Hambleden Lock

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Hambleden Lock
Waterway	River Thames
County	Berkshire
Maintained by	Environment Agency
Operation	Hydraulic
First built	1773
Latest built	1994
Length	198’ 3” (61.00m)
Width	25’ 0” (7.70m)
Fall	4’ 9” (1.44m)
Above Sea Level	101'
Distance to Teddington Lock	43 miles
Power is available out of hours

Hambleden Lock
legend River Thames Marsh Lock and weir Site of mill Rod Eyot A4130 Henley Bridge Henley Reach Regatta Course Temple Island Hambleden Lock weir Site of mill moorings River Thames

Hambleden Lock is a lock with an impressive weir situated on the River Thames in England. The lock is on the Berkshire bank between Aston and Remenham. It was built by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1773, and first rebuilt in 1873. The lock is named after the village of Hambleden, a mile (1.5km) to the north. There was a long serving keeper, Caleb Gould, who was in post at the lock from 1777 for 59 years and was remembered for some eccentric mannerisms.

The great weir is impressive and there are walkways over it from the lock to the small village of Mill End on the Buckinghamshire bank. Here is situated the picturesque Hambleden Mill, and the site of a Roman villa is nearby.

Contents 1 Access to the lock 2 Reach above the lock 3 Kayak & Canoe use 4 Literature and the media 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Access to the lock

The lock can be reached from the village of Aston on the same side, after a short walk; access to the track leading to the lock is immediately to the west of the Flower Pot pub. From the opposite side the walkways across the weirs provide easy access from Mill End.

[edit] Reach above the lock

The river curves round until it reaches Temple Island, which is the start of the Henley Royal Regatta course. On the way on the Oxfordshire bank it passes Greenlands, a large country house built in the nineteenth century which is now the home of the Henley Management College. The river continues through Henley, passing under Henley Bridge and round a small wooded island and the larger Rod Eyot, before Marsh Lock is reached.

The Thames Path stays on the Berkshire bank to Henley Bridge, and is here in better condition for the benefit of the rowing coaches who cycle along it. It crosses Henley Bridge and continues on the Oxfordshire bank to Marsh Lock.

[edit] Kayak & Canoe use

Since the 1940's kayakers and canoeists have used the weir structure for recreation.

In each of the four sluices a concrete ramp of about 16 deg has been fixed to the weir apron, on top of these a hinged steel plate is fixed. The hinged steel plate is adjustable between the 16 deg of the base concrete ramp and approx 28 deg. The adjustment of the steel plate is currently by pneumatic bellows installed between the plate and the concrete base.

[edit] Literature and the media

Jerome K Jerome wrote of "the rather uninteresting river residence of my newsagent - a quiet unassuming old gentleman, who may be met with about these regions, during the summer months, sculling himself along in easy vigorous style, or chatting genially to some old lock-keeper, as he passes through". The newsagent in question was W H Smith whose residence was Greenlands.

Caleb Gould's gravestone at Remenham has the elegy

This world’s a jest,

And all things show it;

I thought so once,

And now I know it.

[edit] See also

• Locks on the River Thames
• Crossings of the River Thames
• Rowing on the River Thames
• Kayaking and Canoeing on the River Thames

[edit] External links

• Photograph of the weir with Hambleden Mill behind

Next lock upstream	River Thames	Next lock downstream
Marsh Lock 2.85 miles	Hambleden Lock Grid reference: SU782852	Hurley Lock 3.66 miles
Next crossing upstream	River Thames	Next crossing downstream
Henley Bridge	Hambleden Lock	Temple Footbridge

Coordinates: 51.56027° N 0.87333° W