I 11 \ 



280 



'I 1! A 



mile, long i.Hiuit>,pj*eKahin.Godal- 



minc. ad Guildford, and join* the Thames at Wevbndgc ; 



i.ile, 41 miles long, rW-s on St. Ix-onard's rorest, in 



\, piuae* through Leatherhead, and joins the Thames 



the ( 'ran and the Brent, two small streams, 



,:.... -i l.s miles long, rise on the hord 



and Herbs and join ' the tiiM at l-levvorth,the 



1 at Brentford ; and the Wnndle. :ily 9 miles 



\V;mdsworth. Of th. 



and the Brent fall into the Tluunes on the left or north 

 bank ; the others on the rii;lit bank. The name oft: 

 appears as an element in the name of Ver-olainium, an 

 untient Roman town close to St. Albans. 



Below London, up to which sea-borne vessels ascend, the 

 flows eastward, but with various reaches ' or bends, 

 50 milts to its mouth, or to the Nore Light (at the com- 

 monly reputed mouth 'i 48 miles. Between Deptford and 

 Greenwich, about four miles below London-bridge, the 

 Thames receives on the south or right bank the Ravens- 

 bourne, 10 miles long, from Keston.near Bromley in Kent : 

 about two or three miles farther down, on the north or left 

 bank, the Lea. 50 miles long, which rises in Bedfordshire, 

 and passes Luton. Hertford, Ware, and Waltham Abbey : 

 four or fiw miles lower, the Roding, 38 miles long, from 

 near Duntnow, also on the north bank ; and six miles lower, 

 on the south bank, the Darent, 20 miles long, which : 

 Dartford, and receives the Cray. The only remaining feeder 

 of the Thames which here requires notice is the Medway. 

 above GO miles Ion;:, which rises in Sussex, and flows by 

 Tunbridgc, Maidstone. Rochester, and Chatham. The 

 principal arm of the Medway joins the Thames at Sheer- 

 just above the Nore ; but the smaller arm, called the 

 Swale, which cuts off the Isle of Sheppy liom the main- 

 land of Kent, opens into the Thames just above Whit.-lablc. 

 The whole course of the Thames, from its source to its 

 mouth, is about 220 miles, which is the aggregate of the 

 distances already gi-. 



Length of the Churn 



From the junction of the Churn and com- 

 monly reputed Thames at Cricklade to 

 Let-made 



To the junction of the Windrush 



To the junction of the Charwell 



To the junction of the Thame 



To the junction of the Kennet 



To London-bridge . 



To the mouth 



20 



9 

 14 

 13 



HI 



7d 

 50 



220 



The principal affluents of the Thames are more fully de- 

 scribed elsewnere: theColne under(i< MURE; the 

 Windmill, the Evenlode, the Chanvell, and the Thame, 

 under OXFORDSHIRE; the Kennet, the Loddon, and the 

 Oek, under BERKSHIRE; the Colne, the Brent, and the 

 Cran. under MIDDLESEX ; the Wey. the Mole, and the 

 Wandle, under SVRRKY ; the Lea with its tributaries, under 

 HtRTKORDsHiRK, F.SSKX. and MIDDLESEX ; the Roding 

 under KSSEX ; and the Ravensborne, Darcnt. Cray, and 

 Medway with its feeders, under KENT. The Thames, in 

 the first part of its course, belongs wholly to Glour 

 .'hire, but below Cricklade is almost entirely a border 

 dividing Gloucestershire from Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and 

 Buckinghamshire from Berkshire, Middlesex from Surrey, 

 and Essex from Kent. Some part of its com 

 fore described in the articles on those coin 



Commercial Iniji'irtuncr. The navigation of the Thames 

 commences at I.echlade, wliea- the liver is about '_'". 

 above low-water mark at London-bridge. It- i 

 was early appreciated, and (here are acts of Parliament 



- early as the 2nd Hen. VI. The Thames 

 and Severn Canal, which follows the valley of the Churn 

 and the Thames from ^ncar (.'Irene. u into the 



Thames at I-echlade, thus connecting it with the s 

 and the W( t of the island. The navigation ,,|' 



the river furmi'rly extended up to ( 'tickhide, but 

 Uie opening of the canal the upper part, between 

 lade iiiid I.rchladc, lias been abandoned. None of the 

 tributaries above Oxford are navigable. At Oxford the 

 Oxford Canal joins the Thames, and opens a cnmmunira- 

 "'n with the great canal system of the central counties: 



"iie of the Charwell f which river i- not 

 nuvigable) from above Banbury. At Ahingdon the 



1 an *^ -.WHt^fc* Tluunes, and, as well as the 



Kennet an the Kennet nt Ncw- 



.-. here tile i of thai liver coin'! 



