From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Thames" redirects here. For the tidal part of the River Thames, see . For other uses, see .
Thames Head Bridge ( - )
Bridge and
Limit of navigation
(rises at )
La 71 m ASL
Thames (Oxford By-pass) Bridge ()
, , partly
(Goods Line)
(GWR to Bristol)
, , Reading
, Marlow, ()
(GWR to Bristol etc.)
The Bournes (, ),
, Weir & Tidal limit
Teddington Boundary Stone
( and former )
(A3202) —
(A301) — Central London
(A201) — Central London
(A300) — Central London
()8.7 m headway — Central London
()42.5 m headway —
/ Dartford Creek
() 54.1 m headway — West Thurrock & Dartford
Holehaven Creek
, /Warden Point, ( limit)
Distances are in kilometres.
Waterway distances are shown, not towpath distances.
If using imperial units convention would be to use statute miles (;m) upstream of Teddington
and sea miles (0;m/;ft) downstream from Teddington.
North then south is used for opposing places in the case of bridges.
Thameside settlements
Towns/villages
beside the river
blank spaces indicate as place above (")
Kemble (meads)
meads and lakes of both
Ashton Keynes (meads)
Castle Eaton
Limit of navigation
Lechlade (meads)
Clanfield (meads)
Chimney (meads)
Bablock Hythe and meads,
Swinford and meads,
Wolvercote Common, Wolvercote
(west-central Oxford)
(south-central)
(east Oxford inc. Rose Hill)
(meads), Oxford
, Clifton Hampden
Shillingford Hill,
Preston Crowmarsh, Benson (meads)
, Shiplake
Aston, Remenham
Hedsor Wharf,
Water Oakley/Willows Riverside Park, Bray
The Home Park, Windsor
, Egham (meads)
Penton Hook,
Hamm Court Estate,
Old Shepperton, Shepperton
(various islands),
Old Shepperton, Shepperton
Lower Halliford, Shepperton
Hampton Court, Hampton
Seething Wells (partially),
, Kingston upon Thames (meads)
normal tidal limit
Dukes Meadows, Chiswick
, Battersea
, Westminster
(Victoria) Embankment/, Westminster
St Katherine's Wharf,
Millwall/Cubitt Town, Poplar
Cubitt Town, Poplar
, Greenwich
New Charlton,
, Woolwich
Thamesmead,
Rainham Marshes,
Wennington Marshes,
Aveley Marshes,
Dartford Marshes,
(; West Thurrock Marshes)
Stone Marshes,
Swanscombe Marshes/Broadness Lighthouse, Swanscombe
(or, more rarely, Grays Thurrock)
Eastcourt Marshes,
Shorne Marshes,
Higham Marshes,
Cliffe Marshes/Redham Mead,
Corringham Marshes/Thames Haven,
Halstow Marshes,
St Marys Marshes,
(the few settlements further along the debatable
to the two points mentioned in the
are on inlets or far inland)
The River Thames ( ) is a
that flows through . It is the longest river entirely in England and the , after the . While it is best known for flowing through , the river also flows alongside other towns and cities, including , ,
and . In an alternative name, derived from its long
in south west London, the lower reaches of the river are called the . The section of the river running through
is traditionally called the .
With a total length of 215 miles (346 km), the Thames is the longest river entirely in England and the
in the United Kingdom. It rises at
in , and flows into the
via the . On its way, it passes through London, the country's capital, where the river i the Thames drains the whole of . Its tidal section, reaching up to , includes most of its London stretch and has a rise and fall of 7 metres (23 ft). Running through some of the driest parts of mainland Britain and heavily abstracted for drinking water, the Thames's discharge is low considering its length and breadth: the Severn has a discharge almost twice as large on average despite having a smaller drainage basin. In , the
achieves more than double the average discharge from a drainage basin that is 60% smaller.
The administrative powers of the
have been taken on with modifications by the
and, in respect of the Tideway part of the river, such powers are split between the agency and the .
In non-administrative use, stemming directly from the river and its name are , ,
productions,
publishing,
(north-south railways passing through ) and . Historic entities include the . Two broad canals link the river to other : the
( to ) and the
( to the Midlands). The Grand Union effectively bypassed the earlier, narrow and winding
which also remains open as a popular scenic recreational route. Three further cross-basin canals are disused but are in various stages of reconstruction: the
(via ), which operated until 1927 (to the west coast of England), the
to , which operated until 1871 (to the south coast), and the .
and sailing clubs are common along the Thames, which is navigable to such vessels.
also take place. Major annual events include the
and , while the Thames has been used during two :
(); ( and ). Safe headwaters and reaches are a summer venue for organised swimming, which is prohibited on safety grounds in a stretch centred on .
Along its course are 45
with accompanying weirs. Its
covers a large part of South Eastern and a small part of Western England and the river is fed by 38 named tributaries.[] The river contains over 80 islands. With its waters varying from freshwater to almost seawater, the Thames supports a variety of wildlife and has a number of adjoining , with the largest being in the remaining parts of the
and covering 5,449 hectares (13,460 acres).
The marks of human activity, in some cases dating back to , are visible at various points along the river. These include a variety of structures connected with use of the river, such as navigations, bridges and , as well as prehistoric . A major maritime route is formed for much of its length for shipping and supplies: through the
for international trade, internally along its length and by its connection to the British canal system. The river's position has put it at the centre of many events in British history, leading to it being described by
as "liquid history".
The river gives its name to three informal areas: the , a region of England around the river between Oxford and West L and the greatly overlapping
around the tidal Thames to the east of London and including the waterway itself.
is a formal body that takes its name from the river, covering three . The administrative powers of the
have been taken on with modifications by the
and, in respect of the Tideway part of the river, such powers are split between the agency and the . In non-administrative use, stemming directly from the river and its name are , ,
productions,
publishing,
(north-south railways passing through ) and . Historic entities include the .
A statue of Old Father Thames by
at , Lechlade.
