22-461: Rymer may refer to: Paddle and rymer weir , an old type of weir Paddle and rymer weir A flash lock is a type of lock for river or canal transport. Early locks were designed with a single gate, known as a flash lock or staunch lock . The earliest European references to what were clearly flash locks were in Roman times. In England the "gate" was similar to a temporary needle dam :
44-486: A historic and still operational watermill on the River Thames , and Mapledurham House , an Elizabethan stately home . The estate currently belongs to the family of John "Jack" Eyston. At one time the estate included several farms, but farming has now been consolidated on a single farm. The estate has strongly diversified into leisure activities, and includes two golf courses and several holiday cottages . Additionally
66-400: A set for several films, including the 1976 thriller The Eagle Has Landed . The village, house and mill are a tourist attraction, and on summer weekends a large tour boat runs from Reading. The mill location is used on the cover of English rock band Black Sabbath 's self-titled debut album Black Sabbath . In book 2 of The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy , In Chancery , Mapledurham is
88-408: A set of boards, called paddles , supported against the current by upright timbers called rymers which normally kept the level of water above it to navigable levels. Boats moving downstream would wait above the lock until the paddles (and their rymers) were removed, which would allow a "flash" of water to pass through, carrying the boats with it. Boats moving upstream would be winched or towed through
110-692: A toothed drum. The pound lock holds water between two gates, and is considerably easier to navigate. Pound locks have been built in China since 983, in the Netherlands from 1065 and in Britain from the 1560s. Nevertheless, a few flash locks remained after the introduction of pound locks. Flash locks on the Nene continued to be used until they were replaced in a programme of modernisation, which included building new locks, carried out between 1936 and 1941. The last flash lock on
132-436: Is on the north bank of the River Thames about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) northwest of Reading . Road access is by a narrow and steep lane from Trench Green on the rural road from Caversham to Goring Heath , Goring-on-Thames and other places. The village is closer geodesically (as the crow flies) to Reading's centre than some parts of its districts but it is highly conserved, traffic-calm and rural. The access lane becomes
154-465: Is on the opposite bank of the river, by the Berkshire village of Purley-on-Thames . Although the weir stretches across the river between the two villages, no access is possible across it and, in the absence of a boat, journeys between the two villages require a lengthy detour via Caversham or Whitchurch-on-Thames . Because of its scenic location, and lack of through traffic, Mapledurham has been used as
176-594: The Reading suburb of Caversham , and to the south by the River Thames . In the 2011 census , Mapledurham civil parish had a population of 317, an increase of 37 over the previous census in 2001 . For local government purposes the civil parish forms part of the district of South Oxfordshire within the county of Oxfordshire . It is in the Henley constituency of the United Kingdom Parliament . Adjacent to
198-648: The East Anglian rivers they were called staunches, those on the River Avon, Warwickshire were called water gates, and in a number of instances they were called half locks. On the River Nene and some of the tributaries of the River Great Ouse , a design using a guillotine gate in a wooden frame was used from the early seventeenth century onwards. The gate was opened by operating a large spoked wheel, connected by chains to
220-558: The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. Most weirs on the River Thames in the present day are operated with the aid of hydraulics and other less-dangerous manual modes of operation. Two or three paddles are stacked between each of the rymers, which slot into a beam placed on the bottom of the river. The paddles are of differing lengths allowing a very fine adjustment of the amount of water flowing through
242-592: The Thames was Hart's Lock (also known as Eaton Lock ), which lasted until 1937, while on the Lower Avon, the structure of Cropthorne Water Gate lasted until the reopening of the river to navigation in 1961, although it had not been used for navigation for many years before that. Although slightly different in concept, Thames Lock at Weybridge on the Wey Navigation had an additional single gate some 100 yards (91 m) below
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#1733086275093264-625: The last operational watermill on the river Thames . Mapledurham House , the country house that is the headquarters of the Mapledurham estate, is one of the largest Elizabethan houses in Oxfordshire . On the village street inland from these three buildings can be found the Mapledurham Almshouses, a group of six almshouses built as a memorial to Sir Charles Lister who died in 1613, and now converted into two cottages. Mapledurham Lock
286-460: The location for Soames Forsyte's house. The civil parish of Mapledurham covers a considerably larger area than the village itself, and includes the even smaller settlements of Trench Green and Chazey Heath in the Chiltern Hills above the village. It is bordered to the west by the parishes of Whitchurch-on-Thames and Goring Heath , to the north by the parish of Kidmore End , to the east by
308-481: The lock with the paddles removed. Considerable skill was involved both in removing the paddles in a timely manner and navigating the boat through the lock. Flash locks of this type have been documented in China since at least the 1st century BCE and on the Thames since at least 1295. Flash locks were commonly built into small dams or weirs where a head of water was used for powering a mill. The lock allowed boats to pass
330-458: The lock, which when closed raises the water level above it, allowing boats which would normally foul the cill to work through the lock. It continued in use until 1969, to enable grain barges to use the lock, and although grain traffic stopped in that year, it recommenced in 1981, when the gate was again used. The gate is still used at the lock-keeper's discretion for boats which have a draught exceeding 1.75 feet (0.53 m). The weirs which are
352-457: The main street of the village and terminates on the bank of the River Thames, where it is surrounded by a cluster of three significant buildings. The Church of England parish church of St. Margaret was mainly built in the 14th and 15th century, and was restored in 1863 by the Gothic Revival architect William Butterfield . Mapledurham Watermill dates from the 16th and 17th century and is
374-495: The only full-width example left. Mapledurham Mapledurham is a small village, civil parish and country estate beside the River Thames in southern Oxfordshire , England. The large parish borders Caversham , the most affluent major district of Reading , Berkshire . Historic buildings in the area include the Church of England parish church of St. Margaret, Mapledurham Watermill and Mapledurham House . The village
396-686: The parish is the Mapledurham ward of the Borough of Reading , which is a subdivision of that town's suburb of Caversham and in the county of Berkshire . By the time of the Domesday Book , what is now the Mapledurham estate comprised two separate manors, Mapledurham Gurney and Mapledurham Chazey. Mapledurham Gurney was purchased by Richard Blount in 1490, and has remained in the ownership of his descendants ever since. Richard Blount's grandson, Sir Michael Blount , bought Mapledurham Chazey in 1582 and merged
418-438: The remnants of flash locks can still be seen on the River Thames though they are not used any more for navigation as regular pound locks were introduced in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the last flash lock removed in 1937. The Environment Agency is now involved in a programme of replacing these, as their manual operation is considered to be dangerous, and involves lifting weights which exceed those recommended by
440-473: The two estates. Sir Michael was also responsible for the building of the current Mapledurham House on the site of the manor house of Mapledurham Gurney. The manorial seat of Mapledurham Chazey no longer exists, but is believed to have been on or near the site now occupied by Chazey Court Barn . The Mapledurham estate owns much of the village and parish. It also includes the Mapledurham Watermill ,
462-443: The weir while still allowing the mill to operate when the gate was closed. However it could take up to a day or even more to restore the water levels after a boat had passed, so their use was unpopular with the millers. As navigation increased in importance, improvements were made to the basic design, and they came to be known by various names according to where they were located. Thus on the Thames they were called navigation weirs, on
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#1733086275093484-511: The weir. Four of these weirs were replaced in 2009. Three were on the Thames at Mapledurham , Molesey and Radcot , while the fourth was at Blake's Lock , the first lock on the River Kennet , which is managed as part of the Thames. Three more of these weirs, at Rushey , Goring and Streatley , have been Grade II listed since 2009, but the EA is proposing to replace most of Rushey, which would be
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