The River Path
Ferries
Ferries were established, mainly in the Middle Ages, where politics was complicated or the breadth of the river or estuary was beyond the bridging technology of the day such as at Saltash on the River Tamar. Horseferry Road which leads to the Thames near the Houses of Parliament reminds of the cumbersome and dangerous work which had to be done. Five foot ferries still run between Hampton and Kew; you have to 'ring the bell on the Molesey side' to demand the Hampton ferry.
Roger Gutteridge wrote, in the Blackmore Vale Magazine in 2002, that the Stour in Dorset had a number of ferries until the early days of the twentieth century. A rope ferry crossed the river at Blackwater (to be found on the road between Christchurch and Hurn), and other examples were to be found downstream, serving Wick and Christchurch, and upstream, between West Parley and Redhill.
Many ferries have been replaced by bridges, but at Sandbanks, Poole for example. the local authorities have managed to quosh plans for a bridge and the continuation of the ferry has prevented the spread of urbanisation from the Sandbanks side of the harbour to the Studland side. In slowing down journeys, ferries give us time to take in the view, to notice the state of the tide, they remind us what formidable barriers rivers are, and help to accentuate the differences between one side of the river and the other.
The pictures show ferries at Exeter and at Hythe in Hampshire.
