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The 'Thames' (pronounced ) is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor.
The river gives its name to the Thames Valley, a region of England centred around the river between Oxford and West London, and the Thames Gateway, the area centred around the tidal Thames and the Thames Estuary to the east of London.

Contents

History

Geological history

Human history

Origin of the name

Geography

Course of the river

Catchment area and discharge

The non-tidal section

The tidal section

Navigation

Crossings

Islands

The river as a boundary

Culture

Literature

Other arts

Tourism

Sport

Rowing

Sailing

Skiffing

Punting

Kayaking and Canoeing

Meanders

Trivia

Religion

See also

References

Further reading

External links

History

Geological history

The River Thames can first be identified as a discrete drainage line as early as 58 million years ago, in the late Palaeocene Period Thanetian Stage [1]. Until around half a million years ago, the Thames flowed on its existing course through what is now Oxfordshire, before turning to the north east through Hertfordshire and East Anglia and reaching the North Sea near Ipswich. At this time the river system headwaters lay in the English West Midlands[[2]] and may, at times, have received drainage from the North Wales Berwyn Mountains. Arrival of an ice sheet in the Quaternary ice age, about 450,000 years ago, dammed the river in Hertfordshire and caused it to be diverted onto its present course through London. This created a new river route aligned through Berkshire and on into London after which the river rejoined its original course in southern Essex, near the present River Blackwater estuary. Here it entered a substantial freshwater lake in the southern North Sea basin. The overspill of this lake caused the formation of the Dover Straits or Pas-de-Calais gap between Britain and France. Subsequent development led to the continuation of the course which the river follows at the present day [3].
At the height of the last ice age around 12000 years ago, Britain was connected to mainland Europe via a large expanse of land known as Doggerland in the southern North Sea basin. At this time, the Thames' course did not continue to Doggerland, but was aligned southwards from the eastern Essex coast where it met the Rhine, the Meuse and the Scheldt[4] flowing from what are now The Netherlands and Belgium. 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.

Human history

The Thames provided the major highway between 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.
The River Thames has frozen over in cold weather throughout history. One of the earliest accounts of the Thames freezing over comes from A.D. 250 when it was frozen hard for nine weeks. Hubert Lamb and other historians have found that the Thames froze in the years AD 923, AD 998, and for seven weeks in 1061. It has also completely frozen over during these severe winters of (paradoxically) the Medieval Warm Period: 1149 - 1150, 1204 - 1205, 1269 - 1270, 1281 - 1282, 1309 - 1310, 1407 - 1408, 1409 - 1410, 1434 - 1435, early 1506, 1513 - 1514, 1516 - 1517, and 1536 - 1537. (12 times in total)
Between 1400 and the nineteenth century there were a total of 23 documented winters in which the Thames froze over at London during a period that became known as the Little Ice Age. This led to the first Frost Fair in 1607, complete with a tent city set up on the river itself and offering a number of amusements, including ice bowling. After temperatures began to rise again, starting in 1814, the river has never frozen over completely. The building of a new London Bridge in 1825 may also have been a factor; the new bridge had fewer pillars than the old, so allowing the river to flow more freely, thus preventing it from flowing slowly enough to freeze in cold winters. London, River Thames and Tower Bridge Frost Fairs, London, UK

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. In the 'Great Stink' of 1858, pollution in the river reached such proportions that sittings at the House of Commons at Westminster had to be abandoned. A concerted effort to contain the city's sewage, by constructing massive sewers on the north and south river embankments followed, under the supervision of engineer Joseph Bazalgette. On 3 September 1878, one of the worst river disasters in England took place, when the crowded pleasure boat ''Princess Alice'' collided with the ''Bywell Castle'', killing over 640.
The coming of rail and road transportation and the decline of the Empire, in the years following 1914, have reduced the prominence of the river. In the late 20th and early 21st century, London itself is no longer a port of any note and the Port of London has moved downstream to Tilbury. In return, the river has undergone a massive clean-up, since the filthy days of the late 19th and early- to mid-20th centuries and aquatic life has returned to its formerly 'dead' waters. Alongside the river runs the Thames Path, providing a route for walkers and cyclists.
In the early 1980s a massive flood-control device, the Thames Barrier, was opened. It is closed several times a year to prevent water damage to London's low-lying areas upstream (as in the 1928 Thames flood for example). In the late 1990s, the 7 mile long Jubilee River was built, which acts as a flood channel for the Thames around Maidenhead and Windsor.^[1]

