The towne in Oxfordshire is writt Tame and not Thame; and I
believe that Mr. Cambden's marriage of Thame and Isis, in his elegant
Latin poem, is but a poeticall fiction: I meane as to the name of
Thamisis, which he would not have till it comes to meet the river
Thame at Dorchester.
[The true source of the river Thames has been much disputed. A spring
which rises near the village of Kemble, at the north-western extremity
of Wiltshire, has been commonly regarded, during the last century, as
the real "Thames head". It flows thence to Ashton Keynes, and onward
to Cricklade. At the latter place it is joined by the river Churn,
which comes from Coberly, about 20 miles to the northward, in
Gloucestershire. Aubrey refers to the latter stream as the source of
the Thames; and, on the principle of tracing the origin of a river to
its most remote source, the same view has been taken by some other
writers, who consequently dispute the claims of the Kemble spring.
- J. B.]
___________________________________
The river Thames, as it runnes to Cricklad, passes by Ashton Kaynes;†
from whence to Charleton, where the North Avon runnes, is about three
miles. Mr. Henry Brigges (Savilian professor of Geometrie at Oxford)
observing in the mappe the nearnesse of these two streames, and
reflecting on the great use that might accrue if a cutt were made from
the one to the other (of which there are many examples in the Low
Countreys), tooke a journey from Oxford to view it, and found the
ground levell and sappable and was very well pleased with his notion;
for that if these two rivers were maried by a canal between them, then
might goods be brought from London to Bristow by water, which would be
an extraordinary convenience both for safety and to avoid overturning.
Pages:
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86