Twickenham Ferry

[1] The earliest documentary reference to its existence known is in an ordinance of the Privy Council dated 19 August 1652, in which it was listed, with others, prohibiting use after sundown except by special dispensation.

The right to license ferrymen was always claimed by the owners of Ham House, notably the Dysart family.

One, in the 1740s, was the subject of a court case brought by the Earl of Dysart and as a result closed down.

After further changes in ownership, a decline in traffic and a long dispute about the right of way down the slipway on the Twickenham side it finally closed in about 1970.

[1] Twickenham Ferry features in Charles Dickens' novel Little Dorrit when Arthur Clennam visits Meagles and crosses to Ham and back one morning.