Origin of the name

The Thames, from Middle English ''Temese'', is derived from the Celtic name for the river, ''Tamesas'' (from PC
★ ''tamēssa'')^[2], recorded in Latin as ''Tamesis'' and underlying modern Welsh ''Tafwys'' "Thames". The name meant "dark" and can be compared to other cognates such as Irish ''teimheal'' and Welsh ''tywyll'' "darkness" (PC
★ ''temeslos'') and Middle Irish ''teimen'' "dark gray"^[3].
The river's name has always been pronounced with a simple ''t''; the Middle English spelling was typically ''Temese'' and Celtic ''Tamesis''. The ''th'' lends an air of Greek to the name and was added during the Renaissance, possibly to reflect or support a belief that the name was derived from River Thyamis in the Epirus region of Greece, whence early Celtic tribes were erroneously thought to have migrated.
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 this). It is believed that Tamesubugus's name was derived from that of the river.^[4]
The part of the Thames running through Oxford is often given the name the River Isis, although historically, and especially in Victorian times, gazetteers and cartographers insisted that the entire river was correctly named the River Isis from its source until Dorchester-on-Thames. Only at this point, where the river meets the River Thame and becomes the "Thame-isis" (subsequently abbreviated to Thames) should it be so-called; current Ordnance Survey maps still label the Thames as ''"River Thames or Isis"'' until Dorchester. However since the early 20th century, this distinction has been lost in common usage outside Oxford, and some historians suggest the name Isis - although possibly named after the Egyptian goddess of that name - is nothing more than a contraction of Tamesis, the Latin (or pre-Roman Celtic)name for the Thames.
Richard Coates has recently suggested that the river was called the Thames upstream of modern London, where it was narrower and
★ ''(p)lowonida'' down river, where it was too wide to ford. This gave the name to a settlement on its banks, which became known as Londinium, from the Indo-European roots
★ ''pleu-'' "flow" and
★ ''-nedi'' "river" meaning something like the flowing river or the wide flowing unfordable river).
For merchant seamen, the Thames has long been just 'The London River'. Londoners often refer to it simply as 'the river', in expressions such as 'south of the river'.^[5]

Geography

Course of the river

The Thames has a length of 346 km (215 miles). Its usually quoted source is at Thames Head (at ), about a mile north of the village of Kemble and near the town of Cirencester, in the Cotswolds. However, Seven Springs near Cheltenham, where the river Churn rises, is also sometimes quoted as the Thames' source, as this location is furthest from the mouth both in distance along its course and as the crow flies. The springs at Seven Springs also flow throughout the year, while those at Thames Head are only seasonal.
The Thames flows through Ashton Keynes, Cricklade, Lechlade, Oxford, Abingdon, Wallingford, Goring-On-Thames, Reading, Henley-on-Thames, Marlow, Maidenhead, Windsor, Eton, Staines and Weybridge, before entering the Greater London area.
From the outskirts of Greater London, the river passes Hampton Court, Kingston, Teddington, Twickenham, Richmond (with a famous view of the Thames from Richmond Hill), Syon House and Kew before flowing through central London. In central London, the river forms one of the principal axes of the city, from the Palace of Westminster to the Tower of London and was the southern boundary of the mediaeval city.
Once past central London, the river passes between Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs, before flowing through the Thames Barrier, which protects central London from flooding in the event of storm surges. Below the barrier, the river passes Dartford, Tilbury and Gravesend before entering the Thames Estuary near Southend-on-Sea.

Catchment area and discharge

The river drains a catchment area of 4,994 square miles (12,935 km²) or 5,924 square miles (15,343 km²) if the River Medway is included as a tributary.^[6]

The non-tidal section

Innumerable brooks, canals and rivers, within an area of 3,841 square miles (9,948 square km), combine to form 38 main tributaries feeding the Thames between its source and Teddington. These include the rivers Churn, Leach, Cole, Coln, Windrush, Evenlode, Cherwell, Ock, Thame, Pang, Kennet, Loddon, Colne, Wey and Mole.
Between Maidenhead and Windsor, the Thames supports an artificial secondary channel, known as the Jubilee River, for flood relief.
More than half the rain that falls on this catchment is lost to evaporation and plant growth. The remainder provides the water resource that has to be shared between river flows, to support the natural environment and the community needs for water supplies to homes, industry and agriculture.
During heavy rainfall the Thames occasionally receives raw sewage discharge due to sanitary sewer overflow.

