Where a national symbol is born

IT has been celebrated for centuries in poetry, prose and song.

It launched, for better or worse, the most expansive and powerful empire the world has ever known.

The banks either side of its 215 miles have been the backdrop to the lives of countless millions, from monarchs whose deeds have been celebrated down the centuries to tens of generations of ordinary people.

It is the River Thames, and its course takes it through communities from Gloucestershire to the Estuary.

Kemble, Ashton Keynes, Crick-lade, Lechlade, and even Swindon where tributaries of the great river flow, all have chapters in the story of the great river.

Now a new book The Thames From Source to Sea uses aerial photographs provided by www.getmapping.com to chart every inch of its course.

There is no mistaking where the river ends, but where does it begin?

The standard answer is that the river begins at Thames Head near Kemble in Gloucestershire, at a spring which only flows in periods of heavy rainfall.

Thames Head is certainly referred to as the official source the exact site is marked by a plaque beneath an ash tree, inscribed with the words: "The Conservation of the River Thames 1857-1974. This stone was placed here to mark the source of the River Thames."

There are those with a dissenting view, who insist that the source of the Thames is to be found at Seven Springs, to the north of Cirencester. The River Churn flows here, which is generally regarded as a tributary of the Thames, but the dissenters hold that it is in fact the Thames itself.

However, irrespective of what the truth is, it is to Thames Head and its little circle of stones where the water sometimes surfaces that the visitors go. Many of them are starting walks along the Thames Path, which takes in the full length of the river, and if they are looking for a little liquid courage they can do no better than visit the Thames Head Inn, an Arkell's house just half a mile away.

Landlord Robert Kirker, 56, said: "I've been here for 12 years, and its nice to say that you have the pub at the source of the Thames even if it's only a spring that comes up when there is heavy rain.

"It's also nice to get people coming here from as far away as the USA and Japan. They fly in from Heathrow , spend a night in Kemble and then set off to walk the path."

The path runs south from the spring, heads towards Kemble village and passes the village of Ewen.

There has long been friendly debate about which of the two communities can truly claim to be the first village on the Thames. Those who favour Ewen point out that the river merely skirts Kemble, while those who favour Kemble simply do not see things in that way.

From Ewen, the river meanders across country, eventually reaching Keynes Country Park, part of the huge complex of lakes which makes up the Cotswold Water Park, whose beauty and sporting attractions attract tens of thousands of visitors per year.

Along this section of the route, many of the farms and farmhouses have names which include references to milling.

This is testament to the centuries during which the Thames was the staple form of power for many industries.

And loosely following the route is the Thames and Severn Canal, the manmade link between the two rivers which, as of 1779, was the final piece in the jigsaw of canal communication between Bristol and the capital.

Abandoned 70 years ago, the canal, stretching 28 miles between Stroud and Inglesham, is being restored for leisure use.

But it is the three lakes of Keynes Country Park which dominate the landscape.

The park takes its name from one William de Keynes, a Norman nobleman who surviving records show to have been lord of the manor as early as 1256.

However, earlier records show transactions involving the site which go back before the Norman Conquest in 1066.

The Thames from Source to Sea is published by Collins at £25.

Barrie hudson

www.collins.co.uk

www.getmapping.com