Mapledurham Lock
Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 11.1 ″ N , 1 ° 2 ′ 24 ″ W.
Mapledurham Lock is a lock and weir in the course of the Thames . The first lock was built in 1777 by the Thames Navigation Commission . The current lock is from 1908.
Despite its name, the lock belongs to Berkshire and the town of Purley-On-Thames on the south side of the river and not to Oxfordshire and the town of Mapledurham . The weir stretches across the river on both banks.
The weir runs from the lock island in an elongated curve between the two places. It is not possible to enter the weir and without a boat a connection between the two places is only possible via Reading or Pangbourne . The weir holds back water for the operation of the Mapledurham watermill. The weir is the most upstream weir that has a fish ladder .
history
The Mapledurham Watermill has a history dating back to the Domesday Book and the weir was likely associated with it. The first mention of the dam comes from the time of Edward I . The mill was owned by Mapledurham House . There was a floodgate at the weir, whose operation was, however 1777eingestellt with the construction of the lock. The lock was built on the river side near Purley and was to be called Purley Lock. But the local usage got the old name. A house for the lock keeper was built in 1816. A new, larger lock was built next to the old lock in 1908.
The Mapledurham Watermill is still in operation in, making it the only mill and weir combination still in operation along the Thames, which was once the standard along the river.
Access to the lock
The lock is accessible from Purley on Mapledurham Drive.
The river above the lock
The river runs almost all the way to Pangbourne through free and open landscape and was described by Robert Gibbings in Sweet Thames Run Softly in 1939 as being filled with views that might come from the pictures in the Royal Academy .
Behind Mapledurham, Hardwick House can be seen on the north side of the river. The meadows of Pangbourne Meadows is owned by the National Trust are located south of the river before the Whitchurch Bridge reached. The toll bridge crosses the river between Pangburne and Whitchurch . The River Pang flows into the Thames between the bridge and Whitchurch Lock .
The Thames Path runs along the south bank of the river to Whitchurch Bridge, which pedestrians can pass free of charge.
Representation in the literature
Artist Ernest Shepard , who illustrated The Wind in the Willows , often drew in the area and Toad Hall is believed to be based on either Mapledurham House or the nearby Hardwick House.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Fred S. Thacker: The Thames Highway. Volume II: Locks and Weirs. 1920 - 1968 reissued, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, p. 222.
- ^ A b Fred S. Thacker, The Thames Highway. Volume II: Locks and Weirs. 1920 - 1968 reissued, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, p. 225.
- ^ Election Maps . Ordnance Survey. Retrieved January 2, 2010.
- ^ Fred S. Thacker: The Thames Highway. Volume II: Locks and Weirs. 1920 - 1968 reissue, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, p. 221.
- ↑ Paul Goldsack: River Thames . In the footsteps of the famous. Bradt, Bucks 2003, ISBN 1-84162-044-0 .