The tidal section

About 55 miles from the sea, at Teddington, the river begins to exhibit tidal activity from the North Sea. This tidal stretch of the river is known as "the Tideway". London was reputedly made capital of Roman Britain at the spot where the tides reached in AD 43 but this spot has moved up river, in the 2000 years since then, because of the glacial rebound effect. At London, the water is slightly brackish with sea salt. Below Teddington, the principal tributaries include the rivers Brent, Wandle, Effra, Westbourne, Fleet, Ravensbourne (the final part of which is called Deptford Creek), Lea, Roding, Darent and Ingrebourne.
The average discharge of the Thames grows up to approximately 66 m³/s at the end of its non-tidal section, at Kingston upon Thames, a figure which is exceeded by some other British rivers (e.g., the Severn and the Tay). Indeed, if the Thames were not a tidal river, its average discharge in the centre of London would be somewhere between 80 and 100 m³/s, and the Thames would look like a small river, not the large river we can see today by Westminster, the Houses of Parliament or the City.
Some low-lying areas beside the tidal section of the Thames regularly flood at spring tides. However, in recent years, the flooding has been occurring more frequently at unusual times. One such example exists at Chiswick Lane South in London's W4 postal district, where the river now bursts its banks almost daily between March and September.

Navigation

The Thames is navigable from the estuary as far as Lechlade in Gloucestershire. Between the sea and Teddington Lock, the river forms part of the Port of London and navigation is administered by the Port of London Authority. From Teddington Lock to the head of navigation, the navigation authority is the Environment Agency.
The river is navigable to large ocean-going ships as far as the Pool of London and London Bridge. Today little commercial traffic passes above the docks at Tilbury and central London sees only the occasional visiting cruise ship or warship, moored alongside HMS Belfast and a few smaller aggregate or refuse vessels, operating from wharves in the west of London. Both the tidal river through London and the non-tidal river upstream are intensively used for leisure navigation.
There are 45 locks on the River Thames. See Locks on the River Thames for a full list of all locks.

Crossings

Main articles: Crossings of the River Thames

Famous crossings over the Thames include:

★ Dartford Crossing

★ Blackwall Tunnel

★ Rotherhithe Tunnel

★ Thames Tunnel

★ Tower Bridge

★ London Bridge

★ Millennium Bridge

★ Blackfriars Bridge

★ Hungerford Bridge

★ Westminster Bridge

★ Teddington Lock - (Cyclists, pedestrians and wheelchairs only)

★ Windsor Bridge

★ Maidenhead Railway Bridge

★ Marlow Bridge

★ Folly Bridge

Islands

Main articles: Islands in the River Thames

Famous islands in the Thames include:

★ Isle of Sheppey

★ Raven's Ait, Surbiton

★ Canvey Island

★ Isle of Grain, Kent

★ Eel Pie Island, Twickenham

★ Magna Carta Island, Runnymede

★ Fry's Island, Reading (sometimes known as ''De Montfort Island'')

The river as a boundary

The river itself rises in Gloucestershire, traditionally forming the county boundary, firstly between Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, between Berkshire on the south bank and Oxfordshire on the north, between Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, between Berkshire and Surrey, between Surrey and Middlesex and between Essex and Kent.
Before the 1974 boundary changes, the current boundary between Berkshire and Surrey was between Buckinghamshire and Surrey. The boundary between Oxfordshire and Berkshire was also moved at that time.

Culture

Literature

The Thames is a motif in many books. ''Three Men in a Boat'' by Jerome K. Jerome describes a boat trip up the Thames; published in 1889, it has never been out of print, proof of the continuing influence of the Thames on the literary imagination. Other authors took inspiration from this best-selling comic novel (with its side-nods to social commentary). Examples include poet Kim Taplin's 1993 travelogue ''Three Women in a Boat'' and Connie Willis's ''To Say Nothing of the Dog''. Somewhere near the Oxford stretch is where the Liddells were rowing in the poem at the start of ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. The river is almost a character in its own right in Kenneth Grahame's ''The Wind in the Willows'' and its derivatives. The utopian ''News from Nowhere'' by William Morris is mainly the account of a journey through the Thames valley in a socialist future. Another is featured in ''The Amulet of Samarkand'' from The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, when Nathaniel plans to toss a can of tobacco into the Thames in order to imprison Bartimaeus. 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 Fens.
In books set in London there is Sherlock Holmes looking for a boat in ''The Sign of Four''. Many of Charles Dickens's novels feature the Thames. ''Oliver Twist'' finishes in the slums and rookeries along its south bank. ''Our Mutual Friend'' begins with a scavenger and his daughter pulling a dead man from the river, to legally salvage what the body might have in its pockets. 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 which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in.''

