Thames Path


The Thames Path is a National Trail following the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier at Charlton, south east London. It is about long. A path was first proposed in 1948 but it only opened in 1996.
The Thames Path's entire length can be walked, and a few parts can be cycled. Some parts of the Thames Path, particularly west of Oxford, are subject to flooding during the winter. The river is also tidal downstream from Teddington Lock and the lower parts of these paths may be underwater if there is a particularly high tide, although the Thames Barrier protects London from catastrophic flooding.
The Thames Path uses the river towpath between Inglesham and Putney and available paths elsewhere. Historically, towpath traffic crossed the river using many ferries, but few of these crossings exist now and some diversion from the towpath is necessary.

Description and access to the river

The general aim of the path is to provide walkers with a pleasant route alongside the river.
The Thames Path provision naturally falls into three distinct areas.

Navigation with locks and towpath

The Thames Path uses the existing Thames towpath between Inglesham and Putney Bridge wherever possible. The former Thames and Severn Canal entrance is the present-day limit of navigation for powered craft, and is one and a half miles upstream of the highest lock, near Lechlade. Today, between the canal entrance and Putney Bridge, the towpath still allows access by foot to at least one side of the river for almost the whole length of the main navigation of the river, but not mill streams, backwaters or a few meanders cut off by lock cuttings, since towpaths were originally only intended to enable towing of barges on the navigation.
joining the Thames with former canal warehouse to left and Round House behind it, covered in greenery

Origin of the towpath

The Thames has been used for navigation for a long time, although owners of weirs, locks and towpath often charged tolls. The towpath owes its existence, in its current form, to the Industrial Revolution and the Canal Mania of the 1790s to 1810s, and so is related to the history of the British canal system. The Thames already allowed for passage onto the River Kennet Navigation and River Wey Navigation, but this period in history also saw the Wilts & Berks Canal, the Oxford Canal and the Thames and Severn Canal connected to the non-tidal Thames. It was not until a little after the Thames Navigation Commission were enabled by a 1795 Act of Parliament to purchase land for a continuous horse path that the non-tidal navigation was consolidated as a complete route under a single authority, upstream to Inglesham. This improved the ability of horse-drawn barge traffic to travel upstream to the Thames and Severn Canal, which had opened in 1789 and provided an alternative route for boat traffic to Cricklade. The commissioners had to create horse ferries to join up sections of towpath, as the Act did not allow them to compulsorily purchase land near an existing house, garden or orchard. The City of London Corporation, who had rights and responsibilities for the Thames below Staines from a point marked by the London Stone, had similarly bought out the towpath tolls of riparian land owners as enabled by an earlier Thames Navigation Act in 1776. Together the development of the railways and steam power supplanted horse-drawn boats on the non-tidal Thames from the 1840s. The towpath route has not changed since then, apart from following Shifford lock cut; however, the towpath ferries became obsolete and the last ferry to stop running was at Bablock Hythe in the 1960s.

Deviations

The main exception to towpath access to the navigation between Inglesham and Putney is a stretch of river without any dedicated path by Home Park, Windsor. The Windsor Castle private grounds were extended to include the riverbank and its towpath by the Windsor Castle Act 1848, involving the building of Victoria and Albert bridges and the removal of Datchet Bridge. This accounts for the Thames Path's diversion from the river at Datchet. Two other short lengths of navigation missing towpath access are because rope winches were required to pass Marlow Lock and Whitchurch Lock in the days before steam. It is also required to divert around Oxford Cruisers downstream of Pinkhill Lock, even though the towpath is still shown as a public right of way on Ordnance Survey maps. The remainder of the navigation between Inglesham and Putney has a towpath; however river crossings are now missing at the sites of 15 former ferries and one former lock, so the Thames Path makes 11 other diversions from the remaining towpath because of the lack of a river crossing at their original locations.
Walkers can visit the lengths of river navigation not on the Thames Path using the current towpath except for two isolated sections of towpath not connected by any public path at either end. The first is a short section of path still shown on Ordnance Survey maps which is inaccessible except by boat, caused by the lack of two ferries formerly diverting around Purley Hall and which accounts for the Thames Path's diversion from the river at Purley-on-Thames. The second and furthest downstream is a particularly picturesque section of towpath within the National Trust grounds of Cliveden; here the lack of three ferries accounts for the path's diversion from the river at Cookham.
When Cookham Lock was built in 1830, Hedsor Water became a backwater and lost its towpath. The lock cuttings at Clifton and Old Windsor locks allow no public riverside access of these river meanders. However some stretches of river bypassed by navigation cuttings still retain public footpath access: firstly at Desborough Island ; secondly, parts of older towpath accessible at Duxford ; and lastly, the river meander at Culham. The Culham meander is accessible, even though only parts are designated as public footpath ; here also of interest is the public footpath along the ancient causeway past Sutton Pools.
, built in 1989 for the Thames Path

Changes to crossings

Historically, there have been replacements for towpath ferry crossings with bridges at Goring and Clifton Hampden and the path across the weir at Benson Lock. In recent times, crossings have been created for the Thames Path; the Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry was restarted in 1986, Temple Footbridge near Hurley was built in 1989, a footpath was attached to Bourne End Railway Bridge in 1992, and Bloomers Hole Footbridge was built in 2000. No other replacement river crossings have been created for lapsed ferries, so the Thames Path must divert away from the river and the towpath to cross the river elsewhere, leaving some sections of towpath not on the path.