The Thames, from Middle English Temese, is derived from the
name for the river, Tamesas (from *tamēssa), recorded in Latin as Tamesis and yielding modern Welsh Tafwys "Thames". The name probably meant "dark" and can be compared to other cognates such as Russian темно ( *t?m?n?),
, Irish teimheal and Welsh tywyll "darkness" ( *temeslos) and
teimen "dark grey". The same origin is shared by countless other river names, spread across Britain, such as the
at the border of
and , several
of the North East, the
in the , as well as one of the Thames' tributaries called the .
has proposed that the name of the Thames is not
(and of unknown meaning), while Peter Kitson suggested that it is Indo-European but originated before the
and has a name indicating "muddiness" from a root *tā-, 'melt'. It has also been suggested that it is not of Celtic origin, but Germanic (thus linking it with the ,
and ) meaning: "inhabited place where the estuary begins", i. e. a place by the river, rather than the river itself.
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' name was derived from that of the river. Tamese was referred to as a place, not a river in the
(c. 700 AD).
The river's name has always been pronounced with a simple t /t/; the
spelling was typically Temese and the Brittonic form . A similar spelling from 1210, "Tamisiam", is found in the .
The th spelling lends an air of
to the name and was added during the [] possibly to reflect or support a claim that the name was derived from the
in the , from where early Celtic-speaking groups were wrongly thought to have migrated to Britain.[]
The Thames through
is sometimes called . Historically, and especially in
times, gazetteers and cartographers insisted that the entire river was correctly named the Isis from its source down to
and that only from this point, where the river meets the Thame and becomes the "Thame-isis" (supposedly subsequently abbreviated to Thames) should it be so called.
maps still label the Thames as "River Thames or Isis" down to Dorchester. However, since the early 20th century this distinction has been lost in common usage outside of Oxford, and some historians suggest the name Isis is nothing more than a
of Tamesis, the
name for the Thames.
suggests that while the river was as a whole called the Thames, part of it, where it was too wide to ford, was called *(p)lowonida. This gave the name to a settlement on its banks, which became known as , from the Indo-European roots *pleu- "flow" and *-nedi "river" meaning something like the flowing river or the wide flowing unfordable river. An alternative, and simpler proposal, is that London may also be a Germanic word: as "Landen" with a similar origin to the word "land".
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".
The marker stone at the official source of the River Thames near .
against floods
The Thames passes by some of the sights of London, including the
The Thames passing through the .
The usually quoted
of the Thames is at
). This is about 3/4 mile (1.2 km) north of
parish church in southern , near the town of , in the .
near , where the
rises and feeds into the Thames, is also sometimes quoted as the Thames' source, as this location is furthest from the mouth, and adds some 14 miles (23 km) to the length. At Seven Springs above the source is a stone with the Latin inscription "Hic tuus o Tamesine pater septemgeminus fons", which means "Here, O Father Thames, [is your] sevenfold source".
at Seven Springs flow throughout the year, while those at Thames Head are only seasonal (a ). The Thames is the longest river entirely in England, but the , which is partly in Wales, is the
in the United Kingdom. As the River Churn, sourced at Seven Springs, is 14 miles (23 km) longer than the Thames (from its traditional source at Thames Head to the confluence), the overall length of the Thames measured from Seven Springs, 229 miles (369 km), is greater than the Severn's length 220 miles (350 km). Thus, the "Churn/Thames" river may be regarded as the longest natural river in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the stream from Seven Springs is joined at
by a longer tributary which could further increase the length of the Thames, with its source in the grounds of the
The Thames flows through or alongside , , , , , ,
and , , , , , ,
and , , , , , ,
and . The river was subject to minor redefining and widening of the main channel around Oxford, Abingdon and Marlow before 1850, since when further cuts to ease navigation have reduced distances further.
faces , and in
the Thames passes , , , , ,
(with a famous view of the Thames from Richmond Hill), , , , , , , , , ,
and . In , the river passes
and , and then forms one of the principal axes of the city, from the
to the . At this point, it historically formed the southern boundary of the medieval city, with , on the opposite bank, then being part of .
Beyond central London, the river passes , , , , , , , , , ,
and , before flowing through the , which protects central London from flooding by . Below the barrier, the river passes , , , , , , , ,
before entering the
Sediment cores up to 10 m deep collected by the British Geological Survey from the banks of the tidal River Thames contain geochemical information and fossils which provide a 10,000 year record of sea-level change. Combined this and other studies suggest that the Thames sea-level has risen more the 30 m during the Holocene at a rate of around 5–6 mm per year from 10,000 to 6,000 years ago. The rise of sea level dramatically reduced when the ice melt nearly concluded over the past 4,000 years. Since the beginning of the 20th century rates of sea level rise range from 1.22 mm per year to 2.14 mm per year.
Main article:
The Thames River Basin District, including the Medway catchment, covers an area of 6,229 square miles (16,130 km2). The river basin includes both rural and heavily urbanised areas in the east and northern parts while the western parts of the catchment are predominantly rural. The area is among the driest in the United Kingdom. Water resources consist of
from aquifers and water taken from the Thames and its tributaries, much of it stored in large .
The Thames itself provides two-thirds of London's drinking water while groundwater supplies about 40 per cent of public water supplies in the total catchment area. Groundwater is an important water source, especially in the drier months, so maintaining its quality and quantity is extremely important. Groundwater is vulnerable to surface pollution, especially in highly urbanised areas.
Main article:
St John's Lock, near
River Thames in
Brooks, canals and rivers, within an area of 3,842 square miles (9,951 km2), combine to form 38 main tributaries feeding the Thames between its source and . T however, high spring tides can raise the head water level in the reach above Teddington and can occasionally reverse the river flow for a short time. In these circumstances, tidal effects can be observed upstream to the next lock beside , which is visible from the towpath and
beside . Before Teddington Lock was built in 1810–12, the river was tidal at peak spring tides as far as .
