Thames Valley Floods Of The Past
January 9, 2024
By Paul Homewood
From the “They Did Not Have Floods In The Old Days” Department:
A selection of winter floods in and around the Thames Valley. These are just the ones that are still archived at British Pathe; there have been many other floods, such as the infamous 1947 ones which we don’t have film footage for:
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1914
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/77038/
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February 1928
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/173746/
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January 1936
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/170577/
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January 1937
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/136053/
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December 1946
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/137421/
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January 1955
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/253670/
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January 1959
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
and that was before the houses and the roads and the factories that we have now, were built. There is a lot less land able to soak up the rain that falls.
How much of the floodings of recent days can be laid at the door of the Environment Agency’s lack of dredging of waterways ?
That and the increased number of cycle lanes (concreted areas), councils removing trees and building on known floodplains
All if it! When local councils were responsible we didn’t have anything like the problems we have had since the Environmental Agency took over. My local river hadn’t flooded for a 100 years because it was always dredged. The EA took over and stopped dredging (and that was all over the country!) My local river, as a direct result, burst its banks and houses and homes were flooded. The EA should be held accountable for what they’ve done because their warn out mantra “climate change is responsible” does not wash anymore!
Well, for your ‘warn out mantra’ (sic) Here’s a NEW one – will never wear out. ” It is a GENERATIONAL THING” – all this climate change nonsense. Generational purely ( or primarily, at least) due to the changing status of EDUCATION
We were just following the EU dredging directive …
Popeye
The Thames isn’t a river – its a seres of man-made ponds. There are over fifty “locks” betweween Ricmond and the Lechlade – all to suit rich leisure users. The drainage depended upon a number of lock-keepers who could co-ordinate the opening and closing of the locks. Then the Environment Agency sacked them all. No wonder it floods. The water has to get to the sea – just open the Thames to its original course.
The lochs were built a long time ago to suit commercial craft. Apart from Kings, leisure use is a very modern thing. Each loch has a weir, and whilst that weir raises the level, during low flows, the weirs being wide and with a massive throughput, have little effect on the river during floods, except perhaps in the immediate vicinity of the weir.
With respect….
The Thames is very much a river, one of the longest and largest in UK – you’ll never see any ‘ponds’ as lively as the Thames has been recently.
The modern locks were originally installed to enable safer transport of barges etc when rivers were a major component of our transport system. Before that, they had so-called ‘flash locks’ – a very dodgy means of transiting the river. Under no circumstances would a Lock-Keeper open or close a lock as a means of water level control, the weirs do that. The EA did not sack all the Lock-Keepers, there’s over 50 of them in post at present. They did try a pilot scheme to reduce headcount by relying on remote control of weirs but that was a non-starter, thank goodness.
The advent of the railways and improved road transport did for the Thames (and most canals) as a means of moving heavy/bulky produce – and we ‘rich leisure users’ are the beneficiaries and now pretty-well the only users of the navigation. Our (v significant) fees for doing so largely enable the continuing of the status quo.
Finally, were they to ‘open the Thames to its original course’, Oxford, Abingdon, Reading. Windsor and everything lower down would be inundated. And large parts of London would be inoperable if the Thames Barrier hadn’t been installed.
Not many ponds could do that…..
John P: I’m not sure that I agree with all that you say. You quote, for example, Abingdon which is one of the oldest towns in England. Why would it be there if it was so vulnerable to flooding? And I understood (mainly from Private Eye) that the lock-keepers were disposed of to leave the locks under users’ control. Is that wrong?
How much concrete and pavement has been installed in formerly green space that is now wind and solar farms, uphill from new flooding?
Oil firm decries Ryan for snub to Barryroe gas development plan ________________________________
BBC claims today that the global temperature has increase by 1.48 degree, the hottest on record, their source the European Union climate service copernicus (and the world still hasn’t been destroyed, shouldn’t we be underwater or on fire by now)
And stepping over dead bodies from CJD and ……
Note the EU Copernicus service is a MODEL and does not reflect actual real world measurements. As such its total Bullpoo.
There you go again, Paul, confusing people with your use of facts and history. Thanks for digging all that out: useful and informative.
Are there any photgraphs of the River Mole/River Thames floods in September 1968?
Somewhere I have a photo of the newer bridge next to the rail bridge in Leatherhead underwater. Some bridges were washed away and only replaced with footbridges.
https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/archive—surrey-flooding-pictures-6483386
Many thanks
See this link:
https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/archive—surrey-flooding-pictures-6483386
Many thanks!
A useful site with accounts of floods and drought for all UK river systems https://www.cbhe.hydrology.org.uk/ 7976 records, the earliest one is year 9 AD!
You can search for your river of choice or don’t specify and get the lot.
“Welcome to the BHS Chronology of British Hydrological Events (British Hydrochronology) web site.
This is a public repository for hydrological facts of the type that come from texts rather than tables. It is an attempt to bring into searchable view on the Web as much material as possible so that the spatial extent of events, and their relative severity, can be assessed. Every hydrological circumstance from flood to drought, from instantaneous to prolonged, from rain reaching the ground to the return of runoff to the sea is to be covered.”
Examples:
“London: “It is recorded that in 1216 people have rowed through the Great Hall of Westminster whose floor lay covered in fish as the floods receded”
1483 “A year noted for its continual monsoon-like rains. The river Wye in Herefordshire and the Severn in Worcestershire rose rapidly, with several people drowning in their beds as the water swept in. The waters did not abate for ten days and the occurrence became commonly known as ‘The Great Water’.”
