Bablock Hythe

The ferry in August 2006

Bablock Hythe is a hamlet in Oxfordshire, England, some five miles (8 km) west of Oxford city centre, and located in Northmoor parish, West Oxfordshire district. Cumnor and Appleton-with-Eaton parishes in Vale of White Horse district are on the other side of the River Thames. There was a ferry across the Thames at Bablock Hythe from the 13th century. The hand-propelled cable ferry was said to be the first along the river and was still in use for cars and other road vehicles up until 1959. ^[1]

The Ferryman Inn

Heritage

The earliest reference to a ferry is in 1279; later ones continued to cross until the late 20th century. The ferry was a wide-beamed ferry punt with a rope or chain in the river, which presented something of a hazard to navigation. ^[2] There was also an ancient inn, described by William Senior in his Royal River in the 1880s. This was rebuilt in the early 1990s. ^[3] The site is overlooked by the "Warm green-muffled Cumnor Hills", which now holds an extensive caravan site. ^{[4] [5]} The poet Matthew Arnold described the area in his 1853 work "The Scholar Gipsy":

Thee, at the ferry, Oxford riders blithe,

Returning home on summer nights, have met

Crossing the stripling Thames at Bablock-hithe

Trailing in the cool stream thy fingers wet

As the slow punt swings round.

See also

• Crossings of the River Thames

References

1. "Correspondence". The Autocar. London: Ilffe & Sons Ltd: 440. 30 March 1959.
2. Thacker, Frederick Samuel (1968) [1920]. The Thames Highway: A History of the Inland Navigation. Vol. II Locks and Weirs. David & Charles.
3. Winn, Christopher (2010). I Never Knew That about the River Thames. London: Ebury Press. p. 39. ISBN   0091933579.
4. "Bablock Hythe Caravan Park".
5. Goldsack, Paul (2003). River Thames: In the Footsteps of the Famous. Bradt/English Heritage. ISBN   1841620440.

External links

• Canal Plan Gazetteer
• Where Thames smooth waters glide

51°44′06″N1°22′16″W / 51.735055°N 1.371145°W / 51.735055; -1.371145