Let’s start with bridges, Thames Bridges. We started at Culham lock, and, just to confuse the bridge there is not Culham Bridge; That’s nearer to Abingdon.
Sutton Bridge, 1807. The extension over the lock cut.
Sutton Bridge (at the end of the walk), from Sutton Courtney. The main arches over the river
Appleford Railway Bridge, 1927. Steel.
Clifton Hampden Bridge, 1867. Toll bridge until 1946, when it was purchased by the counties (Oxon and Berks) for £1,850.
Designed by Gilbert Scott
St Michael and All Angels – Clifton Hampden. “The church was rebuilt by the great Victorian architect George Gilbert Scott in the 19th century and is one of his early masterpieces; he went on to design the Albert Memorial and St Pancras Hotel. ‘We have had little to restore, it is rather a refoundation’, he wrote when working at Clifton Hampden; it is in effect a fine early Tractarian building.”
At Clifton Lock, completed 1822. The construction of the lock cut was delayed because the owner of the land was “a lunatic”.
Poppy field at New Barn Farm, Long Wittenham. The field is adjacent to meadows which are being restored as part of the Yellow Wagtail Project.
Wildlife time. At this time of year, by the river, it should have been teeming with insect, butterflies, dragonflies etc. There was stuff, but not an abundance.
In a tub at Clifton Lock, was Brazil’s white angel trumpet Brugmansia suaveolens, sadly extict in the wild.
On the leaves, was a larva of the Harlequin Ladybird
And, perhas, its “mum”, a Harlequin Ladybird, Harmonia axyridis
Housefly (Musca domestica)
Ephemeridae Mayfly
Here’s the bee swarm near Clifton Hampden. They were in the dark, right inside the bush, so I’ve had to “cook” the photo a bit so as to show them off.
Enough for now, but in the gallery you can find a blue damselfly, a banded demoiselle, a meadow brown butterfly, goldmoss sedum on the wall outside Appleford Church, and a pyramidal orchid from the paths round the Sutton Courtney gravel pits.
Select any thumbnail below for a full screen slideshow
3 replies on “Photos from walk on Thursday 15th June from Culham Lock to Clifton Hampden & Long Wittenham”
Top notch and informative, as ever.
Excellent! Thank you, David.
Shortly after the start of the walk at Culham, we saw the site of a brick works. When researching the Clifton Hampden bridge I found that there was a kiln created specially to make the bricks for the bridge. I tried to find out more this morning, and discovered that someone (Daniel) had already done the work, with two short YouTube posts:
• Culham brick works, lime kiln. Rude word inside.
• Clifton Heath Brick works (kiln), 1800’s, not much left.
Daniel also provide links to other reference sources:
• Map of Clifton Heath (1892-1914) The brickworks is a long way from the river, and in woods that we walked through in January
• Sutton Courtenay Local History Society – photos
• Britain from above photo of bridge and brick works 1928
• Map of Culham Brick Works, ~1949+
And from “Culham Ticket Office”
Map published by Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton in 1912
Reproduced from the National Library of Scotland
Aerial view taken in September 1928
Aerofilms Collection EPW024654, Britain from Above
“Seen on both the map and in the aerial view of the bridge is a brickworks and lime kilns. Eventually closing around 1932 it had started operating in about 1850 with coal to heat the kilns being supplied by barge. Clay for the bricks was transported from the claypits in wagons hauled by horses along temporary narrow gauge railway tracks. Read some recollections from a family associated with the brickworks on the Culham Village website.”