In descending order, non-related tributaries of the non-tidal Thames, with river status, are the , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
and . In addition, there are occasional backwaters and artificial cuts that form islands,
(most numerous in the case of the ), and man-made distributaries such as the . Three canals intersect this stretch: the ,
Its longest artificial secondary channel (cut), the , was built between Maidenhead and Windsor for flood relief and completed in 2002.
The non-tidal section of the river is owned and managed by the , which is responsible for managing the flow of water to help prevent and mitigate flooding, and providing for navigation: the volume and speed of water downstream is managed by adjusting the sluices at each of the weirs and, at peak high water, levels are generally dissipated over preferred flood plains adjacent to the river. Occasionally, flooding of inhabited areas is unavoidable and the agency issues flood warnings. Due to stiff penalties applicable on the non-tidal river, which is a drinking water source before treatment,
from the many
covering the upper Thames basin is rare in the non-tidal Thames, which ensures clearer water compared to the river's tideway.
Main article:
at Staines, built in 1285 marked the customs limit of the Thames and the 's jurisdiction.
Below Teddington Lock (about 55 miles or 89 kilometres upstream of the Thames Estuary), the river is subject to
from the . Before the lock was installed, the river was tidal as far as Staines, about 16 miles (26 km) upstream. London, capital of , was established on two hills, now known as
and . These provided a firm base for a trading centre at the lowest possible point on the Thames.
A river crossing was built at the site of . London Bridge is now used as the basis for published tide tables giving the times of . High tide reaches Putney about 30 minutes later than London Bridge, and Teddington about an hour later. The
of the river is known as "the ". Tide tables are published by the
and are . Times of high and low tides are also .
The principal
on the Tideway include the rivers , , , , ,
(the final part of which is called ), , ,
and . At London, the water is slightly
with sea salt, being a mix of sea and fresh water.
This part of the river is managed by the . The flood threat here comes from high tides and strong winds from the North Sea, and the Thames Barrier was built in the 1980s to protect London from this risk.
Main article:
The River Thames contains over 80 islands ranging from the large estuarial marshlands of the
to small tree-covered islets like
in Oxfordshire and
in Berkshire. They are found all the way from the
in Kent to
in Oxfordshire. Some of the largest inland islands, for example
near Cookham and
at Abingdon, were created naturally when the course of the river divided into separate streams.
In the Oxford area the river splits into several streams across the
and others), creating several islands (,
and others). ,
at Old Windsor and
were artificially created by lock cuts and navigation channels.
is a familiar landmark on the Boat Race course, while
forms the centrepiece of the spectacular view from .
Islands of historical interest include
at Reading, and
near Shepperton. In more recent times
was the place where
were built,
near Molesey was associated with the impresario , and
at Twickenham was the birthplace of the South East's
music scene.
(commonly known today as the ) were built on , which used to be an .
refuges, 20,000 years ago. The Thames was a minor river that joined the , in the southern
at this time.
   and Proto Solutrean Cultures
  Epi
The River Thames can first be identified as a discrete drainage line as early as 58 million years ago, in the
stage of the late
epoch. Until around 500,000 years ago, the Thames flowed on its existing course through what is now , before turning to the north east through
and reaching the
At this time the river system headwaters lay in the English
and may, at times, have received drainage from the
in . Brooks and rivers like the ,
either flowed into the then River Thames or went out to sea on the course of the present-day River Thames.
About 450,000 years ago, in the most extreme
of the , the , the furthest southern extent of the ice sheet was at
in east London. It dammed the river in , resulting in the formation of large ice lakes, which eventually burst their banks and caused the river to be diverted onto its present course through what is now London. Progressively, the channel was pushed south to form the
depression by the repeated advances of the ice sheet.
This created a new river course through
and on into London, after which the river rejoined its original course in southern , near the present
estuary. Here it entered a substantial freshwater lake in the southern North Sea basin. The overspill of this lake caused the formation of the
gap between
and . Subsequent development led to the continuation of the course that the river follows at the present day.
Most of the
is made up of
that was formed at the end of the
and at one time was under the . Also created at this time were the vast underground reserves of water that make the
higher than average in the Vale of Aylesbury.
A ge the London Clay is marked in dark brown.
The confluence of Rivers Thames and Brent. The narrowboat is heading up the . From this point as far as
the Brent has been canalised and shares its course with the main line of the . From Hanwell the Brent can be traced to various sources in the
The last advance from that
ice flow to have reached this far south covered much of north west
and finally forced the Proto-Thames to take roughly its present course. At the height of the last , around 20,000 BC, Britain was connected to mainland Europe by a large expanse of land known as
in the southern North Sea basin. At this time, the Thames' course did not continue to Doggerland but flowed southwards from the eastern Essex coast where it met the , the
flowing from what are now the
and . These rivers formed a single river—the
(Fleuve Manche)—that passed through the Dover Strait and drained into the
in the western .
The ice sheet, which stopped around present day Finchley, deposited
and Hanger Hill. Its torrent of
gushed through the
and south towards the new course of the Thames, and proceeded to carve out the
in the process. Upon the valley sides there can be seen other terraces of , laid over and sometimes interlayered with the clays.
These deposits were brought in by the winds during the periglacial periods, suggesting that wide, flat marshes were then part of the landscape, which the new river Brent proceeded to cut down. The steepness of the valley sides is an indicator of the very much lower
caused by the glaciation locking up so much water upon the land masses, thus causing the river water to flow rapidly seaward and so erode its bed quickly downwards.
The original land surface was around 350 to 400 feet (110 to 120 metres) above the current sea level. The surface had sandy deposits from an ancient sea, laid over sedimentary clay (this is the blue ). All the erosion down from this higher land surface, and the sorting action by these changes of water flow and direction, formed what is known as the Thames .
Since Roman times and perhaps earlier, the
rebound from the weight of previous ice sheets, and its interplay with the
change in sea level, have resulted in the old valley of the River Brent, together with that of the Thames, silting up again. Thus, along much of the Brent's present-day course, one can make out the water meadows of rich alluvium, which is augmented by frequent floods.
