By Nick Pollard
This month’s picture, taken from a postcard of c1910, shows the ferry just downstream from Shepperton Lock, and the sharp bend (as it still is today) where Ferry Lane meets the Towpath. Be-side the ferry boat, punts and skiffs for hire, be-longing to Dunton’s boatyard, can be seen moored along the bank. In the background on the right is D’Oyly Carte Island. The text on the card was presumably the cry used by the ferryman to attract customers. Nowadays the modern ferry, operated by Nauticalia since 1986, is summoned by a bell.
There was probably a ferry across the Thames at Shepperton by the 14th century, when a Purdue (still a familiar name locally) was the ferryman. Clement Coombes is mentioned in the same role in 1624. This would have been at Ferry Square, behind Church Square, adjacent to the Manor House. An old print dating from the mid-18th century shows large flat-bottomed punts being used to ferry foot passengers and horses over the river at this point.
After Shepperton Lock opened in 1813, the first lock keeper, William Hatch, started to operate a ferry there. This must have been a lot more convenient if the towpath changed banks at this point, as it does today. Not surprisingly, the operator of the original ferry, William Dunton, complained to the City of London Corporation (who had jurisdiction over the Thames as far as the London Stone at Staines) that he was obliged to maintain the ferry, but his income had been materi-ally reduced by Hatch having set up in the same business. Hatch was allowed to continue as long as he carried barge horses but not pedestrians. These complaints continued for several years, but a mem-ber of the local Winch family, who were signifi-cant owners of barge horses, testified in 1820 that ‘if the ferry at the lock was discontinued it would delay the barges very materially and the horses would be obliged to go a considerable distance round’, which rather confirms that the lock ferry was in a better position than the traditional site at Ferry Square. In 1863 there was a local petition for the public ferry to be moved to the lock ferry, by which time a new straight access road had been laid out, now called Ferry Lane.
While the current situation prevails, Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society continue their talks programme for members on Zoom. If you would like to join, please see the website www.sslhs.org.uk for details.