The River Cherwell ( or ) is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises near Hellidon, Northamptonshire and flows southwards for to meet the Thames at Oxford in Oxfordshire.
The river gives its name to the Cherwell local government district and Cherwell, an Oxford student newspaper.
Pronunciation
Cherwell is pronounced , particularly near Oxford, and in north Oxfordshire. The village of Charwelton uses the river name. It lies upriver in Northamptonshire, suggesting that the pronunciation has long vied for use.
Drainage basin
The river drains an area of . The Cherwell is the second largest tributary of the Thames by average discharge (after the River Kennet).
Course
Upper course
The Cherwell is the northernmost Thames tributary. It rises in the ironstone hills at Hellidon, west of Charwelton near Daventry. Helidon Hill, immediately north, forms a watershed: on the south side, the Cherwell feeds the Thames, in turn the North Sea; opposite, the Leam feeds the Warwickshire's Avon through Worcestershire into the Severn, the head of the Bristol Channel. Another source rises east of Charwelton and feeds headwaters of the Nene, an inflow of the North Sea at The Wash and the source of the similar River Great Ouse is nearby.
South of Charwelton, the Cherwell passes between the villages of Hinton and Woodford Halse.
Two miles further on, the river swings westward a few miles, passing below the village of Chipping Warden through Edgcote, site of a Romano-British villa, then entering Oxfordshire at Hay's Bridge on the A361's Daventry to Banbury stretch.
Cropredy and the Upper Oxford Canal
Half-a-mile north of the village of Cropredy, the Cherwell resumes south. The Oxford Canal enters the valley here, and roughly follows, on its route to Oxford until Thrupp near Kidlington. The canal connects the Coventry Canal to the Thames, and the Act of Parliament authorising it was passed in 1769. A few years earlier, Oxford merchants had proposed canalising the river as far as Banbury.
Construction of the canal began near Coventry. The canal reached Banbury in 1778, however it was a further 12 years before the southernmost section was completed and the first boats reached Oxford in January 1790.
The Cherwell skirts the east side of Cropredy itself and passes under Cropredy Bridge, site of a major battle of the English Civil War in 1644, a long encounter with riverside skirmishes concentrated along of bank between Hay's bridge and a ford at Slat Mill near Great Bourton. King Charles's forces beat the Parliamentarian army. The bridge has a plaque with words: "Site of the Battle of Cropredy Bridge 1644. From Civil War deliver us." The bridge was rebuilt in 1780 and this plaque is a facsimile of the original one. Cropredy's church holds battle relics. Local tradition holds that locals hid the church's eagle lectern in the Cherwell in case marauding soldiers damaged or stole it.
South of the bridge, the river runs through fields used for the annual Cropredy Festival, a three-day music event run by the band Fairport Convention. It then passes an ex-water mill as usual created by a weir holding back a millpond and a mill race (leat); this is the highest major mill. Upstream simpler mills are suspected from the Domesday Book and similar land returns.
Banbury
After a few miles the Cherwell passes under the M40 motorway and the industrial hinterland of Banbury, a town centred on the river, passing another mill position. From here, a main line railway runs alongside on the west side. This line was built by the Great Western Railway and links London and Oxford with Birmingham and the north. South, the railway closely follows the valley.
A Roman villa at nearby Wykham Park dates from around the year 250. Much later the Saxons built the first settlement: west of the flow. On the opposite bank is the Saxon-established Grimsbury, now absorbed into Banbury.
Banbury Castle was built in 1135 to command the river and valley. The castle was extended and rebuilt many times. In the civil war it became a Royalist stronghold and was besieged during the winter of 1644–1645. A second siege began in January 1646 and lasted until April when a surrender was negotiated. After petition to the much-empowered House of Commons in 1648, it was demolished.
A great water mill ground grain near the castle. The brick-built building and miller's cottage have been modernised and extended as Banbury's main theatre and arts centre.