Hammerton's Ferry

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Hammerton's Ferry

Hammerton's Ferry is a ferry service across the Thames in south-west London . Within the borough of London Borough of Richmond upon Thames , it has been connecting Marble Hill House in Twickenham on the north bank with Ham House in Ham on the south bank since 1909 . It is named after William Hammerton, the first operator.

history

At the location of the Richmond Bridge further downstream, a ferry connection had existed since at least 1439, as well as since 1652 upstream on the river island Eel Pie Island . The land on the south bank was then the private property of the Tollemache family , the owners of Ham House , and not open to the public. For this reason, despite the great distance to the next river crossings, there was hardly any need for a ferry connection at this point. In addition, the Tollemache family owned the license for the ferry at Eel Pie Island (also known as Twickenham Ferry), which is why they did not want to compete with their own operation.

In 1902 the London County Council acquired the Marble Hill House and made it available to the public along with the surrounding parks. In the same year, parliament placed the path along the south bank under public right of way , which resulted in an increased number of pedestrians. Resident William Hammerton began renting boats in 1908 and established a regular ferry service in 1909. For this purpose he used planked skiff boats . William Champion and Lord Dysart , the operators of the nearby Twickenham Ferry, took legal action against Hammerton. Although he won in the first instance, the verdict on appeal was in favor of the plaintiff. The public took an active part in the legal battle. Thanks to a successful fundraising campaign, Hammerton raised enough money to move the case to the House of Lords . This finally decided on July 23, 1915 in his favor.

business

From December to February, the ferry operates on weekends between 10 a.m. and dusk. It runs every day from March to October; Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., on weekends and public holidays until 6:30 p.m.

Web links

Commons : Hammerton's Ferry  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Susan Reynolds : Twickenham: Introduction. In: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3. Victoria County History, 1962, pp. 139–147 , accessed April 7, 2015 .
  2. ^ Twickenham Ferry. Twickenham Museum, accessed April 7, 2015 .
  3. ^ History of the House. Marble Hill Society, accessed April 7, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Vessels. Museum in Docklands, archived from the original on December 13, 2007 ; accessed on April 7, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Walter Hammerton's Ferry. Twickenham Museum, accessed April 7, 2015 .
upstream
Teddington Lock 		River crossings of the Thames downstream
Richmond Bridge

Coordinates: 51 ° 26 '48.2 "  N , 0 ° 18' 50.6"  W.