Hennerton Backwater is a narrow backwater of the River Thames on the reach above Marsh Lock near the villages of Shiplake, Oxfordshire and Wargrave, Berkshire.[1]
Hennerton Backwater leaves the River Thames at the Unnamed Eyot, passing through Willow Marina, and rejoins just below Ferry Eyot. It is navigable by small boats from the downstream end for much of its length, but the bridge carrying Willow Lane over its upstream end has very limited clearance restricting passage to canoes and small dinghies even under favourable conditions.
The island formed by the backwater and the Thames comprises Wargrave Marsh (now mostly drained) and Lashbrook Eyot (no longer distinct), and contains housing, farmland, and the premises of Henley Sailing Club.[2]
In literature
editIn Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 humorous novel, Three Men in a Boat. The narrator describes traversing the backwater during the course of his boat trip along the Thames.[3]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Wargrave Local History Society Latest News - November 2003 Hennerton and the Backwater Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Henley Sailing Club". Archived from the original on 4 August 2012.
- ^ Jerome, Jerome K (1889). "13". Three Men in a Boat. London: Arrowsmith.
We went up the backwater to Wargrave. It is a short cut, leading out of the right-hand bank about half a mile above Marsh Lock, and is well worth taking, being a pretty, shady little piece of stream, besides saving nearly half a mile of distance.