Editing Lechlade (section)

==The River Thames==
[[File:The Church of St Lawrence, Lechlade - geograph.org.uk - 333660.jpg|thumb|River Thames and Lechlade]]
Lechlade is the highest town to which the [[River Thames]] is navigable by relatively large craft including [[narrowboat]]s. It is possible to travel by river or walk the [[Thames Path]] from here to London. In the early eighteenth century goods unloaded in [[Bristol]] were transported to [[Gloucester]], carried overland to Lechlade and sent down the Thames to London.<ref>Privateer: Life aboard a British Privateer In the time of Queen Anne 1708–1711 – Captain Woodes Rogers. Chapter 2, Note 1</ref> The [[Halfpenny Bridge]] is therefore the usual start for a water based [[Thames meander]] – the term for a long-distance journey down the Thames. The [[Thames Path]] also continues upstream to the traditional source of the Thames at [[Thames Head]]. The river is actually navigable for a short distance further upstream, near the village of [[Inglesham]], where the [[Thames and Severn Canal]] joins the River Thames. Rowing boats can reach even further upstream, to [[Cricklade]]. Lechlade is a popular resort for Thames boating. Boats of different types can be hired from here, from rowing boats to river cruisers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cotswold Boat & GLS Marine |url=https://www.cotswoldboat.co.uk/ |publisher=Cotswold Boat Hire |access-date=27 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Thames Canoe Hire at Cotswold Canoe Hire |url=https://www.cotswoldcanoehire.co.uk/ |publisher=Cotswold Canoe Hire |access-date=27 October 2019}}</ref>

The highest lock on the Thames is [[St John's Lock]], at Lechlade, overlooked by a statue of Old Father Thames. There is a view from [[St. John's Bridge, Lechlade|St John's Bridge]] across the lock and the meadows to the spire of St Lawrence's parish church. The River Leach flows into the Thames at St John's Bridge. The poet [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]] composed ''A Summer Evening Churchyard'' here<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garrett |first1=M. |title=The Palgrave Literary Dictionary of Shelley |date=2013 |publisher=Palgrave |isbn=978-1-137-32851-9 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1057/9781137328519_1 |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9781137328519_1 |access-date=2020-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180603122917/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9781137328519_1 |archive-date=2018-06-03 |url-status=live }}</ref> which includes the lines
<blockquote>Clothing in hues of heaven thy dim and distant spire<br>
Around whose lessening and invisible height<br>
Gather among the stars the clouds of night</blockquote>