Thames River Flows

River Thames, ancient Tamesis or Tamesa, also called (in Oxford, England)...

River Thames, ancient Tamesis or Tamesa, also called (in Oxford, England) River Isis, chief river of southern England. Rising in the Cotswold Hills, its basin covers an area of approximately 5,500 square miles (14,250 square km). The traditional source at Thames Head, which is dry for much of the year, is marked by a stone in a field 356 feet (108.5 metres) above sea level and 3 miles (5 km) southwest of the town of Cirencester. Some think a tributary, the River Churn, has a better claim to being the source; it rises near the village of Seven Springs (700 feet [213 metres] above sea level), just south of Cheltenham.

Physical Features

The Thames is some 205 miles (330 km) long, running 140 miles (226 km) from the source to the tidal waters limit—i.e., from Thames Head to Teddington Lock—and, as an estuary, a further 65 miles (104 km) from there to The Nore sandbank, which marks the transition from estuary to open sea. Its basin, which receives an annual average precipitation of 27 inches (688 mm), has a complex structure. In its upper course the river drains a broadly triangular area defined by the chalk escarpment of the Chiltern Hills and the Berkshire Downs to the east and south, the Cotswolds to the west, and the Northamptonshire uplands to the north. At Goring Gap it cuts through the chalk escarpment and then drains the land lying north of the dip slope of the North Downs. Its last great tributary, the River Medway, drains much of the low-lying Weald area of Kent and Sussex to the south of London.

Flowing through gently rolling lowlands, the distinctive character of the Thames is pastoral and undramatic. Its average fall between Lechlade and London is less than 20 inches per mile (32 cm per km). The tides and surges of the sea, moreover, have a profound effect on the water level of the river’s lower course. This tidal influence begins to be felt intermittently, for some three hours during a high tide, at Teddington in the west suburbs of London. The transition from freshwater to estuarine reaches occurs closer to central London, around Battersea. At London Bridge, in the heart of the metropolis, the river rises 22 feet (7 metres) on the springtides and 18 feet (5.5 metres) on the neap tides.

The average flow at the upper limit of the tideway, at Teddington, is 1,856 cubic feet (53 cubic metres) per second, rising to 4,640 cubic feet (130 cubic metres) per second after winter rain. In extreme floods (e.g., March 1947) the discharge at Teddington Weir may be as much as 20,900 cubic feet (590 cubic metres) per second. Reputedly, an average of 31,310 cubic feet (887 cubic metres) per second passed over it one day after heavy storms in 1894. The river in spate can upset tidal flows for some distance below Teddington, overpowering the incoming tide and causing the stream to run seaward continuously for days on end. Conversely, high spring tides can overtop the weir and affect the river flow as far as 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream of Teddington. The catastrophic potential of tidal surges for London’s underground infrastructure, buildings, and population prompted the construction of the Thames Barrier at Silvertown (completed 1982) and extensive complementary flood defenses along the entire tideway.

Touring The Thames

The Thames is navigable by small boat up to the town bridge of Cricklade, close to the source, though motor cruisers and barges must turn at Lechlade, 10 miles (16 km) downstream. Meandering gently through lowlands for the first 28 miles (45 km) between Cricklade and Oxford, the river passes Kelmscott Manor—the gabled stone home of the 19th-century designer, socialist, and poet William Morris, who is buried in the village churchyard. Before reaching Oxford, the Thames (or Isis, its literary epithet) swings in a northward loop around the wooded hills of Wytham and Cumnor, which overlook the city from the west.