OLD TEMPLE BAR, FLEET STREET 201 THE STRAND FROM THE THAMES (SIXTEENTH CENTURY) 202, 203 THE WATER-GATE OF YORK HOUSE 206 THE BANQUETING HALL, WHITEHALL 208 THE RIVER AT THORNEY ISLAND (PLAN) 210 HENRY VII.’S CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY 214 WESTMINSTER ABBEY 216 THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT 221 ST. PAUL’S FROM THE SOUTH END OF SOUTHWARK BRIDGE 231 BOOK III THE UPPER RIVER THE CASTLE KEEP, OXFORD 236 THAMES HEAD 238 LECHLADE FROM THE FIRST LOCK 240 KELMSCOTT MANOR 242 MAGDALEN TOWER, OXFORD 252 ABINGDON 264 THE GATEHOUSE, READING ABBEY 273 SONNING 280 HENLEY 281 DIAGRAM OF THE THAMES VALLEY TERRACES 283 WINDSOR CASTLE 286 ETON COLLEGE 299 HAMPTON COURT, GARDEN FRONT 306 KINGSTON 322 TEDDINGTON WEIR 324 RICHMOND HILL FROM PETERSHAM MEADOWS 327 FROM THE TERRACE, RICHMOND 330 KEW GARDENS 334 PUTNEY TO MORTLAKE (CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE) 338 FULHAM PALACE 340 RANELAGH 341 THE POWER-STATION, CHELSEA 345 THE LOLLARDS’ TOWER, LAMBETH PALACE 346 CHART OF THE THAMES FROM WINDSOR TO THE NORE _Back end-papers_ FATHER THAMES INTRODUCTION _The River and its Valley_ England is not a country of great rivers. No mighty Nile winds lazily across desert and fertile plains in its three and a half thousand miles course to the sea; no rushing Brahmaputra plunges headlong down its slopes, falling two or three miles as it crosses half a continent from icy mountain-tops to tropical sea-board. In comparison with such as these England’s biggest rivers are but the tiniest, trickling streams. Yet, for all that, our little waterways have always meant much to the land. Tyne, Severn, Humber, Trent, Thames, Mersey, Ouse—all these, with many smaller but no less well-known streams, have played their part in the making of England’s history; all these have had much to do with the building up of her commercial prosperity. One only of these rivers we shall consider in this book, and that is old “Father Thames”: as it was and as it is, and what it has meant to England during two thousand years. In our consideration we shall divide the River roughly into three quite natural divisions—first, the section up to the lowest bridge; second, the part just above, the part which gave the River its chief port and city; third, the upper river.