After the river took its present-day course, many of the banks of the
in London were partly covered in , as was the adjoining . Streams and rivers like the ,
drained into the river, while some islands, e.g. , formed over the ages. The northern tip of the ancient parish of , for example, was marshland known as Lambeth Marshe, but it was drained in the 18 it is remembered in the street name .
The , also known simply as the East End, was the area of London east of the medieval walled
and north of the River Thames, although it is not defined by universally accept the
can be considered another boundary. Most of the local riverside was also marshland. The land was drained it was built on after the . Use of the term "East End" in a pejorative sense began in the late 19th century,
in southern Essex (area 18.45 km2, 7.12 sq  population 37,479) was once marshy, but is now a fully reclaimed island in the Thames estuary. It is separated from the mainland of south
by a network of creeks. Lying below sea level it is prone to flooding at exceptional tides, but has nevertheless been inhabited since Roman times.
Swan Upping –
surround the swans
Fishing at
Various species of birds feed off the river or nest on it, some being found both at sea and inland. These include ,
is a familiar sight on the river but the escaped
is more rare. The annual ceremony of
is an old tradition of counting stocks.
Non-native geese that can be seen include ,
and , and ducks include the familiar native , plus introduced
and . Other water birds to be found on the Thames include the , , ,
and . Many types of British birds also live alongside the river, although they are not specific to the river habitat.
The Thames contains both sea water and fresh water, thus providing support for seawater and freshwater fish. However, many populations of fish are at risk and are being killed in tens of thousands because of pollutants leaking into the river from human activities. Salmon, which inhabit both environments, have been reintroduced and a succession of
have been built into
to enable them to travel upstream.
On 5 August 1993, the largest non-tidal salmon in recorded history was caught close to
in . The specimen weighed 14 1/2 pounds (6.6 kg) and measured 22 inches (56 cm) in length. The
is particularly associated with the Thames and there were formerly many eel traps. Freshwater fish of the Thames and its tributaries include , , , , , , ,
and . Colonies of
have also recently been discovered in the river. The Thames is also host to some invasive crustaceans, including the
Aquatic mammals are also known to inhabit the Thames. The population of
numbers up to 700 in the Thames Estuary. These animals have been sighted as far upriver as Richmond.
are also sighted in the Thames.
On 20 January 2006, a 16–18 ft (4.9–5.5 m) northern
was seen in the Thames as far upstream as Chelsea. This was extremely unusual: this whale is generally found in deep sea waters. Crowds gathered along the riverbanks to witness the extraordinary spectacle but there was soon concern, as the animal came within yards of the banks, almost beaching, and crashed into an empty boat causing slight bleeding. About 12 hours later, the whale is believed to have been seen again near , possibly heading back to sea. A rescue attempt lasted several hours, but the whale died on a barge. See .
The , with , built 800 years later
The River Thames has played several roles in human history: as an economic resource, a maritime route, a boundary, a fresh water source, a source of food and more recently a leisure facility. In 1929, , one-time MP for Battersea, responded to an American's unfavourable comparison of the Thames with the
by coining the expression "The Thames is liquid history".
There is evidence of human habitation living off the river along its length dating back to
times. The
has a decorated bowl ( BC), found in the river at , , and a considerable amount of material was discovered during the excavations of . A number of
sites and artefacts have been discovered along the banks of the river including settlements at ,
So extensive have the changes to this landscape been that what little evidence there is of man's presence before the ice came has inevitably shown signs of transportation here by water and reveals nothing specifically local. Likewise, later evidence of occupation, even since the arrival of the Romans, may lie next to the original banks of the Brent but have been buried under centuries of silt.
Some of the earliest written references to the Thames (: ) occur in 's account of his second expedition to Britain in 54 BC, when the Thames presented a major obstacle and he encountered the
tribes the
along the river. The confluence of the Thames and Cherwell was the site of early settlements and the River Cherwell marked the boundary between the
tribe to the west and the
tribe to the east (these were pre-Roman
tribes). In the late 1980s a large
settlement was excavated on the edge of the village of
In AD 43, under the , the
and, recognising the river's strategic and economic importance, built fortifications along the Thames valley including
provided a defensible site near a point on the river both deep enough for the era's ships and narrow
() grew up around the
on the north bank around the year 47. 's
razed the settlement in AD 60 or 61 but it was soon rebuilt and, following the completion of its bridge, it grew to become the provincial capital of the island.
The next Roman bridges upstream were at
between Londinium and
(). Boats could be swept up to it on the rising tide with no need for wind or muscle power.
A Romano-British settlement grew up north of the confluence, partly because the site was naturally protected from attack on the east side by the
and on the west by the River Thames. This settlement dominated the pottery trade in what is now central southern England, and pottery was distributed by boats on the Thames and its tributaries.
Competition for the use of the river created the centuries-old conflict between those who wanted to dam the river to build millraces and fish traps and those who wanted to travel and carry goods on it. Economic prosperity and the foundation of wealthy monasteries by the
attracted unwelcome visitors and by around AD 870 the
were sweeping up the Thames on the tide and creating havoc as in their destruction of .
A 1616 engraving by
showing the , with
in the foreground.
had won total control of the strategically important Thames Valley, he went on to invade the rest of England. He had many castles built, including those at , ,
and most importantly the . Many details of Thames activity are recorded in the . The following centuries saw the conflict between king and barons coming to a head in AD 1215 when
was forced to sign the
on an island in the Thames at . Among a host of other things, this granted the barons the right of Navigation under Clause 23.
Another major consequence of John's reign was the completion of the multi-piered , which acted as a barricade and barrage on the river, affecting the tidal flow upstream and increasing the likelihood of the river freezing over. In
times, various kings and queens built magnificent riverside palaces at , , ,
As early as the 1300s, the Thames was used to dispose of waste matter produced in the city of London, thus turning the river into an open sewer. In 1357,
described the state of the river in a proclamation: "...dung and other filth had accumulated in divers places upon the banks of the river with... fumes and other abominable stenches arising therefrom."
