Over time the location of the Abbey shifted slightly, but the river remained important to them. It would have been a boggy landscape but the Benedictines were famed for their agricultural skills, in particular the reclaiming of marshland. The original Abbey buildings were situated on an island formed by the Thames to the east and the Abbey River to the west. In its heyday in the 13th century, the abbey had land that covered 50,000 acres, and was home to hundreds of Benedictine monks. When Erkenwald founded Chertsey Abbey in 666 AD he did so on ground given to him by Frithwold, the Sheriff of Surrey. ![]() Today it is a much slower flowing river compared with the fast running mill race powering the abbey’s watermills which had a local monopoly for grain. It has been variously known as Oxley, Oxlake and even Oaklake Mill River. The Abbey River flows for 3.2 km between Penton Hook and Chertsey Weir, and is a backwater of the Thames, widened and deepened in the 11th century on the order of the Abbot of Chertsey. There is evidence, in the form of post holes or ditches, of more than 80 Neolithic settlements along the stretch of the Thames from Mapledurham to Old Windsor. The next wave of settlers came in c.3,500 BC bringing with them new ways of existing farming implements, stone axes and pottery finds illustrate the development of the Neolithic residents. These borough inhabitants lived by hunting and fishing which is evident by the microliths, small stone tools, they left behind. Animals also made the journey elks, reindeer, hippos and elephants all roamed the borough at this time. Much of the evidence of their existence has been wiped out by successive periods of glaciation, the last of which ended c.12,000 years ago.Īfter the last ice age, which had lasted almost a thousand years, settlers returned to the area and the Thames corridor has been continuously occupied ever since. At some point c.450,000 BC people from central and western Europe arrived in the Thames Valley area, although very little is known about them. The course of the Thames was an attractive place for early dwellers to settle. During the era known as the First Northern Glaciation, approximately 1.25 million years ago, ice pushed the course of the river southward and created today’s Thames Valley. ![]() ![]() It originated in Wales and flowed across England to Hertfordshire, into Essex before flowing into a lake near modern-day Harwich much further north than its current estuary. At this time Britain was still part of mainland Europe, and the Thames was a tributary of an even larger river which flowed across the continent the longest remaining stretch of which is now called the Rhine. The origins of the river date beyond the old English of the 12th century to over 30 million years ago when the river first emerged. The origins of the name are most likely the Middle English word Temese, derived from Celtic, meaning “dark”. It starts its 215 miles journey in the Cotswolds and winds its way eastwards to Essex and into the North Sea. The Thames is the longest river in England. This exhibition takes a look at some of the Borough’s rivers their history and their impact on the lives of those who live and work on them. However, a quick glance at an old map would make one realise just how many rivers, tributaries and water run off ditches have been built over as the borough’s towns expanded to meet the demands of population growth. In addition to these there are other rivers which include the Addlestone Bourne, which rises in Bisley Common and flows through Addlestone before joining its Chertsey namesake the River Wey, which flows into the borough at Wey Meadows, joins the Wey Navigation, and joins the Thames at Hamm Court and the Abbey River which flows out of the Thames at Penton Hook and back in at Chertsey Bridge. The Borough of Runnymede has two main rivers: the Chertsey Bourne, which flows from Windsor Great Park through Virginia Water and into the Thames at Chertsey, and of course, the Thames. For many centuries they have been the lifeblood of the nation marking political boundaries between ancient tribes, providing energy and food, enabling trade and commerce and providing relaxation and entertainment. If the Pennine Hills are the backbone of England, then the rivers and waterways are the arteries – circulating people, goods and wildlife around the country. The St Lawrence is water, the Mississippi is muddy water, but the Thames is liquid history.
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