The history of the waterways around Maidenhead and the middle Thames is rich and varied. The flood plain between Cookham and Windsor has the remains of many waterways, serving over time as boundaries, drainage, mill leats and also for navigation, each with its own history.
Ives place in a painting c1823 by William Pocock(1883-1836), showing the York Steam area where the library stands today. Print courtesy of Maidenhead Heritage Centre
The Maidenhead Waterways Restoration Group is primarily concerned with the waterway that ran from Cookham through central Maidenhead to Bray. Prior to the introduction of pound locks the waterway - running to the side of the main Thames - was used to overcome the 7-8 feet difference in height between the water level at Bray Reach and that of Bourne End Reach. The waterway, with its associated 'flash lock' system, was used for commercial navigation for 100s of years and in Regency times (18-19th century) was known as The Canal. Parts of the waterway were in use up to the 1920s, witness statements recalling having seen reeds being cut for thatching and also timber being unloaded from a barge at the wharf on Maidenhead Moor.
Chapel Arches viewed from the north in an 1883 etching by Henry W. Taunt. Print courtesy of Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive
The name Chapel Arches derives from the chapel on the right hand side of the picture, which stood where the road widens in front of the Bear Hotel. The Colonnade shops have since been built above the bridge which blocks the view from this direction.
Some of the key questions asked about the former waterways are addressed here, based on research undertaken by local historian Michael Bailey:
1) Where did the original waterways run and what remains of them today?
- Research indicates that the original waterway ran from Bourne End Reach across Cookham Moor to Fleet Ditch (the term 'Fleet' indicating that it was capable of floating barges). It then ran into Strand Water (the term 'Strand', like "The Strand" in London, was where ships were 'stranded' for loading, unloading and repair);
- The waterway that still runs intermittently across Widbrook Common between the Thames at Cliveden Reach and the junction of Strand Water with Maidenhead Ditch was never a canal for boats, but was nevertheless an important part of the flash lock system. When Strand Water reach of the canal system was 'flashed' and the weir opened, most of the water was directed back to the main river by way of Widbrook (or White Brook) to avoid flooding North Town. Similarly, when the reach through North Town had been 'flashed' and needed refilling, water could be let in quickly from the main river by way of Widbrook. This explains why the stream bed here is almost level, indeed when the Environmental Agency took over management of the river they found that the stream bed here was at its highest in the middle, sloping slightly to both east and west;
- although the channel is in places still quite wide, today you see only a small stream that runs down past the Cricket Club and Summerleaze lakes and onwards along the western side of Town Moor. The old flash lock weir pools are recorded on 18th and 19th century maps as 'ponds', starting with the one under the bridge in the Causeway on Coookham Moor. Strand Water is the second one, then came Laggan Pond (now filled) between Laggan Road and North Town Moor ('Lagen' is Cornish or Local British for a pond or marsh). Then came the pond on North Town Moor opposite Cordwallis Farm, which was filled in during the 1960s because it was so deep and a danger to children. The farm, whose name derived from 'Cored Gwal Llys' ("the Mansion by the weir pool") was redeveloped soon after this. The next weir pool lay just below Chapel Arches, which was a lake as far as York Road, until it was drained in 1922 to build the original cinema and a bus depot. The pond that exists today near by Braywick Nature Center may be the remains of the lowest flash lock pool on the old waterway;
- just behind the Police Station the channel splits, the eastern part having been lanscaped in the 1960s to form a low section of North Town Moor and also act as a Flood Relief Channel, which is quite large but permanently dry (except in flood conditions). The earlier planting of Lombardy Poplars there in the 1920s or 1930s also helps dry out this area;
- faded signs of the former Willow Wharf at Graces Yard on Town Moor can still be seen on the retaining wall of the Flood Relief channel alongside the police station;
- the main part of the original waterway then runs down the western side of Town Moor, under the dual carriageway and the original A4 road before coming out at Chapel Arches and becoming York Stream;
- the brick bridge of Chapel Arches stands at the Bridge Street/High Street junction. Chapel Arches comprises three massive brick arches (rebuilt in 1825) plus two or three smaller 18th century ones which are now blocked at both ends. The shops of the Collonade above are built on piles driven through the old Bath Road to the north of Chapel Arches and the space below was open to the public when dry until the 1960s. Today the arches appear quite shallow, but the structures go far deeper than is evident, the river bed having silted up and been filled in during adjacent building works over the years;
- the channel/stream continues southwards under York Road and then passes under Brunel's historic GWR railway line in some 'style' - four 12ft diameter brick arches, but sadly now with hardly any water to be seen in even the centre two arches (the outer two have been adapted and are normally dry);
- lower down at Green Lane the York Stream rejoins with the other channel (the 1960s Flood Relief Channel) to become The Cut before passing under the new bridge in Hibbert Road on its way to the join the Thames near Bray Marina. It is believed that until the 1920s the waterway turned parallel to Hibbert Road and under Hogbridge, behind the Cricket Pavillion and Sawkins bridge, to join the main River Thames.
- The original waterways are clearly marked on the official Ordnance Survey maps of the time, the 1899 1:2500 version is available still and particularly detailed. A substantial lake below Chapel Arches where the library stands today is shown, with water right up to all four of the Chapel Arches themselves.
- it appears doubtful that the original waterways were ever permanently filled with deep water along their entire length in the way that we would expect today for navigational use. Yet it is evident from the old paintings and OS maps that a much larger body of water passed through the town centre than we see today. Anecdotal and other evidence also suggests strongly that barges were once used on the old waterways, most clearly in ...bargeman Jos Searle's letter of 1795
, which appears to have been written from moorings at Town Moor, describing how he was to load the next day and set off for the New River Offices in London;
- it is thought the original waterways comprised a series of permanently filled weir pools plus flash locks and retaining weirs. The connecting channels were only filled with water when boats were actually travelling up or down the channel;
- as with modern pound locks, the water would be held back by the weir and the flash locks, which were opened only when a boat wanted to pass through. Unlike modern pound locks, a flash lock has only one set of removable 'gates', so the water levels either side of the gates cannot be equalised before they are opened;
- when a flash lock is opened the resulting flood (or 'flash') of water then carries the boats along the channel to the next weir pool, where they would wait until the next section filled and was ready to open;
- travel up the stream section by section was possible, but only by pulling the barge through the open flash lock against the flow, not an easy (or safe) task. Either a winch was used to haul upstream bound barges through the weir, if the water levels were still different, or alternatively up to 14 horses would be needed. Once through the flash lock barges would then have to wait for the flash lock to be rebuilt/closed and the water level to build up again before it could travel further upstream;
- unlike modern locks, which maintain a constant level of permanent water up and down stream, flash locks were very difficult to navigate and for travellers crossing the shallow fords between them were extremely dangerous if they were caught in the middle of the channel when the gates opened...! The fords occurred naturally a short distance down stream from the weir pools, as it was where the stream dropped the heavier stones it excavated from the weir pool as the current slowed. Hence Ray Mill Road started life as the ford below Cordwallis Farm.
WHERE DID WATERWAYS RUN
1899 OS MAP
