Berkshire, England

Scours Lane slipway (Tilehurst)

Launch — A slipway at the end of Scours Lane on Reading Borough Council open space, managed in partnership with the on-site chandlery and boatyard businesses.

Parking — The boatyard operator offers on-site parking for a car and trailer for a small charge; the council records the space here as very limited.

Access — The slipway is gated and normally kept locked; the on-site chandlery holds the key during its opening hours. Scours Lane reaches the slipway under a railway bridge whose height restriction limits the size of craft that can pass. The Thames Path public right of way runs along this bank.

Season — The Environment Agency's river restrictions and closures page covers this reach, including temporary reductions to passable width at Mapledurham Lock and event closures on the Caversham and Mapledurham reaches.

Regulations — All craft, including unpowered open boats such as paddleboards, canoes and kayaks, must be registered with the Environment Agency to be used on this non-tidal reach of the Thames, under the Thames Navigation Licensing and General Byelaws 1993; British Canoeing and Canoe Wales membership is accepted as registration. The Environment Agency publishes river-level and flow data for this reach at its Mapledurham Lock gauge (station 7109).

This slipway on Scours Lane in Tilehurst, Reading, gives access to the River Thames on the Berkshire bank, on a wide, straight stretch the council calls Kentwood Deeps, opposite Mapledurham. Mapledurham's watermill and lock lie on the north bank a short distance upstream.

The reach upstream

The stretch of river off Scours Lane is part of Kentwood Deeps, which Reading Borough Council's Thames Parks Plan describes as a particularly wide, straight section of the Thames.

Paddling upstream from the launch soon meets Mapledurham weir and lock, the first obstacle on this reach — see Hazards below for the crossing.

Mapledurham watermill

On the opposite bank, the weir still provides the head of water that drives Mapledurham Watermill, which dates from the 16th and 17th centuries and is the last operational watermill on the River Thames. The weir is also the furthest upstream on the Thames to carry a salmon ladder.

Reading Borough Council records good biodiversity along this stretch of riverbank, and a large resident swan population on the Reading river frontage.

Nearby

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Waitrose Cafe

In-store cafe at the Waitrose supermarket, about 400 metres from the slipway.

Val's Cafe

Cafe about 450 metres from the slipway.

Conditions to check

Weir

Mapledurham weir crosses the whole channel in a curve from the lock island, about half a mile upstream of the launch; there is no crossing on foot.

Source

Lock

Mapledurham Lock, on the Berkshire bank at Purley, is the only passage past the weir; it was rebuilt in 1908 and has a fall of 2.05 metres.

Source

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