Image ID: 19720

The Ferry, Radcliffe on Trent, c 1950s

Courtesy of A W Bourne

River Trent
Radcliffe on Trent
England

Photo taken before the first world war and thought to show Mrs Vickerstaff, who, with her daughters operated the ferry for many years. The Trent is 147 miles long, and is second in length only to the Severn amongst English rivers. When it enters Nottinghamshire it has already received the drainage from two-thirds of its basin, which has an area of 4052 square miles. It is then a fine river with clear water and a rapid current. Its general course through the county is shaped like a bow with its convexity towards the east. Throughout it lies in a narrow vale about two miles wide. For the first third of its course the vale is trench-like and clearly defined by hills on either side. On the west these rise to over 300 feet; but they gradually decline until at last the vale proper is almost indistinguishable from the low country through which it passes for the remainder of its course. The windings or meanders of the river are of two types. The larger ones sweep from one side of the vale to the other and are sometimes three miles from bend to bend. These are probably inherited from the times when the Trent was a fuller stream than it is now. Superposed on these are smaller meanders which are usually less than one mile wide. These belong to the Trent as we now know it. (information from www.nottshistory.org.uk)

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