Willow Walk
Burne-Jones, a great friend of Morris's designed these stained glass windows for the 13th century church of St Mary the Virgin at Buscot; they
were made in the workshops of Morris & Co.
The pulpit is made from a 16th century panel painting from Antwerp.
Painting from The Briar Rose series by Burne Jones and now in nearby Buscot Park.
Walking from Buscot to Kelmscott - William Morris's Willow Walk. The Eaton footbridge - just upstream are the merest traces of Old Hart's Weir.
This was the last flash lock and weir on the Thames, it was removed in 1936 to alieviate local flooding.
William Morris memorial carving on the pair of cottages designed by Philip Webb in 1902. Morris's beloved Kelmscott is close by. He loved this
watery landscape and the willow trees that inspired one of his most popular fabrics - the Willow Bough.
Water Willow - Janey Morris painted by Rossetti - Kelmscott in the distance.
Kelmscott Manor from the orchard - photograph by Frederick Evans 1897.
Stone fences - with fantastic patternings of litchens.
A very still day, very little colour and so black and white photography seemed best. Lunch (the height of sophistication - a fish finger sandwich) at The
Plough at Kelmscott watching wedding guests arriving to get changed. Lots of swallows and martins gathering.
To Buscot Lock - the smallest lock on the Thames, built in 1790. Nearby Brandy Island is under threat of development arousing strong feelings:
Like most of the Buscot Estate, Brandy Island near Faringdon in Oxfordshire, once belonged to Robert Tertius Campbell who bought the estate in
1859 with money acquired in the Australian goldfields. Campbell was ahead of his time, dredging the river below the lock to get a better depth of water
at Old Hart’s Weir near Kelmscott and transforming the neglected country estate. He installed two waterwheels as part of an irrigation scheme, which
still serves the whole estate and laid out a network of narrow gauge railways to bring raw materials to his distillery. A branch of his railway ran over the
river on an opening bridge to carry spoil from his distillery to the fields beyond.
Once the site of Campbell’s distillery, ‘Brandy Island’ was where sugar and spirit were extracted from sugar beet and exported to France. This is
where brandy was manufactured. The island also contained a mill for oilcake, a gasworks, an artificial fertiliser works and a vitriol works. There was
even a telegraph system so that all parts of the estate could be in contact at all times. A combination of bad luck and over-spending brought ruin to
Campbell. Within ten years, he sold the distillery to pay off his debts. The rest of his bold experiment fared no better and the entire estate was sold on
his death to pay off mortgages.
The water meadows around the lock are unspoiled and visually enjoyed by the public who boat, fish and walk there on the Thames Path and enjoy
this rural wildlife habitat which was made a Conservation Area in 1971. This area is also classified as: Green Belt, Area of Outstanding Natural
Beauty, High Landscape Value, SSSI, Archaeological Site and Ancient Monument. The water works sit adjacent to the 13th century Church of St.
Mary and 18th century listed Old Parsonage. The village and land surrounding is held “inalienably” by the National Trust to be maintained as a
traditional agricultural estate. Buscot Lock is also within the NRA’s Upper Thames catchment conservation area.
According to the Faringdon Rural District Council Minute Book, 1969: Brandy Island was compulsorily acquired from Buscot Estate under Faringdon
Water Order, 1949 with restriction on land acquired. The order states specifically land was being purchased by constructing works, these are listed
and quite specific.
This tranquil rural haven is enjoyed by thousands each year. The commercial development of Brandy Island would be a loss to those who love the
Upper Thames area.
From The Guardian 9 June 2012:
It is one of the most "tranquil and unspoilt stretches of the river Thames", according to the National Trust, a near timeless place that has hardly
changed for centuries.
To naturalists, Brandy Island on the Oxfordshire-Gloucestershire border is a wilderness, with surrounding water-meadows that are an environmental
treasure trove rich in bats, voles, kingfishers and otters.
To the designer, artist and writer William Morris it was an "earthly paradise", an almost sacred place where, at nearby Kelmscott Manor, he would
escape the stresses of urban Victorian life. Accompanied by his wife, Jane, and his friends, the Pre-Raphaelite artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti and
Edward Burne-Jones, Morris would walk along the willow-lined stretch of the Thames and let nature inspire him. His famous "willow" pattern, an
abiding leitmotif of the arts and crafts movement, is said to owe much to his bucolic walks along the riverbank.
Poplar trees at Radcot Cut - they replaced the willow tees felled in 1950.