In ''Heart of Darkness'' by Joseph Conrad, the old sailor Marlow begins his yarn while sitting on a boat in the Thames. 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 memorable description of the approach to London from the Thames Estuary in his essays (1906).
In poetry, T.S. Eliot references the Thames at the beginning of The Fire Sermon, Section III of "The Waste Land". It could be said that the references make for a spiritual reverence of the river, as the river is referred to as "sweet". However he also refers to the area as "brown" and throughout this poem the semantic field evokes feelings of decay with its references to detritus. William Blake makes reference to the Thames in his famous poem ''London'': William Blake

I wander thro' each charter'd street,/
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow

In this instance, it could be said that the Thames is a boundless and free notion; but Blake seems to be showing here a disdain for its apparent 'chartered' nature. Joseph Brodsky wrote a poem entitled "The Thames at Chelsea".

Other arts

John Kaufman's sculpture The Diver:Regeneration can be found sited in the Thames near Rainham.

A boat chase on the Thames forms the long opening scene of the James Bond film ''The World Is Not Enough''. The offices of MI6, Britain's external spy agency, are right on the river in a building known as Vauxhall Cross.

Tourism

The river is popular with tourists. There are many sightseeing tours in tourist boats, especially in the lower reaches past the more famous riverside attractions such as the Houses of Parliament and the Tower of London.

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 the Amateur Rowing Association (over 40% of its membership). Most towns and districts of any size on the river have at least one club, but key centres are Oxford, Henley-on-Thames and the stretch of river from Chiswick to Putney.
Two rowing events on the River Thames are traditionally part of the wider English sporting calendar:
The University Boat Race is rowed between Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club in late March or early April, on the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake in the west of London.
Henley Royal Regatta takes place over five days at the start of July in the upstream town of Henley-on-Thames. Besides its sporting significance the regatta is an important date on the English social calendar alongside events like Royal Ascot and Wimbledon.
Other significant or historic rowing events on the Thames include:

★ The Head of the River Race and other head races over the Championship Course

★ The Wingfield Sculls for the amateur sculling championship of the Thames and Great Britain

★ Doggett's Coat and Badge for apprentice watermen, one of the oldest sporting events in the world

★ Henley Women's Regatta

★ The Henley Boat Races for the Women's and Lightweight crews of Oxford and Cambridge Universities

★ The Oxford University bumping races known as Eights Week and Torpids
Innumerable other regattas, head races and bumping races are held along the Thames.

Sailing

Sailing is practiced on both the tidal and non-tidal reaches of the river. Clubs in and near the London section of the Thames include:

★ London Corinthian Sailing Club near Hammersmith Bridge

★ South Bank Sailing Club in Putney

★ Ranelagh Sailing Club in Putney

★ Docklands Sailing And Watersports Centre at Millwall Dock

★ Capital Sailing School at Millwall Dock

★ The Surrey Docks Watersports Centre at Surrey Quays.

★ Thurrock Yacht Club in Thurrock

★ Greenwich Yacht Club in Greenwich

★ Royal Thames Yacht Club in Knightsbridge

★ Thames Sailing Club in Surbiton

★ Hampton Sailing Club in Hampton, London

★ Little Ship Club near Southwark Bridge
Clubs Upstream of London Include:

★ Goring Thames Sailing Club in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

★ Upper Thames Sailing Club in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire

★ Cookham Reach Sailing Club in Cookham, Berkshire

★ Medley Sailing Club in Oxford, Oxfordshire

★ Dorchester Sailing Club near Dorchester-on-Thames, in Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Clubs in the Lower Thames Include:

★ Gravesend Sailing Club in Gravesend, Kent

★ Erith Yacht Club near Erith, Kent
See also:

★ The Thames Sailing Barge Trust

★ Sailing on the River Thames by the The River Thames Alliance, a partnership between public and private sector organisations set up to help manage the future of the non-tidal Thames.

Skiffing

Skiffing remains popular, particularly in the summer months. Several clubs and regattas may be found in the outer suburbs of west London.

Punting

Unlike the "pleasure punting" common on the Cherwell in Oxford and the Cam in Cambridge, punting on the Thames is competitive and uses narrower craft.

Kayaking and Canoeing

Kayaking and canoeing are popular, with sea kayakers using the tidal stretch for touring. Sheltered water kayakers and canoeists use the non-tidal section for training, racing and trips. Whitewater playboaters and slalom paddlers are catered for at weirs like Hurley Weir, Sunbury Weir and Boulter's Weir.

