Fishing on the River Thames

Fishing on the River Thames. The location is not Oxford and is undated, but shows an activity which is timeless and ubiquitous!


Wolvercote Bathing Place, 1981

Wolvercote Bathing Place, 1981. One of several designated bathing places along the River Thames in Oxford, this view is from the north across the wide expanse of Port Meadow, and the famous ‘dreaming spires’ of the city can just be discerned in the far distance.


Hinksey Pool, 1965

Hinksey Pool, 1965. Oxford’s first open-air, non-river bathing place, opened in 1936 on the site of a former sewage filter bed.


Punting on the River Cherwell, a tributary which joins the River Thames in Oxford, by St Hilda’s College, 1980

Punting on the River Cherwell, a tributary which joins the River Thames in Oxford, by St Hilda’s College, 1980. The college was established specifically for female students in 1893.


Long Bridges Bathing Place, 1965

Long Bridges Bathing Place, 1965. In existence since at least the end of the 19th century, this public bathing place was located on one of the larger side-streams of the River Thames below the city.


Eights Week, 1998

Eights Week, 1998, Oxford University’s main annual inter-college rowing competition, showing a River Thames cruiser, ferry punt and the college boat houses which replaced the old college barges from the 1930s onwards.


Eights Week, c.1900 (Henry Taunt)

Eights Week, c.1900 (Henry Taunt), seemingly at its conclusion, with the winning crew of eight oarsmen (known as ‘The Head of the River’) taking the plaudits of the spectators who occupy the various college barges. These vessels were originally brought to Oxford from London in 1840s, but some were later built locally by Salter Brothers, and it is likely that the majority of smaller craft in the picture were also built by Salters.


Eights Week c.1905 (Henry Taunt)

Eights Week c.1905 (Henry Taunt), seen towards the end of one of the annual River Thames inter-college races. The third boat has evidently bumped that ahead of it, meaning that it will move up one position in the next heat, and the second boat will correspondingly move down one place. Spectators watch from college barges moored along the edge of Christ Church Meadow.


Men skating on Port Meadow, c.1895 (Henry Taunt)

Men skating on Port Meadow, c.1895 (Henry Taunt). The River Thames regularly overflows the 340-acre expanse of common land, and skating is still a popular pastime there when the opportunity allows.


A sailing dinghy on the River Thames at Port Meadow, 2003

A sailing dinghy on the River Thames at Port Meadow, 2003. The nearby Medley Sailing Club is the farthest upstream on the whole length of the river.


An old working narrowboat put to new use on the Oxford Canal as a leisure and educational resource, 1965

An old working narrowboat put to new use on the Oxford Canal as a leisure and educational resource, 1965. The last horse-drawn working boat on the canal ceased operating in the 1950s.


Oxford’s waterways ceased to be important for the transport of goods after World War Two, but provided many leisure opportunities

Oxford’s waterways ceased to be important for the transport of goods after World War Two, but provided many leisure opportunities. Self-hire options now include canal narrowboats, river motor boats, rowing boats and – perhaps the most iconic of all Oxford water-based leisure activities – punts, such as these on the River Cherwell.


An inter-college Eights race starts from Iffley in 1997

An inter-college Eights race starts from Iffley in 1997. Held every May, the idea is to try to catch the boat in front before the finish line is reached about a mile upstream by bumping it. The races are therefore also known as ‘Bumping Races’, and culminate in ‘Bumps Suppers’.


Punting at Cherwell Boathouse

Punting at Cherwell Boathouse


Salter’s Boat Trips

Salter’s Boat Trips - steamers operating from Folly Bridge since 1888


Oxford

Section 6. Leisure By The Water

Oxford’s rivers have always provided a place for leisure and, following the end of commercial traffic in the 1960s, the Oxford Canal has become popular for pleasure boats. Within the centre most of the waterfront has either been developed or lay within land owned by the university and its colleges, and no riverside promenades were built. Swimming in the river can be hazardous so the City Council provided designated bathing places across the city from Wolvercote to Long Bridges. All have closed, but open-air swimming is available in Hinksey, at the converted waterworks. Within the University Parks is Parson’s Pleasure which until 1991 was a male-only nude bathing place favoured by dons. Oxford is famous for its punts, flat-bottomed boats propelled using a pole. In the hands of a skilled boatman, punting is a relaxed and elegant activity, but it can be much more exciting and frustrating for the many tourists who embark from the Cherwell Boathouse or Folly Bridge, from where too Salters operate steamer trips. A familiar sight are the college boats with their crews training for the annual Eights Week competition, when they strive to become Head of the River.

City & Water

International virtual exhibition of documents of twin-cities Perm, Louisville & Oxford.

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