theme in three in particular:
''Three Men in a Boat'' by Jerome K. Jerome, first published in 1889, is a humorous account of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston upon Thames, Kingston and
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. The book was intended initially to be a serious travel guide, with accounts of local history of places along the route, but the humorous elements eventually took over. The landscape and features of the Thames as described by Jerome are virtually unchanged, and the book's enduring popularity has meant that it has never been out of print since it was first published.
Charles Dickens' ''Our Mutual Friend'' (written in the years 1864–65) describes the river in a grimmer light. It begins with a scavenger and his daughter pulling a dead man from the river near London Bridge, to salvage what the body might have in its pockets, and leads to its conclusion with the deaths of the villains drowned in Shepperton Lock, Plashwater Lock upstream. The workings of the river and the influence of the tides are described with great accuracy. Dickens opens the novel with this sketch of the river, and the people who work on it:
''In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark Bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It re ...
which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in.''
''The figures in this boat were those of a strong man with ragged grizzled hair and a sun-browned face, and a girl of nineteen or twenty. The girl rowed, pulling a pair of sculls very easily; the man with the rudder-lines slack in his hands, and his hands loose in his waisteband, kept an eager look-out.''
Kenneth Grahame's ''The Wind in the Willows'', written in 1908, is set in the middle to upper reaches of the river. It starts as a tale of anthropomorphic characters "simply messing about in boats" but develops into a more complex story combining elements of mysticism with adventure and reflection on Edwardian era, Edwardian society. It is generally considered one of the most beloved works of children's literature and the illustrations by E.H.Shepard and Arthur Rackham feature the Thames and its surroundings.
The river almost inevitably features in many books set in London. Most of Dickens' other novels include some aspect of the Thames. ''Oliver Twist'' finishes in the slums and rookery (slum), rookeries along its south bank. The Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle often visit riverside parts as in ''The Sign of the Four, The Sign of Four''. In ''Heart of Darkness'' by Joseph Conrad, the serenity of the contemporary Thames is contrasted with the savagery of the Congo River, and with the wilderness of the Thames as it would have appeared to a Roman soldier posted to Britannia two thousand years before. Conrad also gives a description of the approach to London from the
Thames Estuary
The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain.
Limits
An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...
in his essays ''q:Joseph Conrad#On the River Thames, The Mirror of the Sea'' (1906). Upriver, Henry James' ''Portrait of a Lady'' uses a large riverside mansion on the Thames as one of its key settings.
Literary non-fiction works include Samuel Pepys' diary, in which he recorded many events relating to the Thames including the Fire of London. He was disturbed while writing it in June 1667 by the sound of gunfire as Dutch warships broke through the Royal Navy on the Thames.
In poetry, William Wordsworth's sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802, On Westminster Bridge closes with the lines:
:Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
:The river glideth at his own sweet will:
:Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
:And all that mighty heart is lying still!
T. S. Eliot makes several references to the Thames in ''The Fire Sermon, Section III'' of ''The Waste Land''.
:Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.
:The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
:Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes cigarette ends
:Or other testimony of summer nights.
and
:The river sweats
:Oil and tar
:The barges drift
:With the turning tide
:Red sails
:Wide
:To leeward, swing on the heavy spar,
:The barges wash
:Drifting logs
:Down Greenwich reach
:Past the Isle of Dogs
The ''Sweet Thames'' line is taken from Edmund Spenser's ''Prothalamion'' which presents a more idyllic image:
:Along the shoare of silver streaming Themmes;
:Whose rutty banke, the which his river hemmes,
:Was paynted all with variable flowers.
:And all the meads adorn'd with daintie gemmes
:Fit to deck maydens bowres
Also writing of the upper reaches is Matthew Arnold in ''The Scholar Gypsy'':
:Crossing the stripling Thames at Bab-lock-hythe
:Trailing in the cool stream thy fingers wet
:As the slow punt swings round
:Oh born in days when wits were fresh and clear
:And life ran gaily as the sparkling Thames;
:Before this strange disease of modern life.
Wendy Cope's poem 'After the Lunch' is set on Waterloo Bridge, beginning:
:On Waterloo Bridge, where we said our goodbyes,
:The weather conditions bring tears to my eyes.
:I wipe them away with a black woolly glove,
:And try not to notice I’ve fallen in love.
Dylan Thomas mentions the Thames in his poem "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London". "London's Daughter", the subject of the poem, lays "Deep with the first dead...secret by the unmourning water of the riding Thames".
Science-fiction novels make liberal use of a futuristic Thames. The utopian ''News from Nowhere'' by William Morris is mainly the account of a journey through the Thames valley in a socialist future. The Thames features in H. G. Wells' ''The War of the Worlds''. The Thames also features prominently in Philip Pullman's ''His Dark Materials'' trilogy, as a communications artery for the waterborne Gyptian people of Oxford and the The Fens, Fens, and as a prominent setting for his novel La Belle Sauvage.
In ''The Deptford Mice'' trilogy by Robin Jarvis, the Thames appears several times. In one book, rat characters swim through it to
Deptford. Winner of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, Nestlé Children's Book Prize Gold Award ''I, Coriander'', by Sally Gardner is a fantasy novel in which the heroine lives on the banks of the Thames. Mark Wallington (writer), Mark Wallington describes a journey up the Thames in a camping skiff, in his 1989 book ''Boogie up the River''.
