Oxfordshire, England

Donnington Bridge Slipway

Launch — A concrete slipway running down a service road to the river, with a locked vehicle barrier near the top; hand-carried craft can be taken past it, though it blocks driven access to the water.

Parking — Oxford City Council operates a public car park on Meadow Lane immediately alongside the slipway, with a height-restriction barrier (approximately 2 m) at its entrance; parking charges apply.

Access — Reached on foot along the Thames Path or by the service road off Meadow Lane; the vehicle barrier at the slipway keeps out driven and trailered craft, but hand-carried boats can pass. No published restriction on the public launching hand-carried unpowered craft here was found.

Season — This reach carries Oxford's inter-collegiate rowing calendar (Torpids in Hilary term, Summer Eights in Trinity term, and the City of Oxford Bumps), with crews marshalling directly below Donnington Bridge; the Environment Agency issues river restriction notices with mooring and passage rules for these dates each year. Check the Environment Agency's river conditions page for the Osney Lock to Iffley Lock and Iffley Lock to Sandford Lock reaches for current stream warnings.

Regulations — The Environment Agency is the navigation authority for this non-tidal reach of the Thames. Unpowered craft, including canoes, kayaks and paddleboards, must hold Environment Agency registration or a Paddle UK/British Canoeing membership that includes an EA-covering licence; short-term registrations can be bought at most Thames locks when a lock keeper is on duty. Powered vessels are limited to 8 km/h with no wash.

Donnington Bridge Slipway is a concrete slipway on the River Thames, called the Isis on this stretch through Oxford, on the city's eastern riverside close to the university and city rowing boathouses. Several other mapped put-in points sit within about 100 metres along the same bank.

The bend immediately upstream of Donnington Bridge is known as "the Gut", a narrow, historically tricky stretch on Oxford's bumps racing course. College and city rowing boathouses line the bank upstream toward Folly Bridge, about a mile and a quarter away.

Downstream, the river passes under the bridge's single concrete arch before reaching Iffley Lock and its weir, the first obstacle on this reach.

Between the slipway and the lock, the towpath (west) bank is Iffley Meadows, a floodplain hay meadow designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its spring display of snake's-head fritillaries, whose numbers vary sharply from year to year with flooding. Aston's Eyot, a wooded former landfill site now managed as a nature reserve, sits on the opposite bank.

The Isis Farmhouse, a riverside pub about 500 m downstream toward Iffley Lock, has no road access and is reached only on foot, by bicycle or by boat.

Conditions to check

Weir

Iffley Lock and its weir lie about half a mile downstream; the weir stream joins the mill stream below the lock, and the lock carries boat rollers on the west bank for canoes and rowing boats to portage.

Source

Boat traffic

This is Oxford's inter-collegiate rowing course, and racing eights travel at speed through the narrow bend directly upstream, known as "the Gut".

Source

Boat traffic

Salter's Steamers operates passenger trip boats and a boatyard on Meadow Lane immediately alongside the slipway, and moored boats line stretches of this reach.

Source

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