The growth of the population of London greatly increased the amount of waste that entered the river, including human excrement, animal waste from slaughter houses, and waste from manufacturing processes. According to historian Peter Ackroyd, "a public lavatory on London Bridge showered its contents directly onto the river below, and latrines were built over all the tributaries that issued into the Thames."
The Frozen Thames, 1677
The 16th and 17th centuries saw the City of London grow with the expansion of world trade. The wharves of the
were thick with seagoing vessels while naval dockyards were built at . The
even entered the Thames in 1667 in the .
During a series of cold winters the Thames froze over above London Bridge: in the first
in 1607, a tent city was set up on the river, along with a number of amusements, including ice bowling.
In good conditions, barges travelled daily from Oxford to London carrying timber, wool, foodstuffs and livestock. The stone from the
used to rebuild
in 1666 was brought all the way down from . The Thames provided the major route between the City of London and Westminster in the 16th and 17 the clannish guild of watermen ferried Londoners from landing to landing and tolerated no outside interference. In 1715,
was so grateful to a local waterman for his efforts in ferrying him home, pulling against the tide, that he set up a rowing race for professional watermen known as "".
giving his card to Father Thames, caricature commenting on a letter of Faraday's
in July 1855.
By the 18th century, the Thames was one of the world's busiest waterways, as London became the centre of the vast, mercantile , and progressively over the next century the docks expanded in the
and beyond. Efforts were made to resolve the navigation conflicts upstream by building locks along the Thames. After temperatures began to rise again, starting in 1814, the river stopped freezing over. The building of a new
in 1825, with fewer
(pillars) than the old, allowed the river to flow more freely and prevented it from freezing over in cold winters.
Throughout early modern history the population of London and its industries discarded their rubbish in the river. In the late 18th and 19th centuries people known as
scavenged in the river mud for a meagre living.
Satirical cartoon by , showing a woman observing monsters in a drop of London water (at the time of the Commission on the London Water Supply report, 1828)
In the 19th century the quality of water in Thames deteriorated further. The dumping of raw
into the Thames was formerly only common in the , making its tideway a harbour for many harmful bacteria. Four serious cholera outbreaks killed tens of thousands of people between the years of 1832 and 1865. Historians have attributed
death in 1861 to typhoid that had spread in the river's dirty waters beside Windsor Castle. Wells with
that mixed with tributaries (or the non-tidal Thames) faced such pollution with the widespread installation of the
in the 1850s. In the ', pollution in the river reached such an extreme that sittings of the
at Westminster had to be abandoned.
A concerted effort to contain the city's sewage by constructing massive
on the north and south river embankments followed, under the supervision of engineer . Meanwhile, similar huge undertakings took place to ensure the water supply, with the building of reservoirs and pumping stations on the river to the west of London, slowly helping the quality of water to improve.
was one of imaginative engineering. The coming of the railways added railway bridges to the earlier road bridges and also reduced commercial activity on the river. However, sporting and leisure use increased with the establishment of
and . On 3 September 1878, one of the worst river disasters in England took place, when the crowded pleasure boat
collided with the Bywell Castle, killing over 640 people.
The Thames as it flows through east London, with the
in the centre.
The growth of , and the decline of the
in the years following 1914, reduced the economic prominence of the river. During the , the protection of certain Thames-side facilities, particularly docks and water treatment plants, was crucial to the munitions and water supply of the country. The river's defences included the
in the estuary, and the use of
to counter
using the reflectivity and shapes of the river to navigate during .
In the post-war era, although the
remains one of the UK's three main ports, most trade has moved downstream from central London.
The decline of heavy industry and tanneries, reduced use of oil-pollutants and improved sewage treatment have led to much better water quality as compared with the late 19th and early- to mid-20th centuries and aquatic life has returned to its formerly 'dead' stretches.
Alongside the entire river runs the , a National Route for walkers and cyclists.
In the early 1980s a pioneering flood control device, the , was opened. It is closed to tides several times a year to prevent water damage to London's low-lying areas upstream (the
demonstrated the severity of this type of event). In the late 1990s, the 7-mile (11 km) long
was built as a wide
channel through partly already watercourse-covered land in
which face
and . Other shorter cuts already existed above and below this point, however only on the non-tidal Thames, hence[] the need for the Barrier.
on River Thames, in the
One of the major resources provided by the Thames is the water distributed as drinking water by , whose area of responsibility covers the length of the River Thames. The
is the main distribution mechanism for water in London, with one major loop linking the , ,
Water Treatment Works with central London.
In the past, commercial activities on the Thames included fishing (particularly eel trapping),
which provided wood, and the operation of
for flour and paper production and metal beating. These activities have disappeared. A hydro-electric plant at
was opened in 2013 by the Queen.
The Thames is popular for a wide variety of riverside housing, including high-rise flats in central London and chalets on the banks and islands upstream. Some people live in houseboats, typically around
Main article:
Passenger service on River Thames
In London there are many sightseeing tours in tourist boats, past the more famous riverside attractions such as the
as well as regular riverboat services co-ordinated by . London city Airport is situated on the Thames, in East London. Previously it was a dock.
In summer, passenger services operate along the entire non-tidal river from Oxford to Teddington. The two largest operators are
and French Brothers. Salters operate services between , Oxford and Staines. The whole journey takes 4 days and requires several changes of boat. French Brothers operate passenger services between Maidenhead and Hampton Court. Along the course of the river a number of smaller private companies also offer river trips at Oxford, Wallingford, Reading and Hampton Court. Many companies also provide boat hire on the river.
The leisure navigation and sporting activities on the river have given rise to a number of businesses including boatbuilding, marinas, ships chandlers and salvage services.
over River Thames.
over the Thames from the
has been in operation since the .
