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Shifford Lock

 

Shifford Lock is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful lock on the Thames, surrounded as it is by Chimney Meadows Nature Reserve – a fascinating 1000-acre site run by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

 

In the year 890AD, King Alfred (he of the cakes) is said to have held one of his parliaments in Shifford. In early times, Shifford was a ‘sheep ford’. Today it is a small charming village.

 

While the first Thames locks were being constructed in the early-to-mid 1600s, Shifford is one of the most recent to be built on this river. The lock was completed in 1897,

 

This lock was originally built on dry land and when completed it created a short cut for the river, which had previously flowed south in a loop to Duxford village. The newly opened river route is now named Shifford Lock Cut while the original loop is today accessible only to light craft and canoes.

 

An image of times past can be seen at the charming and quaint wooden bridge over the river a few yards upstream of the lock.

 

Shifford Lock is popular with wildlife enthusiasts. Here, and at the nearby nature reserve, are otters, kestrels, buzzards, owls, kingfishers, house martins and curlews. An osprey has been seen above the lock.


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