Datchet Bridge

The crossing was important to the Crown as the road through Datchet and across the Thames provided a convenient short route from London to Windsor Castle and the ferry was much used by Royalty and courtiers.

Privy Purse records show two payments from Elizabeth of York to the Datchet ferryman in 1502 and similarly from Princess Mary in 1522 and her father Henry VIII between 1530 and 1532.

In 1678 the ferryman, Matthew Hale, received a formal rebuke from Charles II's Secretary of State, Henry Coventry, for unduly delaying a Royal Messenger.

[3][5] Coventry warned Hale in no uncertain terms:[5] "You cannot but know it is your duty, whenever any messenger or express rides on the King's Service, to give immediate passage on demand, whether by night or day.

[7] It was made of oak provided by the Surveyor General of Woods South of the Trent, Edward Wilcox, who was ordered to fell "sufficient non-navy timber" from the Royal forest "for the better convenience of our passage from our Castle at Windsor".

[5][8] The building work was supervised by the Surveyor General, Samuel Travers and the final cost was £1000[8] (equivalent to £212,000 today[4]) The better convenience of passage was further enhanced by Queen Anne's intimate friend Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough[9] and her husband the first Duke who then lived at Langley and who had a carriage drive built from their house, over the bridge and on to Windsor Castle.

"[13] Later the same year the central arches of the new bridge collapsed during heavy flooding and King George III deciding that he did not wish to finance the rebuilding instead instated a temporary free ferry.

The counties, forced to co-operate, built a new wooden bridge on the old stone piers which was opened by Queen Charlotte and Princess Elizabeth on 4 December 1812.

[19] The centre gap was apparent during the Divided Bridge's whole lifetime[19] and lacking structural integrity the "hideous monstrosity" quickly became unsafe: "It was no wonder that when Wombwell took his caravans across the crazy erection, the elephant-van broke through and the beast in it nearly came to an untimely end.

[7] Datchet High Street which once continued on over the bridge to Berkshire ends abruptly at the Thames and the bank on the Buckinghamshire side is now occupied by a marina car park.

A flat wooden bridge with post and rail sides crossing a river in a rural setting
Engraving of 1750 showing the first Datchet Bridge from the Buckinghamshire bank
A small wooden raft in the middle of a river which runs through a flat rural landscape.
Datchet Mead and Datchet Ferry in 1686 with Windsor Castle in the background
An old map centred on the middle of Datchet
1822 Ordnance Survey map showing the location of the river crossing at Datchet
People cross a river using a small wooden boat. To the right the remains of four grey stone bridge supports with vegetation growing from the tops stand in the river
Datchet Ferry in 1811 showing the abandoned 1770 bridge just prior to its rebuilding in 1812
A ramshackle bridge with a cantilevered centre section crossing a river
The Divided Bridge in 1847 from the Berkshire bank
A photograph of the T junction of a road taken from the stalk of the T. A river runs across the top of the T and a small brick cottage can be seen on the far bank.
Site of Datchet Bridge looking south-west down Datchet High Street towards the Berkshire bank and Windsor Great Park