Jagged River Banks Past and Present

Jagged River Banks
The river just over a hundred years ago had a very jagged bank.
Jagged River Banks
It was still very jagged when this picture was taken. Many Thanks to Captainkaos2 for this view showing the old changing rooms on tiger island when it was the town’s bathing place.
Jagged River Banks
The banks of the River Thames either side of Abingdon Bridge now have a well defined curve and have been reinforced to keep their shape, and allow mooring.
Jagged River Banks
Further upstream and downstream the banks are still allowed to erode giving them a jagged appearance.

20 thoughts on “Jagged River Banks Past and Present

  1. Captainkaos2

    Ha ha, things have changed along Rye meadow, I remember cattle grazing there and the bank was worn down there by cattle going down for a drink from the river. I think the farmers name was Wilsdon? A bit of a character, I remember him driving his sheep across the bridge to market in town, 50 or 60 sheep all across the road being driven by him and a couple of dogs!

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  2. Eddie

    I remember in 1970 going to the riverbank (just shown on the edge of the postcard), there were all sorts of families there using it as a very small beach for swimming in the thames, playing with boats etc, the cows (there was also some horses, because as a family we were walking along towards the lock when one came and put his head between us, scattered us all over), definitely had caused this beach, so choosing somewhere to sit could be a challenge.

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  3. Captainkaos2

    Hester, I’m confused ( not hard to do !) the new BID has a “visit abingdon” web site that few people know off, it’s not linked to the TC web site, in fact they still list the defunct Chose Abingdon one? and on here the other day you advised people to look at another Abingdon Web site for what’s on info? The BID are also running a window competition, but the Chamber had a window comp last week , today I’ve received an email from the Bury St precinct lot offering me another competition via their web site? So my options are, the Chaps defunct web site on the TC web site ( which most visitors would check out ) the Visit Abingdon web site run by the BID that no-one knows about? The Chamber web site which is independent and the Bury st Traders web site who seemed to have declared U D I? All very confusing and not at all coherent in any way, oh, and three seperate competitions too!

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  4. Hester

    Capt K – I can’t help but agree that the plethora of What’s On websites is a bit confusing – I think the TC one is still the most comprehensive so if you want to keep it simple just stick with that! The ChAP one is definitely defunct – I don’t know where you found it, but suggest you mention it to the owner of that site so they can correct it. I don’t remember which other site I mentioned – maybe StreetLife, or Best of Abingdon – they all have their own purpose and their own audiences.

    Re the BID – you say that no-one knows about it – but surely that is the point of setting up a site, so that people do get to know what they are doing?

    And as for the “rival” events – they are all trying to get people in to the town – I wish them all well!

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  5. Badger

    I walked down from the lock along the bank pictured in the photos earlier today and watched a grebe fishing that section of water, rather too successfully at times it seemed as it would pop up after being submerged for ages with a fish that looked too large to swallow.

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  6. Captainkaos2

    H, my comments were meant purely as constructive criticism, not having a pop at anyone, but put yourselves in the position of a potential visitor? It’s very confusing not least because none of them are really comprehensive, as I’ve said in the past Abingdon needs a visionary dictator, someone who can pull the best of the town together !

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  7. Badger

    Ideally the town needs an easy to find single definitive website with all the information in one place that locals and/or visitors could refer to.
    It’s become all too spread out and fragmented at present almost like they are all in competition with each other.
    A new site wouldn’t be hard to set up but would need commitment to keep up, post and maintain everything as it becomes available… and you’d have to get all the present site people on side which could be the hardest thing of all, especially when they believe their site is already ‘the’ definitive one.

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  8. colin

    The bid website has never been updated since a yes vote apart from an embedded twitter feed.
    What are they spending the thousands they have been given on?
    The whole thing is shrouded in secrecy if I was a business rate payer into this scheme I would be very concerned of where the funds are ending up.

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  9. Hester

    Badger – your post 8 is spot on. This is what was recommended by the “Hidden Britain” research a few years ago and was why the Town Portal was set up. Many people on here derided the Choose Abingdon Partnership but at least then we had some degree of co-operation between the various councils and the business community.
    Since the demise of ChAP the portal has continued to be maintained by the Town Council but they no longer have anyone with enough time/training to do more than basic information updates, so others are stepping in to fill the gaps, leading to overlaps and confusion.

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  10. newcomer

    Would any of the Town’s schools doing IT as a subject at secondary level be willing to take on a Town Information site as a project? Perhaps a school’s computer club?

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  11. Captainkaos2

    Good idea Newcomer and I expect they would jump st the chance, but the big problem would be persuading all these independent sites to come together?

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  12. Badger

    newcomer & Ck2 – Or the Abingdon & Witney college students learning IT, it would make an excellent team example project.
    There was once a time when I’d have jumped at the chance but I’m 15years rusty on HTML and would have to learn CSS etc from the ground up. I had web design ‘beaten out of me’ by my last boss. 🙂

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  13. Daniel

    What with the “Beaming Barber of Abingdon” gleefully about to give the go-ahead for thousands and thousands of new houses; let’s hope the town website situation is sorted out soon.

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  14. Badger

    Daniel – They’d better get building quickly otherwise some of their land could well be used up by this if one of the options is to be believed http://www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/14936453.Major_A34_upgrades_and_at_least_22_miles_of_new_road_in_expressway_plans/
    To me it suggests a major junction north of Abingdon and a road river crossing between Radley and Sandford heading off towards Wheatley. There is a simple map buried in the pics of that article.

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  15. Daniel

    Thanks Badger; but we need not worry as it’s all in the hands of the experts. And, if it all turns out to be a disaster, at least we’ll know it was the fault of Brexit.

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  16. Badger

    Daniel – Oh yes, with lots of ex-Sperts and input from the various councils I’m sure these new roads (and houses) will be going nowhere near Bladon or Hanney where Mr Hudspeth or MattyB and his thinly Veiled PossE live…

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  17. Captainkaos2

    Hester, just for the record much of the hidden Brittain report was based on the Ian Nicholson report the town council commissioned about 8 years ago, how do I know? Well I had much input in that report and hidden Brittain not only asked me my thoughts on Abingdon but also asked for a copy of Iain’s ( and mine) findings

    Reply

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