The river is policed by five police forces. The
is the River Police arm of London's , while , ,
have responsibilities on their parts of the river outside the metropolitan area. There is also a
fire boat on the river. The river claims a number of lives each year.[]
As a result of the
in 1989 when 51 people died, the
asked the , the
(RNLI) to work together to set up a dedicated Search and Rescue service for the tidal River Thames. As a result, there are four
on the River Thames at
(Chiswick lifeboat station), / () and
(Gravesend lifeboat station).
Pool of London looking west, from the high-level walkway on . Click on the picture for a longer description
A container ship unloading at Northfleet Hope terminal, .
A ship heading downstream past .
traps are used on the Thames to filter
as it flows through central London.
The Thames is maintained for navigation by powered craft from the estuary as far as
and for very small craft to . From Teddington Lock to the head of navigation, the navigation authority is the . Between the sea and , the river forms part of the
and navigation is administered by the . Both the tidal river through London and the non-tidal river upstream are intensively used for leisure navigation.
The non-tidal River Thames is divided into reaches by the 44 . The locks are staffed for the greater part of the day, but can be operated by experienced users out of hours. This part of the Thames links to existing navigations at the , the
and the . All craft using it must be licensed. The
has patrol boats (named after tributaries of the Thames) and can enforce the limit strictly since river traffic usually has to pass through a lock at some stage. A speed limit of 8 km/h (4.3 kn) applies. There are pairs of
at various points along the non-tidal river that can be used to check speed – a boat travelling legally taking a minute or more to pass between the two markers.
The tidal river is navigable to large ocean-going ships as far upstream as the
and . Although London's upstream enclosed docks have closed and central London sees only the occasional visiting
or , the tidal river remains one of Britain's main ports. Around 60 active terminals cater for shipping of all types including
ferries, cruise liners and vessels carrying , vehicles, timber, grain, paper, , ,
etc. There is a regular traffic of
vessels, operating from
in the west of London. The tidal Thames links to the canal network at the , the
at Brentford.
Upstream of
a speed limit of 8 knots (15 km/h) is in force for powered craft to protect the riverbank environment and to provide safe conditions for rowers and other river users. There is no absolute speed limit on most of the Tideway downstream of Wandsworth Bridge, although boats are not allowed to create undue wash. Powered boats are limited to 12 knots between
and downstream of Tower Bridge, with some exceptions. Boats can be approved by the
to travel at speeds of up to 30 knots from below Tower Bridge to past the Thames Barrier.
exercised general jurisdiction over the Thames, one of the four royal rivers, and appointed
to oversee the river upstream of Staines. The
exercised jurisdiction over the tidal Thames. However, navigation was increasingly impeded by
and mills, and in the 14th century the river probably ceased to be navigable for heavy traffic between Henley and Oxford. In the late 16th century the river seems to have been reopened for navigation from Henley to .
The first commission concerned with the management of the river was the , formed in 1605 to make the river navigable between Burcot and Oxford.
In 1751 the
was formed to manage the whole non-tidal river above Staines. The
long claimed responsibility for the tidal river. A long running dispute between the City and the Crown over ownership of the river was not settled until 1857, when the
was formed to manage the river from Staines downstream. In 1866 the functions of the Thames Navigation Commission were transferred to the Thames Conservancy, which thus had responsibility for the whole river.
In 1909 the powers of the Thames Conservancy over the , below Teddington, were transferred to the .
In 1974 the Thames Conservancy became part of the new . When Thames Water was privatised in 1990, its river management functions were transferred to the , in 1996 subsumed into the .
Until enough crossings were established, the river presented a formidable barrier, with Belgic tribes and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms being defined by which side of the river they were on. When English counties were established their boundaries were partly determined by the Thames. On the northern bank were the ancient counties of , Oxfordshire, ,
and . On the southern bank were the counties of , Berkshire,
The 214 bridges and 17 tunnels that have been built to date have changed the dynamics and made cross-river development and shared responsibilities more practicable. In 1965, upon the creation of , the
incorporated the former 'Middlesex and Surrey' banks,
moved from Middlesex to S and further changes in 1974 moved some of the boundaries away from the river. For example, some areas were transferred from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, and from Buckinghamshire to Berkshire. On occasion – for example in rowing – the banks are still referred to by their traditional county names.
Main article:
, in rural Oxfordshire.
The Railway bridge at .
in the background.
Many of the present-day road bridges are on the site of earlier fords, ferries and wooden bridges. At , a toll bridge, there was first a ford and then a ferry prior to the bridge being built. The earliest known major crossings of the Thames by the Romans were at
in Oxford the remains of an original Saxon structure can be seen, and medieval stone bridges such as
are still in use.
Kingston's growth is believed to stem from its having the only crossing between London Bridge and Staines until the beginning of the 18th century. During the 18th century, many stone and brick road bridges were built from new or to replace existing bridges both in London and along the length of the river. These included , , ,
Several central London road bridges were built in the 19th century, most conspicuously , the only
on the river, designed to allow ocean-going ships to pass beneath it. The most recent road bridges are the bypasses at
and the motorway bridges, most notably the two on the
Railway development in the 19th century resulted in a spate of bridge building including
in central London, and the spectacular railway bridges by
The world's first underwater tunnel was Marc Brunel's
built in 1843 and now used to carry the . The
was the first railway under the Thames, which was followed by all the deep-level tube lines. Road tunnels were built in East London at the end of the 19th century, being the
and the . The latest tunnels are the .
Many foot crossings were established across the weirs that were built on the non-tidal river, and some of these remained when the locks were built – for example at . Others were replaced by a footbridge when the weir was removed as at . Around 2000, several footbridges were added along the Thames, either as part of the Thames Path or in commemoration of the millennium. These include , , the
and the , all of which have distinctive design characteristics.
