|
Lock Wood Island
Lock Wood Island is an island in the River Thames in England just downstream of Nuneham House on the reach above Abingdon Lock. The island sits on a sharp bend in the river. It is densely covered with tall trees and has a narrow channel behind it. In the nineteenth century there was a thatched cottage on the island linked to the bank by a rustic bridge which was a popular place for picknickers. Alice Liddell used to visit the island with Lewis Carroll, who penned Through the Looking-Glass shortly after one of these visits. There is evidence of weirs and flash locks here, at one time owned by Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt, Lord Harcourt, which may account for the name of the island.Fred. S. Thacker ''The Thames Highway: Volume II Locks and Weirs'' 1920 - republished 1968 David & Charles See also *Islands in the River Thames References {{coord , 51.6740, -1.2292, type:isle_region:GB, display=title Islands of Oxfordshire Islands of the River Thames ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Thames
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 River Severn. The river rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, and flows into the North Sea near Tilbury, Essex and Gravesend, Kent, via the Thames Estuary. From the west it flows through Oxford (where it is sometimes called the Isis), Reading, Henley-on-Thames 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, derived from its long tidal reach up to Teddington Lock. 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuneham House
Nuneham House is an eighteenth century villa in the Palladian style, set in parkland at Nuneham Courtenay in Oxfordshire, England. It is currently owned by Oxford University and is used as a retreat centre by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. In September 2016 the house and a thousand acres of surrounding parkland and farmland, including the village of Nuneham Courtenay, were put up for sale in three separate lots for a total of £22 million. The house was built in 1756 on the site of an earlier property and surrounding village by Stiff Leadbetter for Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt. Interiors were designed by James Stuart and Lancelot "Capability" Brown designed the landscaped grounds. It is a Grade II* listed building. Lord Harcourt demolished the original village of Nuneham Courtenay in the 1760s in order to create a landscaped park around his new villa, removing the existing village in its entirety, rebuilding it and diverting the main Oxford to London roa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abingdon Lock
Abingdon Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, less than 1 mile east and upstream of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, on the opposite bank of the river. It was originally built in 1790 by the Thames Navigation Commission. The weir runs across from the Abingdon side to the lock island, and has a pedestrian walkway across it. According to a tablet above the front door, the current lock-keeper's house dates from 1928. Ice creams and refreshments have been sold from the door of the house for at least 30 years. History The navigation route in the vicinity of Abingdon has been subject to change over the centuries. The Swift Ditch further to the east was the original course of the river Thames. The stream to the town was developed by the monks of Abingdon Abbey and the original weir is reputed to have been built by them during the 10th century. A pound lock was built on the Swift Ditch by the Oxford-Burcot Commission in 1635 making it then the navigation route. In 1788 several ci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alice Liddell
Alice Pleasance Hargreaves (''née'' Liddell, ; 4 May 1852 – 16 November 1934), was an English woman who, in her childhood, was an acquaintance and photography subject of Lewis Carroll. One of the stories he told her during a boating trip became the children's classic 1865 novel ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. She shared her name with "Alice", the heroine of the story, but scholars disagree about the extent to which the character was based upon her. Early life Alice Liddell was the fourth of the ten children of Henry Liddell, ecclesiastical dean of Christ Church, Oxford, one of the editors of ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', and his wife Lorina Hanna Liddell (''née'' Reeve). She had two older brothers, Harry (born 1847) and Arthur (1850–53), an older sister Lorina (born 1849), and six younger siblings, including her sister Edith (born 1854) to whom she was very close and her brother Frederick (born 1865), who became a lawyer and senior civil servant. At the time of her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass'' (1871). He was noted for his facility with word play, logic, and fantasy. His poems ''Jabberwocky'' (1871) and ''The Hunting of the Snark'' (1876) are classified in the genre of literary nonsense. Carroll came from a family of high-church Anglicanism, Anglicans, and developed a long relationship with Christ Church, Oxford, where he lived for most of his life as a scholar and teacher. Alice Liddell, the daughter of Christ Church's dean Henry Liddell, is widely identified as the original inspiration for ''Alice in Wonderland'', though Carroll always denied this. An avid puzzler, Carroll created the word ladder puzzle (which he then called "Doublets"), which he published in his weekly column for ''Vanity Fair ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Through The Looking-Glass