Many of the principal characters of the Peter Grant (book series), Rivers of London urban fantasy series by Ben Aaronovitch are genius loci, genii locorum (local gods) associated with River Thames and its tributaries. This includes List of water deities#English Folklore, Father Thames, the original god of the Thames but now (in the books) confined to non-tidal reaches above
Teddington Lock
Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames between Ham and Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Historically in Middlesex, it was first built in 1810.
The limit of legal po ...
and Mama Thames the goddess of the tidal Thames below Teddington.
Music
The Water Music (Handel), Water Music composed by George Frideric Handel premiered on 17 July 1717, when George I of Great Britain, King George I requested a concert on the River Thames. The concert was performed for King George I on his barge and he is said to have enjoyed it so much that he ordered the 50 exhausted musicians to play the suites three times on the trip.
The song 'Old Father Thames' was recorded by Peter Dawson (bass-baritone), Peter Dawson at Abbey Road Studios in 1933 and by Gracie Fields five years later. Jessie Matthews sings "My river" in the 1938 film ''Sailing Along'', and the tune is the centrepiece of a major dance number near the end of the film.
The Sex Pistols played a concert on the ''Queen Elizabeth Riverboat'' on 7 June 1977,
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
's Silver Jubilee year, while sailing down the river. The choral line "(I) ''(liaised)'' live by the river" in the song "London Calling (song), London Calling" by the Clash refers to the River Thames.
Two songs by the Kinks feature the Thames as the setting of the first song's title and, for the second song, arguably in its mention of 'the river': "Waterloo Sunset" is about a couple's meetings on
Waterloo Bridge, London and starts: "Dirty old river, must you keep rolling, flowing into the night?" and continues "Terry meets Julie, London Waterloo station, Waterloo station" and "...but Terry and Julie cross over the river where they feel safe and sound...". "See My Friends" continually refers to the singer's friends "playing 'cross the river" instead of the girl who "just left". Furthermore, Ray Davies as a solo artist refers to the river Thames in his "London Song".
Ewan MacColl's "Sweet Thames, Flow Softly", written in the early 1960s, is a tragic love ballad set on trip up the river (see Edmund Spenser's love poem's refrain above). Culture Club are travelling the River Thames in a riverboat in the video for "Karma Chameleon". English musician Imogen Heap wrote a song from the point of view of the River Thames entitled "You Know Where To Find Me". The song was released in 2012 on 18 October as the sixth single from her fourth album Sparks (Imogen Heap album), Sparks.
Major flood events
London flood of 1928
The
1928 Thames flood was a disastrous flood of the River Thames that affected much of riverside London on 7 January 1928, as well as places further downriver. Fourteen people were drowned in London and thousands were made homeless when flood waters poured over the top of the Thames Embankment and part of the Chelsea Embankment collapsed. It was the last major flood to affect
central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
, and, particularly following the disastrous North Sea flood of 1953, helped lead to the implementation of new flood-control measures that culminated in the construction of the
Thames Barrier in the 1970s.
Thames Valley flood of 1947
The 1947 Thames flood was overall the worst 20th-century flood of the River Thames, affecting much of the
Thames Valley as well as elsewhere in England during the middle of March 1947 after a very Winter of 1946–1947, severe winter.
The floods were caused by of rainfall (including snow); the peak flow was of water per day and the damage cost a total of £12 million to repair.
World War II, War damage to some of the Lock (water transport), locks made matters worse.
Other significant Thames floods since 1947 have occurred in 1968, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2014.
Canvey Island flood of 1953
On the night of 31 January, the North Sea flood of 1953 devastated the island, taking the lives of 58 islanders, and led to the temporary evacuation of the 13,000 residents.
Canvey Island's 13,000 refugees
. (2 February 1953). ''The Guardian'' (London), p. 1. Retrieved 29 July 2008. Canvey is consequently protected by modern sea defences comprising of concrete seawall.["Canvey Island Drainage scheme 2006". Environment agency. (May Avenue Pumping Station information board).] Many of the victims were in the holiday bungalows of the eastern Newlands estate and perished as the water reached ceiling level. The small village area of the island is approximately above sea level and consequently escaped the effects of the flood.
See also
* Dartford Cable Tunnel
* Foreshore of the River Thames
* List of locations in the Port of London
* List of rivers of the United Kingdom
* Nore
* River and Rowing Museum
The River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, is located on a site at Mill Meadows by the River Thames. It has three main themes represented by major permanent galleries, the non-tidal River Thames, the international s ...
* Steamboat – reference Thames Steamboats
* Subterranean rivers of London
* Thames Discovery Programme
* Thames sailing barge
* Thames steamers
* Tyburn (stream)
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide – Pictures and history and tides and poetry and conditions
The River Thames Society
Thames Path National Trail
River Thames London Hired Boats and News Blog
BBC 4 documentary ''In search of Arcadia'' features the river
{{Authority control
River Thames,
Thames drainage basin,
Rivers of Berkshire, Thames, River
Rivers of Buckinghamshire, Thames, River
Rivers of Essex, Thames, River
Rivers of Gloucestershire, Thames, River
Rivers of Kent, Thames, River
Rivers of London, Thames, River
Rivers of Oxfordshire, Thames, River
Rivers of Surrey, Thames, River
Rivers of Wiltshire, Thames, River
River navigations in the United Kingdom, Thames
Tourist attractions in London, Thames, River
Rivers with fish ladders