miles above Us junction with the Tl... .s n com- 



munication with the S Vvon, and 



by it with the Severn. The Thame r liom the 



town of Thame, about 17 miles above its junction with the 

 Thames; but neither the Loddon nor the ' 

 ble. The Wc\ is navigable from Godalming, about 17 

 miles from its junction; and is connected v.ith the W. v 

 nnd Arun Canal, and the BasingMoke Canal, the former of 

 which opens a communication with the river Arun and 

 the S.i No ut hi r ieeder above London-bl 



i- navigable ; but the Giand Junction Canal, which Ul 

 with the Oxford Canal at Braunston in Northamptonshiic, 

 opens into the Thames by the month of the Brent, the 

 lower pait of which isincoipoialcd with the canal. Below 

 London-bridge the Lea, which is navigable, chiefly l> 

 artificial cuts, for 25 miles, and has one of its I'enleis the 

 Stort) also navigable, ripens into the Tliames ; and just 

 above the Lea, the Regent's Canal, which encircles the 

 north and ea.-t side of the metropolis, and comnimu 

 with the 1'addington Canal, and so with the Grand Junc- 

 tion Canal, also opens into the river. 



The Medway is nav ijjable below Rochester bridge for sea- 

 borne vessels, and from I'enshurst, above -13 miles from its 

 mouth, for river ciaft. 



The navigation of the Thames, in its upper pait. is kept 

 up by lucks and wears, the lowest of which is at Tedding- 

 ton, which is consequently the limit of the tide. Tedding- 

 ton is about 18 or 19 miles above London bridge. Hitrh- 

 water mark at Teddin^ton is about one foot and a half 

 higher than at London -bridge, and the time of high-vatcr 

 is about two hours later. Low-water surface at Tedding- 

 ton is about sixteen feet and three-quarters higher than at 

 London-bridge. 



At ebb-tide there is a depth of from 12 to 13 feet water 

 nearly or quite up to London-bridge, and the ri-^e of the tide- 

 is about 17 feet, or at the extreme springs about 22 i 



Vessels of 800 tons get up to the St. Catherine's Docks, 

 and those of 1400 tons to Blackwall, about six miles below 

 bridire. No river in the world equals the Thames in its com- 

 mercial importance. The river for some two miles or more 

 below bridge i> crowded \vithvessels,chieflv . ;cam- 



boats, and colliers, which moor alongside the quavsor in tier> 

 in the stream ; others are moored lower down, though not in 

 such numbers; and for larger vessels 1b .era) docks 



excavated on the bank of the river. There is a dorkvard for 

 the navy (npw little used) at Deptford, about four mile.- 

 below London-bridge; one at Woolwich, nine miles below; 

 one at Sheerness, in the Isle of Sheppy. at the junction of 

 the Thames and Medway : and one at Chatham, the most 

 important of the four, on the Medway. The fortifications 

 at Sheerness defend the entrance to both river-.: the pas- 

 sage of the Thames is further protected by Tilbuiy tort, 

 and that of the Medway by Gillingham Fort. 



The width of the river at London-! rid^e is nearly 700 

 feet. For nearly the whole way below London-bridge the 

 river is embanked, and is almost throughout its lower 

 course skirted with marsh-lands, which however have no- 

 where a great extent. The width of the river at Woolwich 

 is about a quarter of a mile ; at Graveseml. 'J(i miles below 

 London-bridge, and opposite Tilbury Fort, it is more than 

 half a mile: about four miles below Graveseml it is nearh 

 a mile ; and then gradually increases to the width of about 

 six miles :il the Nore. and to eighteen at the point where 

 we have fixed the mouth. 



It is a common opinion that this river in the upper part 

 of its course is properly called Isis, and that it is only below 

 the junction of the Thame that it is called Thames, which 

 name is said to be formed by combining the two name.- 

 Thame and Isis. But ( 'amden observed long a^o that tlu- 

 is a mistake : that the river was antiently called Thames in 

 its upper as well as in its lower part ; that the 11:1111 

 never occurs in antient records, and was never used bv Un- 

 common people, but only by scholars. Cu-sar writes the 

 name Tamc-i- (evidently Tames or Thames, with the ad- 

 dition of a J.atin termination. Tacitus writes it Tar 

 and Dion Cassini To^tro, trhich is the same name, with 

 the appendage of a diti'eient termination. 1'toletny i 

 'lapr/aa, or in some MSS. *In/irnic. and in some editions 

 'la/iiaan : all which we suspect to be forms of the same 

 name, 'I having been by the carcles-nc^s of some early 