Locks

Many walkers visit the locks on the River Thames and in summer some have facilities open for visitors. A few have small campsites.The locks at Cookham and Whitchurch are not on the Thames Path and require some effort to visit. Whitchurch Lock cutting was built through an island in the river and public access to the lock over the weir from Pangbourne or across the millstream at Whitchurch-on-Thames was closed in 1888 to avoid the loss of tolls on Whitchurch Bridge; as a consequence, Whitchurch is the only Thames lock that is inaccessible by foot – it is only accessible by boat. Cookham Lock is still accessible although is not on the Thames Path. The Thames divides into several streams here and the towpath does not connect up without ferries; access to this lock requires a 10-minute walk across Odney Common on Formosa Island and the Lock Island to Sashes Island. Marlow Lock access requires a short walk through town back streets. All the other locks have obvious access from the Thames Path.
The lock islands at Pinkhill Lock, Eynsham Lock, King's Lock, Boulters Lock and Shepperton Lock can be visited, as can Penton Hook Island which is a meander cutoff formed when Penton Hook Lock was built. Any public footpaths that cross or go along any of the other small islands formed by construction of the Thames locks only allow access to the path alone.
Lock building by the Thames Commissioners had improved the whole river navigation from Inglesham to the upper limit of the tidal reach at Staines by 1789. On the tidal Thames below Staines, six new locks were built by the City of London Corporation to improve the navigation between 1811 and 1815. The Thames Conservancy was established in 1857 to take over duties from the City of London because of falling revenue from boat traffic; it also took on the duties of the Thames Commissioners in 1866. The emphasis now became provision for pleasure boating, and although the Thames Conservancy rebuilt many locks, upgrading some from flash locks to pound locks, and made navigation and towpath improvements, it only built one completely new lock on the non-tidal Thames, at Shifford in 1898.

Tideway

There is a Thames Path on both sides of the river downstream of Teddington Lock, the southern path including the original towpath as far as Putney Bridge.
Because of the locks built by the City of London, the river is now tidal only downstream from Teddington Lock, although during spring tides flood warnings are sometimes issued upstream towards Molesey Lock. A further lock with a low-tide barrage was built by the Thames Conservancy in 1894 downstream at Richmond Lock to improve the navigation by maintaining water level upstream to at least half-tide level. Today, the Port of London Authority manages the tidal river, including Richmond Lock and barrage. Wharfs and jetties are generally confined to the northern bank between Richmond and Putney. This stretch of tideway has special navigation rules to accommodate the activities of a number of rowing clubs, and includes the course used for The Boat Race. Chiswick Eyot is on this section and is notable as being the only tidal island on the river.
in the background
Historical records state that the towpath started at Putney. Downstream of here sailing, rowing, and following the rising and falling tide were the means of movement until the 19th century, Thames sailing barges being typical. Crossing the river was more of a priority, as evidenced by the many watermen's stairs giving watermen and passengers access to the tidal river. Thames steamers became more common for transport on the tidal Thames from 1815 until the railways dominated public transport. Falling income from river traffic and disputes over the construction of Victoria Embankment because of The Crown's ownership of the tidal riverbed led to the City of London's seceding management of their part of the river to the Thames Conservancy in 1857; and the section below Teddington was further passed on to the Port of London Authority in 1908. The lack of need for a towpath compared to the need for river crossings, the issues of riverbed ownership and ability to access the foreshore and the historical progression of construction of riverside buildings and structures are among the many reasons why there is not a continuous riverside path within the Port of London. Today, downstream of Putney, there are jetties and wharfs on both banks of the river, and sections of the Thames Path often have to divert away from the river around riverside buildings.
In central London, there is much of interest. The Thames Path is one of the Mayor of London's strategic walking routes. The Thames Path Cycle Route is a black-signposted route that follows the river between Putney Bridge in the west and Greenwich in the east. It mostly follows the Thames Path, but diverges in various sections, especially where the path follows a footpath-only route. It also links National Cycle Route 1 with National Cycle Route 4.

Route

The route of the Thames Path can be divided into these sections:
The list below gives the points where the Thames Path crosses the river between Cricklade and Teddington. Above Cricklade, the Thames is a stream and in some places there may be no water except after rain. Below Teddington there are paths on both sides of the river until the Greenwich foot tunnel, after which the path is only on the south.
The list is in downstream order. The letter in brackets indicates whether the path downstream of that point takes the northern or southern bank.
Bridges and ferries are listed in full under Crossings of the River Thames.
The river can be crossed at about a third of the locks, although some of these crossings are not part of the Thames Path.