Meanders

A Thames meander is a long-distance journey over all or part of the Thames by any of the above means. It is often carried out as an athletic challenge in a competition or for a record attempt.

Trivia

★ The Sex Pistols played a concert on the Queen Elizabeth Riverboat on June 7, 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee, while sailing down the river.

★ On January 20, 2006, a northern 16-18 ft (5 m) bottle-nosed whale was spotted in the Thames and was seen as far upstream as Chelsea. This is extremely unusual because this type of whale is generally found in deep sea waters. Crowds gathered along the riverbanks to witness the extraordinary spectacle. But it soon became clear there was cause for concern, as the animal came within yards of the banks, almost beaching, and crashed into an empty boat causing slight bleeding. Approx. 12 hours later, the whale was believed to be seen again near Greenwich, possibly heading back to sea. There was a rescue attempt lasting several hours, but it eventually died on a barge. ''See River Thames whale''. Lost whale 'seen heading for sea'

★ Unusual objects floated along the Thames by barge include a Eurostar Railway locomotive, a Concorde aircraft and a Submarine.

★ It is not unusual to see the French navy in the Thames; very often French naval vessels make official visits to the Royal Navy dock, HMS President, just by the Tower Bridge.

★ While writing in his diary in June 1667 Samuel Pepys was disturbed by the sound of gunfire, as Dutch warships on the Thames broke through the Royal Navy to invade London.

★ Polar explorer and endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh became the first person ever to swim the length of the Thames. His journey started on 17th July 2006 close to the source of the river in Gloucestershire and ended 147 miles later in London. Pugh undertook the challenge to raise awareness of climate change.

★ The traditional Swan Upping ceremony takes place annually on the River Thames during the third week of July.

★ Bear Grylls, host of the Discovery Channel's "Man vs Wild" series lives on a converted barge on the River Thames with his wife Shara and their young sons Jesse and Marmaduke.

★ In the ''Doctor Who'' episode "The Runaway Bride", the Thames was completely drained, leaving numbers of barges stranded.

★ In Hollywood Blockbuster '' (2007), the Thames is completely emptied of her waters by a huge hole in her riverbed just beside Westminster Bridge and the London Eye, leaving everything floating on the river stranded.

Religion

When a Roman Catholic converts to Anglicanism, that person is said to have "swum the Thames". The reverse is referred to as "swimming the Tiber".

See also

★ Marchioness disaster

★ The Diver

★ Torso in the Thames

★ River and Rowing Museum

★ Rivers of the United Kingdom

★ UK topics

★ Thames Town

★ Thames Television

★ Locks on the River Thames

★ Weirs on the River Thames

★ London Stones beside the river

References

1. Environment Agency (2005). ''Jubilee River''. Retrieved November 1, 2005.
2. Mallory, J.P. and D.Q. Adams. ''The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture''. London: Fitzroy and Dearborn, 1997: 147.
3. ibid.
4. Henig M. & Booth P. 2000, ''Roman Oxfordshire'', pgs.118-9
5. Culteral Heritage Resources (2005). ''Legendary Origins and the Origin of London's place name''. Retrieved November 1, 2005.
6. Dot & Ian Hart (2001–5). ''The River Thames — Its geology, geography and vital statistics from source to sea''. Retrieved November 1, 2005.

Further reading

★ Thames: Sacred River, , Peter, Ackroyd, Chatto and Windus, ,

External links

★ The River Thames Guide - Covers all aspects of the Thames including Accommodation, Thames Information, etc.

★ The Official guide to the River Thames - Information on boating, fishing, walking and places to eat, drink and stay.

★ The Thames Estuary Partnership

★ River Thames

★ Article includes map of the River Thames catchment area

★ Thames Gallery at the River and Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames

★ The Thames Path

★ The Thames Path National Trail

★ The Thames from Hampton Court to Sunbury Lock

★ Photos of the Thames at central London

★ Independent Guide to the River Thames and its famous Tow Path

★ Walks along the Thames Path

★ Source of the Thames from Google Maps — this map stops tracing the river at Ashton Keynes, south-west from Kemble

★ Michael Pead :: Photos of the River Thames

★ Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide - by John Eade

★ Physiography, T.H. Huxley, 1978 The physical geography of the Thames River Basin as seen by Huxley in 1878. Full text free to read and search, Courtesy the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Library.

★ at Wikiquote. From the estuary to the Port of London by boat in 1906, when the port was the commercial heart of the British Empire.

★ London's River - An intriguing journey down the Thames in rare archive film.

★ Hammersmith London Regatta

★ [5] For more information on the Air Race.