The River Windrush Oxfordshire

The Windrush starts in the Cotswolds and wends its way down to the Thames at Newbridge. It passes through some of the most beautiful peaceful places on its way including Bourton on the Water, Burford and Witney. Formerly it powered dozens of flour mills and washed thousands of Witney blankets. It occasionally shows its teeth by flooding Witney but is normally unnavigable. The Saxon Name was Wemris whence its name (which means Wind Rush) , I had always imagined its origins being the winds rushing off the Cotswolds, but in fact it means River Winding through the Rushes. So please start your journey from Field Barn near Cutsdean to Newbridge, Oxfordshire.

This used to be a farm but how has now been concerted into accommodation. Field Barn is set in the "bowl" of the head of the Windrush Valley. The area is full of springs.

Taken at the end of March, Tiny Springs are everywhere. The actual source may be slightly further up to the left of Field Barn

The Windrush actually disappears underground for a 100 meters or so until it reappears on the other side of Dirty Bridge.

The Windrush is flowing to the left in this photo

This is not actually a bridge as there is no arch, the water seeps through. The track is a farmer's dirt track which leads to Taddington.

You can see the slates that make up the bridge. My feet are astride the Windrush looking up river.

Compare this photo with one taken in 2011 which you can see below (the stone slab has long since disappeared)

This is the site of the first Bridge (excluding the not a real bridge Dirty Bridge). It was a simple stone slab which was only required in Winter. There is a photo in the Wilson MacArthur book of his first wife Joan standing on the slab. She looks slightly foolish as the photo was taken in September and the Windrush was dry and she appeared to be standing on a stone in the middle of a field. When we retraced their walk in early April 2011 some 66 years later the slab was gone and the Windrush was flowing. It had been replaced a simple double plank bridge a few meters downstream, Another more elaborate modern wooden bridge with handrails a little further downstream is an alternative.

Locals from Taddington one of whom arrived in the area in the late 40s remembered the stone slab bridge and revealed that it had broke. I found a number of stone slabs which had also presumably served as a bridge but were not in the right place.

We had great trouble identifying the viewpoint of the photo until my wife worked out that the photo was taken looking diagonally upstream. The original black & white plate in their book seemed to soften the perspectives.

The Windrush seems to have been recut here at sometime, in the 1945 photo you cannot see it's trace.

Is the Windrush ever a torrent here?

Cutsdean is the first Windrush village, a stream from Cutsdean joins the Windrush, looking downstream

No pub, no shops, but there is a lovely church. Very beautiful village and the road is not busy.

The Windrush now has real width and flow. There is pub for walkers and Jackdaws Castle is close by.

St. Oswald's church in Widford was built in the 13th century in the Early English style. In the 14th century numerous wall paintings were added, remains of which survive.

Widford was a substantial village in the Middle Ages but today only the 16th century Manor house and a few other houses remain. St. Oswald's stands in a field whose cropmarks show the outlines of former buildings.

If you are in the area you must visit this church. Inside there are closed box pews reserved for noble families. There are interesting wall paintings and an atmosphere of utter peace.

In September 1944 or 1945 David Wilson Macarthur and his first wife Joan walked from the source of the Windrush at Field Barn near Cutsdean to Newbridge. The book is an excellent guide full of history, nature notes and although much has not changed The route of the Windrush is still rural in 1945 even tiny villages still have shops, farm workers are still to be seen, there are mills, branch line railways, blanket

factories; he does not guess that they will vanish.

Swinbrook is an utterly perfect Cotswold village

A branch of the Early family involved in making blankets at Worsham Mill, which Charles' cousin Richard Early bought in 1864. When he died in 1874 it passed to his son Arthur, but Arthur became ill and the mill was leased for 21 years from 1877 to his uncle Henry Early, who made blankets there. It is possible that he also made cycles too, because when the mill was transferred to Pritchett and Webley the transfer document included 'the goodwill of the business of woollen and cycle manufacture'

This is a popular picnic spot

Crawley was a very large blanket factory. Today it is full of small businesses

Witney exists because of the Windrush proving both power and cleaning waters for the blanket factories. Today the mills are silent and nobody seems to even generate electricity from the water. So the Windrush passes hardly noticed through Witney all the more so because the bridge over is flat the Windrush being unnavigable.

Witney is a country town as small as a place can be and still have all the modern facilities. Witney has shot to fame recently because it's local MP David Cameron is now Britain's youngest ever Primeminister.

The normally gentle and peaceful Windrush flooded Witney very badly in 2007.

The Windrush is only a modest river at best with a not very strong flow, and has many S-Bends here is one between Ducklington and Standlake

You can just see the roof of the Rose Revived Pub

You can just make out the roof of the Rose Revived Pub at Newbridge.

Except in times of flood the River Windrush is an unassuming river gently descending from the Cotswolds to where it joins the River Thames at Newbridge. There it joins the Thames in such an unspectacular way that many visitors would not even realize.