Drought
1893 June Rainfall observer at Ross (The Graig) noted: “The fourth month of comparative drought, for though rain fell on 11 days and on two yielded about .25 in. each, it was not enough to prevent the great heat burning up the grass, and at the close this light soil seemed dry as powder. No similar season has occurred since 1870.”
1541 “This year was remarkable for a great drought such as had scarcely ever before been known in the kingdom. Almost all the small rivers were completely dried up whilst the Trent and similar large streams became diminished to the condition of straggling brooks. So much reduced were the waters of the Thames below their ordinary level that the sea water extended even at ebb tide beyond London Bridge. Much cattle died in this part of the country in particular through the want of water; and throughout the whole realm a miserable mortality arising from diarrhoea and dysentery prevailed by which thousands of persons were carried to untimely graves.”
Dennis
Great resource. I have seen a number of these records as such places as the Met Office archives but it is great to see them so well documented in one place.
As regards 1541, as you may remember I attempted to reconstruct CET back to around 1540-due to the Reformation when records held by Monasteries were often destroyed, it was often difficult to find authentic older accounts.
I would say the years around 1540 was probably the hottest and driest period that can be identified over the last 600 years.
Absolutely:
http://www.godutch.com/newspaper/index.php?id=474
“The year 1540 was one with an even hotter summer than the heat wave year of 2003. “This Europe-wide heat wave lasted for seven months, harvests were destroyed and thousands of cattle died, leading to wide spread famine and death. The Rhine dried up and it was reported that people could walk upon the Seine riverbed in Paris without getting their feet wet.”
It is like football – top division records don’t exist before the Premier League.
Agree – Life was so much easier before the climate change committee
The reason the Thames floods now is because the river used to be dredged and as the channel fills it, the level in flood rises and so the chance of overtopping the bank increases toward the natural, which is about once a year. It is not surprise there is more flooding now, entirely predictable.
But there isnt MORE flooding! The Thames has always flooded regularly for thousands of years. I live on the Thames and its a very rare winter when there isnt a flood. Only difference is the height of the flooding. This year is the same as 2017/18 which was same as 2013/14 which was the same as … . We get a big flood on about a 5 yr cycle. Certainly get big floods every 10yrs. Nothing has changed except human insanity!
Scotland’s oldest bridges – some website and images
https://www.scotlandsoldestbridges.co.uk/
Michaela Strachan admits BBC has ‘sometimes gone too far’ with climate crisis cries in Packham-led shows
Not just Packham led shows
https://www.gbnews.com/celebrity/michaela-strachan-bbc-chris-packham-winterwatch-climate-crisis
There are plenty of youtubes on the 1947 floods including Pathe News.
Changing subjects, from 2019 the E-Motorbike grand prix when all 19 bikes went up in flames the night before competition. The Jerez/Arcos circuit in Cadíz.
Shouldn’t have parked them so close.
https://www.motorsport.com/motoe/news/motoe-cause-of-fire-disaster/4353463/
Hi Paul. Off topic, but I thought I should share this gem from my MP, Sir Jeremy Wright. I had written to him to say that, having supported him for many years, his embrace of NZC meant that I may as well vote for the Green party and I would/could no longer vote for him. This is his whole reply. Spot the big error:
“Thank you for your email. Our Ref: CC/JW53229 10 January 2024 I respect the fact that there are a variety of views on this subject, but achieving net zero with green investment to reduce pollution was a commitment in the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto. Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.”
Revolving doors
July 2021, former (Drax) CCC member Rebecca Heaton also went to OVO. https://www.current-news.co.uk/ovo-energy-appoints-dr-heaton-as-director-of-sustainability/
She didn’t stay long, she went to Lloyds Banking Group as their Director of Environmental Sustainability. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lloyds-banking-group_welcoming-dr-rebecca-heaton-activity-6922861894902939648-QKa4
“This role will be central to the Group’s strategy to support the transition to a #LowCarbonEconomy. This includes creating diversified and sustainable growth and continuing to integrate environmental sustainability outcomes across our wider business priorities.
Becky’s extensive experience in sustainability – working across industry, policy and academia – will help accelerate our journey to net zero by 2050 or sooner.”
Read the sycophantic comments at Linkedin…
Apart from equating carbon with pollution? That and more was in that 2019 Manifesto.
It shows us once again the truth of the saying, “Representative Politics consists of pretending to your constituents that you are thinking carefully about a subject, when the line you must follow has already been laid down in a private caucus of your Party.”
I see that Wright no longer even pretends to think about this subject.
To some extent, of course, people like Wright are in direct thrall to the same extremists who effectively dictate to his Party leaders. I am reminded of a politician in 19th Century France who cut short an interview with a newspaper as an angry mob went by in the streets. “There are my supporters. I must run after them!”
Dave, the reply wasn’t even written by Wright. If he had dictated it the ‘I’ in ‘I respect…’ would have been justified by the author – his spad – signing the letter with a pp. Instead, it looks like Wright just delegated it and never saw the reply.
I have answered the letter and I expect Wright to have the decency to answer it.
Dave & Harry: I think my MP probably does reply himself to my emails but usually not much more than an acknowledgement. My problem is that before the exclusive use of emails, which get only the MP’s personal views in reply, the old written letters were passed to the responsible minister and the latter’s reply was then forwarded to me.
Vernon, I got a reply from Wright’s office claiming he did indeed say everything in the email to me and he (in the reply email) went on to say how the Gov were aware of the costs and were going to make sure they were affordable…blah..blah. BUT, what he didn’t answer was whether he thought CO2 was a pollutant as he had (it turns out) said. So, I wrote back and asked, with great respect, would the assistant please get Wright to go on the record to say whether or not he (and the Gov) thought CO2 was a pollutant.
I shall post his reply – but I won’t hold my breath.