Before bridges were built, the main means of crossing the river was by ferry. A significant number of ferries were provided specifically for navigation purposes. When the
changed sides, it was necessary to take the towing horse and its driver across the river. This was no longer necessary when barges were powered by steam. Some ferries still operate on the river. The
carries cars and passengers across the river in the Thames Gateway and links the
roads. Upstream are smaller pedestrian ferries, for example
the last being the only non-permanent crossing that remains on the Thames Path.
(Hg) is an environmentally persistent heavy metal which at high concentrations can be toxic to
and humans. Sixty sediment cores of 1 m in depth, spanning the entire tidal River Thames, between
have been analysed for total Hg. The sediment records show a clear rise and fall of Hg pollution through history. Mercury concentrations in the River Thames decrease downstream from
to the outer Estuary with the total Hg levels ranging from 0.01 to 12.07 mg/kg, giving a mean of 2.10 mg/kg which is higher than many other UK and European river estuaries. The highest amount of sedimentary hosted Hg pollution in the Thames estuary occurs in the central London area between Vauxhall Bridge and Woolwich. The majority of sediment cores show a clear decrease in Hg concentrations close to the surface which is attributed to an overall reduction in polluting activities as well as improved effectiveness of recent environmental legalisation and river management (e.g. Oslo-Paris convention).
Evaluation of select of
compounds in the Thames estuary, known as Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers () has revealed enhanced concentrations of isoprenoid GDGT compounds (crenarchaeol) around East London. This suggests that London’s pollution affects the spatial distribution of natural carbon in the river sediments. Other organic geochemical measurements of carbon flow such as stable carbon isotopes (δ13C) were found to be insensitive to this urban disturbance.
There are several watersports prevalent on the Thames, with many clubs encouraging participation and organising racing and inter-club competitions.
Main article:
Cambridge cross the finish line ahead of Oxford in the 2007 , viewed from Chiswick Bridge.
The Thames is the historic heartland of
in the United Kingdom. There are over 200 clubs on the river, and over 8,000 members of
(over 40% of its membership). Most towns and districts of any size on the river have at least one club. Internationally attended centres are ,
and events and clubs on the stretch of river from
Two rowing events on the River Thames are traditionally part of the wider English sporting calendar:
is rowed between
in late March or early April, on the
in the west of London.
takes place over five days at the start of July in the upstream town of . Besides its sporting significance the regatta is an important date on the English
alongside events like
Other significant or historic rowing events on the Thames include:
(8+) (i.e. coxed eights), , ,
2-/2x, 4-/4+/4x Fours Head (HOR4s) (shorter) and Pairs Head (shorter) on the
on the same course: (1x) () championship
for apprentice watermen of London, one of the oldest sporting events in the world
currently for the Women's and Lightweight crews of Oxford and Cambridge universities
The Oxford University
and university bumping races are held along the Thames which are described under .
Main article:
Thames Raters at Raven's Ait,
Sailing is practised on both the tidal and non-tidal reaches of the river. The highest club upstream is at Oxford. The most popular sailing craft used on the Thames are ,
and . One sailing boat unique to the Thames is the , which is sailed around .
has dwindled in favour of private motor boat ownership but is competed on the river in the summer months. Six clubs and a similar number of skiff regattas exist from ,
Unlike the "pleasure " common on the
in , punting on the Thames is competitive as well as recreational and uses narrower craft, typically based at the few skiff clubs.
Main article:
are common, with
for touring. Sheltered water kayakers and canoeists use the non-tidal section for training, racing and trips.
paddlers are catered for at
like those at ,
and . At Teddington just before the tidal section of the river starts is , said to be the oldest in the world and founded in 1866. Since 1950, almost every year at Easter, long distance canoeists have been competing in what is now known as the , which follows the course of the , joins the River Thames at Reading and runs right up to a grand finish at .
In 2006 British swimmer and environmental campaigner
became the first person to swim the full length of the Thames from outside Kemble to Southend-on-Sea to draw attention to the severe drought in England which saw record temperatures indicative of a degree of global warming. The 202 miles (325 km) swim took him 21 days to complete. The official headwater of the river had stopped flowing due to the drought forcing Pugh to run the first 26 miles (42 km).
Since June 2012 the
has made and enforces a
that bans swimming between Putney Bridge and ,
(thus including all of central London) without obtaining prior permission, on the grounds that swimmers in that area of the river endanger not only themselves, due to the strong current of the river, but also other river users.
Organised swimming events take place at various points generally upstream of , including Windsor, Marlow and Henley. In 2011 comedian
swam the 140 miles (230 km) from Lechlade to Westminster Bridge and raised over ?1 million for charity.
In non-tidal stretches swimming was, and still is, a leisure and fitness activity among experienced swimmers where safe, deeper outer channels are used in times of low stream.
is a long-distance journey over all or part of the Thames by running, swimming or using any of the above means. It is often carried out as an athletic challenge in a competition or for a record attempt.
The Thames in the arts
Houses of Parliament Sunlight Effect (Le Parlement effet de soleil) –
as painted by
saw it in 1844
's Trouée de soleil dans le brouillard, , London, Sun Breaking Through the Fog, 1904
Foggy Morning on the Thames – James Hamilton (between 1872 and 1878)
Boating on the Thames - , circa 1890
The River Thames has been a subject for artists, great and minor, over the centuries. Four major artists with works based on the Thames are , ,
and . The 20th century British artist
produced many works at .
The river is lined with various pieces of sculpture, but 's sculpture : Regeneration is sited in the Thames near .
A seal in the river at St. Saviour's Dock, London
The Thames is mentioned in many works of literature including novels, diaries and poetry. It is the central theme in three in particular:
by , first published in 1889, is a humorous account of a boating holiday on the Thames between
and . The book was intended initially to be a serious travel guide, with accounts of local history of places along the route, but the humorous elements eventually took over. The landscape and features of the Thames as described by Jerome are virtually unchanged, and the book's enduring popularity has meant that it has never been out of print since it was first published.
