Thames Blog 3: The Head of the Thames

Falling Down the Thames Blog 3, 2nd April 2014

The Head Of The Thames

Each journey begins with a single step, or, in the case of Krista and I, with a single stroke of the paddle. But exactly where should Krista and I plonk down the canoe to begin in our journey down the Thames?

There are some rivers where the exact location of the head is obvious. When Lisa and I visited Croatia, friends took us to a spot where water wells up furiously from under a mountain range. This upwelling is indisputably the start of the Cetina River, the spot from which the watercourse begins its one hundred kilometre journey to the sea.

However, the Thames is not like the Cetina. It doesn’t begin with a massive hole in the earth, full of roiling water. So where exactly does the Thames start?

Glen in Greece

When I want information about Britain, I turn to the reliable, authoritative, somewhat antiquated perspective provided by the third edition of The Blue Guides tribute to travel in England. Edited by Findlay Muirhead in 1930, it is a wealth of information in very small print. After all, the guide provides a 49 page introduction to the study of English monuments, and a list all of Britain’s sovereigns from Egbert to George V. Even if the guide is a little behind on the times, surely the head of the Thames is exactly where it always has been.

And there, in the teeniest of fonts on page 254, under a brief entry for Cirencester, are the words: “Thames Head, about 2 m. further on in this direction, is generally regarded as the source of the Thames.” The closest community to Thames Head is Kemble, a community so small that Muirhead allowed it only this insultingly short entry: “Kemble is the junction of branch-lines to (4¼ m.) Cirencester (Town Sta.) and to (7¼ m.) Tetbury.” When your village is known only for its proximity to two other communities, you know that you are in trouble.

Thames Head Pub

Surely, then, Krista and I needed to head for Kemble, and look for something called Thames Head. But maybe not.

On page 262, Muirhead includes an entry about the Cotswold Hills and Seven Springs, claiming that the springs are “the source of the Churn and considered by some the true head of the Thames” before blathering on about a small Norman church with a fabulous view near Birdlip Hill.

Internet sources tell us that there is a plaque on a monument in the middle of a field at Thames Head, proclaiming it to be the true source of the Thames. Additional sources explain that there is a similar monument at Seven Springs.

Seven Springs

So what shall it be? Where do we start? Thames Head or Seven Springs? Decisions, decisions. I think that I will leave it up to Krista.

- Glen

 

Photo credits: The Thames Head Inn, www.arkells.com; Seven Springs, www.bbc.co.uk

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>