Lechlade sits in the Southern tip of Gloucestershire, bordering Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The Town is rich in History and dates as far back as 2500BC. Many of the Saxon artefacts discovered in a Saxon burial ground can be seen at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester.
Formerly spelt ‘Letchlade’, and this is how the Town is still pronounced today. Lechlade was named after the River Leach. The Leach joins the Thames on the Buscot side of the Trout Inn, before St. John’s Bridge. There are 3 Mill Houses situated on the Leach within Lechlade, as it journeys downwards to the Thames.
Lechlade is mentioned in the Doomsday book. William the Conqueror gifted the manor of Lechlade to Henry de Ferrers; one of the noblemen who came across from France with him in 1066.
Lechlade was given the “Charter of Market Town” by King John in 1210.
In 1592, Queen Elizabeth I came through Lechlade on her way to visit the source of the Thames. The source of the River (Thames Head) is in a field in Kemble, close to Cirencester.
St John’s Bridge
In 1205, Isabella de Mortimer founded St. John the Baptist Nunnery near the river. This was later upgraded to a Priory and almshouse/hospital. In 1252 Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall became its patron. The priory had seven priests, however on various occasions they were criticised for not carrying out their duties and diverting the charitable monies which were meant to be used for the poor and sick.
Around 1220 a bridge was built across the Thames, named “St John’s Bridge”, joining Lechlade to the Farringdon Road. The workmen were housed in the Almshouse, which later became part of St John’s Priory.
There was a thriving wool trade and the river and roads were important means of transportation. On several occasions, the Priory was given the right to collect tolls from the bridge to pay for repairs. However, by 1472, the Priory was dissolved by Edward IV due to lack of funds and to provide building materials for the new St. Lawrence parish church.
The Almshouse was known as “Ye Sygne of St John Baptist Head” and in 1704 it was renamed The Trout Inn.
St John’s Priory (St John the Baptist) stood on the grounds where St John’s mobile home and caravan park stand today.
The St John’s Bridge was later re-built in 1886 and is the current bridge still in use to this day.
The small grass area between The Trout and Buscot (on the bend in the River Thames) is called Cheese Wharf. Once a busy Wharf where delicious cheeses were loaded onto barges and taken down the Thames to London. From the late 1600s to the beginning of the 1800s large quantities of cheese where being shipped downstream to London. This site is now owned by the National Trust.
St John’s Lock
St John’s Lock was first was opened in 1790. Built as a pound lock, a lock that has gates at two ends to control the water flow. When a boat is between those gates, it’s in the pound where it has to wait. With a fall of less than a metre (2 foot 10 inches), this is one of the shallowest locks on the river.
The current lock house was built in 1974 and at the same time the paddle and rhymer weir were replaced with a modern radial structure.
The lock and its adjoining bridge are named after the Priory dedicated to St John the Baptist.
Sitting proudly at St John’s Lock is the statue of Father Thames. This is an conic image of the famous River. The Thames flows from the fields near Cirencester to its Mouth at Southend-on-Sea, where it meets the North Sea. The statue was crafted by Rafaelle Monti for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park, London. For many years it stood beside the traditional source of the Thames at Trewsbury Mead near Kemble. However, to keep safe from vandalism, it was moved to St John’s Lock in 1974.
Halfpenny Bridge
Lechlade is the highest navigable point of the River Thames, although there is an unnavigable right of navigation that continues south-west into Cricklade, Wiltshire.
In the late 1600s barges laden with goods came to the Riverside Wharf (where the Riverside Pub stands today) to deliver their goods. Stone, salt, cheeses and wools were then loaded and carried back downstream and into Oxford and London. Salt from Cheshire was carried by pack horse down the Old Salt Way into the Wharf at Lechlade. Wool and cheese from the Cotswolds were also loaded for delivery to the Markets of Oxford and London. The honey coloured Taynton Stone from Burford was shipped from the Wharf to London and was used to build iconic buildings, including St Paul’s Cathedral and Windsor Castle.
Between 1690 and 1890 trade increased and the Town flourished. Inns were full of travellers and stabling was needed for the coaches and horses.
The Halfpenny Bridge adjacent to the Riverside Wharf was completed in 1782, when it replaced a Ferry. It is the first of 106 bridges over The Thames between Lechlade and London. Pedestrians crossing the bridge were charged a Half Penny at the tiny Toll House. In 1839 the Toll was abolished following a rebellion by the people of Lechlade.
In 1789, in front of the Round House, the Inglesham Lock was opened. The Thames now flowed into the Thames and Severn Canal. This enabled river traffic to move further inland along the Canal to the River Severn and from the River Severn to the West Country. This enabled coal to be add to the merchandise being transported for sale. When the Lock at St John’s Bridge was opened in 1790, there was access to and from Bristol and London via Lechlade.
Lechlade was a very important Inland Port. With such a busy intersection of road and river traffic it became an important part of the inland trade route between London and Bristol. Particularly the case in times of war, when sailing in the channel was dangerous.
St Lawrence Church
The most notable landmark in Lechlade is St Lawrence Church, whose slender spire can be seen for miles across the Thames-side meadows. St Lawrence has a literary claim to fame, for it was here in 1815 that poet Percy Bysshe Shelley composed ‘Stanzas in a Summer Evening Churchyard’. Shelley’s poem is inscribed on a stone at the churchyard entrance.
The church itself is primarily 15th century, and is well worth a visit. In the 13th century, St Lawrence was one of the few English churches with the right of sanctuary (if a criminal reached the church they could not legally be arrested, though they could be forced to leave the realm).
The church was almost entirely rebuilt in Perpendicular style in 1476, with the aid of money from the sale of the Priory of St John. The rebuilding of the Church started in about 1472 and was completed in 1476.
Catherine of Aragon took over the Manor of Lechlade in 1501 and she supervised some additional work on the church after a roof fire in 1510. It was at this time that the spire was added.
Railway
In January 1873 a Railway line between Witney and Fairford was completed with a station at Lechlade. This connected Lechlade to the main lines from Witney. Unfortunately, Beeching closed the branch line in 1962.
With competition from the railways The Thames and Severn Canal was poorly used and became unusable by the early 1930s.
Cotswold Canal Trust
Recently, the Cotswold Canal Trust have been working hard to restore both the Stroudwater Navigation and The Thames and Severn Canal. With monies from the Heritage Lottery Fund and great works by many Volunteers parts of the Canal have been restored. This work is still ongoing.
Today
Today Lechlade is popular for it’s River activities, great walks and beautiful countryside.
The Town’s residents are friendly, the Community is busy (there are many Clubs and Voluntary Services) and local Businesses provide excellent products and services. These are listed on the link below:
Lechlade is a perfect location for visiting the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.
Do pop into our Library for more information.