(written in the years 1864–65) describes the river in a grimmer light. It begins with a scavenger and his daughter pulling a dead man from the river near London Bridge, to salvage what the body might have in its pockets, and heads to its conclusion with the deaths of the villains drowned in
upstream. The workings of the river and the influence of the tides are described with great accuracy. 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
which is of iron, and
which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in. The figures in this boat were those of a strong man with ragged grizzled hair and a sun-browned face, and a girl of nineteen or twenty. The girl rowed, pulling a pair o the man with the rudder-lines slack in his hands, and his hands loose in his waisteband, kept an eager look-out.
's , written in 1908, is set in the middle to upper reaches of the river. It starts as a tale of anthropomorphic characters "simply messing about in boats" but develops into a more complex story combining elements of mysticism with adventure and reflection on
society. It is generally considered one of the most beloved works of children's literature and the illustrations by E.H.Shepard and Arthur Rackham feature the Thames and its surroundings.
The river almost inevitably features in many books set in London. Most of Dickens' other novels include some aspect of the Thames.
finishes in the slums and
along its south bank. The
stories by
often visit riverside parts as in . In
by , the serenity of the contemporary Thames is contrasted with the savagery of the , 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 description of the approach to London from the
in his essays
(1906). Upriver, '
uses a large riverside mansion on the Thames as one of its key settings.
Literary non-fiction works include ' diary, in which he recorded many events relating to the Thames including the . He was disturbed while writing it in June 1667 by the sound of gunfire as
warships broke through the
on the Thames.
In poetry, 's sonnet
closes with the lines:
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the ver
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
makes several references to the Thames in The Fire Sermon, Section III of .
Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my song.
The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes cigarette ends
Or other testimony of summer nights.
The river sweats
Oil and tar
The barges drift
With the turning tide
To leeward, swing on the heavy spar,
The barges wash
Drifting logs
Down Greenwich reach
Past the Isle of Dogs
The Sweet Thames line is taken from 's
which presents a more idyllic image:
Along the shoare of silver streaming T
Whose rutty banke, the which his river hemmes,
Was paynted all with variable flowers.
And all the meads adornd with daintie gemmes
Fit to deck maydens bowres
Also writing of the upper reaches is
Crossing the stripling Thames at Bab-lock-hythe
Trailing in the cool stream thy fingers wet
As the slow punt swings round
Oh born in days when wits were fresh and clear
And life ran gaily as the sparkling T
Before this strange disease of modern life.
Wendy Cope's poem 'After the Lunch' is set on Waterloo Bridge, beginning:
On Waterloo Bridge, where we said our goodbyes,
The weather conditions bring tears to my eyes.
I wipe them away with a black woolly glove,
And try not to notice I’ve fallen in love.
Dylan Thomas mentions the Thames in his poem "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London". "London's Daughter", the subject of the poem, lays "Deep with the first dead...secret by the unmourning water of the riding Thames".
Science-fiction novels make liberal use of a futuristic Thames. The utopian
is mainly the account of a journey through the
in a socialist future. The Thames also features prominently in 's
trilogy, as a communications artery for the waterborne Gyptian people of Oxford and the .
trilogy by , the Thames appears several times. In one book, rat characters swim through it to . Winner of the
Gold Award , by Sally Gardner is a fantasy novel in which the heroine lives on the banks of the Thames.
describes a journey up the Thames in a camping skiff, in his 1989 book Boogie up the River ().
composed by
premiered on 17 July 1717, when
requested a concert on the River Thames. The concert was performed for King George I on his barge and he is said to have enjoyed it so much that he ordered the 50 exhausted musicians to play the suites three times on the trip.
The song 'Old Father Thames' was recorded by
in 1933 and by
five years later.
sings "My river" in the 1938 film , and the tune is the centrepiece of a major dance number near the end of the film.
played a concert on the Queen Elizabeth Riverboat on 7 June 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee year, while sailing down the river.
The choral line "(I) (liaised) live by the river" in the song "" by
refers to the River Thames.
Two songs by
feature the Thames as the setting of the first song's title and, for the second song, arguably in its mention of 'the river': "" is about a couple's meetings on , London and starts: "Dirty old river, must you keep rolling, flowing into the night?" and continues "Terry meets Julie, " and "...but Terry and Julie cross over the river where they feel safe and sound...". "" continually refers to the singer's friends "playing 'cross the river" instead of the girl who "just left". Furthermore,
as a solo artist refers to the river Thames in his "London Song".
's "Sweet Thames, Flow Softly", written in the early 1960s, is a tragic love ballad set on trip up the river (see 's love poem's refrain above)
English musician
wrote a song from the point of view of the River Thames entitled "You Know Where To Find Me". The song was released in 2012 on 18 October as the sixth single from her fourth album .
Main article:
was a disastrous
of the River Thames that affected much of riverside London on 7 January 1928, as well as places further downriver. Fourteen people were drowned in London and thousands were made homeless when flood waters poured over the top of the
and part of the
collapsed. It was the last major flood to affect , and, particularly following the disastrous , helped lead to the implementation of new flood-control measures that culminated in the construction of the
in the 1970s.
Main article:
was worst overall 20th century
of the River Thames, affecting much of the
as well as elsewhere in England during the middle of March 1947 after a very .
The floods were caused by 4.6 inches (120 mm) of rainfall (including snow); the peak flow was 61.7 billion litres (13.6 billion imperial gallons) of water per day and the damage cost a total of ?12 million to repair.
damage to some of the
made matters worse.
Other significant Thames floods since 1947 have occurred in , ,
Main article:
The flooded
sea front, amusements and residential areas in 1953
On the night of 31 January, the
devastated the island taking the lives of 58 islanders, and led to the temporary evacuation of the 13,000 residents. Canvey is consequently protected by modern sea defences comprising 15 miles (24 km) of concrete seawall. Many of the victims were in the holiday bungalows of the eastern Newlands estate and perished as the water reached ceiling level. The small village area of the island is approximately two feet (0.6 m) above sea level and consequently escaped the effects of the flood.
– reference Thames Steamboats
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