''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' (also known as ''Alice Through the Looking-Glass'' or simply ''Through the Looking-Glass'') is a novel published on 27 December 1871 (though indicated as 1872) by Lewis Carroll and the sequel to ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865). Alice again enters a fantastical world, this time by climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. There she finds that, just like a reflection, everything is reversed, including logic (for example, running helps one remain stationary, walking away from something brings one towards it, chessmen are alive, nursery rhyme characters exist, and so on). ''Through the Looking-Glass'' includes such verses as "Jabberwocky" and " The Walrus and the Carpenter", and the episode involving Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The mirror above the fireplace that is displayed at Hetton Lawn in Charlton Kings, Gloucestershire (a house that was owned by Alice Liddell's grandparents, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weirs
A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. There are many weir designs, but commonly water flows freely over the top of the weir crest before cascading down to a lower level. Etymology There is no single definition as to what constitutes a weir and one English dictionary simply defines a weir as a small dam, likely originating from Middle English ''were'', Old English ''wer'', derivative of root of ''werian,'' meaning "to defend, dam". Function Commonly, weirs are used to prevent flooding, measure water discharge, and help render rivers more navigable by boat. In some locations, the terms dam and weir are synonymous, but normally there is a clear distinction made between the structures. Usually, a dam is designed specifically to impound water behin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flash Lock
A flash lock is a type of lock for river or canal transport. Early locks were designed with a single gate, known as a flash lock or staunch lock. The earliest European references to what were clearly flash locks were in Roman times. Development In England the "gate" was similar to a temporary needle dam: a set of boards, called ''paddles'', supported against the current by upright timbers called ''rymers'' which normally kept the level of water above it to navigable levels. Boats moving downstream would wait above the lock until the paddles (and their rymers) were removed, which would allow a "flash" of water to pass through, carrying the boats with it. Upstream boats would be winched or towed through the lock with the paddles removed. Considerable skill was involved both in removing the paddles in a timely manner and navigating the boat through the lock. Flash locks of this type have been documented since at least 1295 C.E. Flash locks were commonly built into small dams ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt
Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt, (1714 – 16 September 1777), known as Viscount Harcourt between 1727 and 1749, was a British diplomat and general who became Viceroy of Ireland. Biography Harcourt was born in Oxfordshire, the son of Hon. Simon Harcourt, M.P. for Wallingford and Abingdon, and Elizabeth Evelyn, sister of Sir John Evelyn, 1st Baronet. His father died in 1720, when Simon was still a small child. He was educated at Westminster School and in 1727 succeeded his grandfather Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt as 2nd Viscount Harcourt. In 1745, having raised a regiment for service during the Jacobite Rebellion, the 76th Foot (Lord Harcourts Regiment), he received a commission as a colonel in the army. The regiment was disbanded on 10 June 1746. In 1749, he was created Earl Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt. He was appointed governor to the prince of Wales, afterwards George III, in 1751; and after the accession of the latter to the throne, in 1761, he was appoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islands In The River Thames
This article lists the islands in the River Thames, or at the mouth of a tributary (marked †), in England. It excludes human-made islands built as part of the building of forty-five two-gate locks which each accompany a weir, and islets subordinate to and forming part of the overall shape of another. The suffix ''-ey'' (pronounced today ) is common across England and Scotland and cognate with ait and meaning island, a term – as ait or eyot – unusually well-preserved on the Thames. A small minority of list entries are referred to as Island, Ait or Eyot and are vestiges, separated by a depression in the land or high-water-level gully. Most are natural; others were created by excavation of an additional or replacement navigation channel, such as to provide a shorter route, a cut. Many result from accumulation of gravel, silt, wildfowl dung and plant decay and root strengthening, particularly from willows and other large trees. Unlike other large rivers, all today are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
