River Evenlode

The Evenlode is the river of the broad valley below Kingham, in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. It rises in the Cotswold limestone and flows south-east to join the Thames, and near Kingham it runs close beside the Cotswold Line railway, past Bledington and the farmland of Daylesford, for a stretch forming the boundary between Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

About the river

The Evenlode drains a catchment of about 430 square kilometres, according to the Evenlode Catchment Partnership, from the limestone of the Cotswolds down to the clay vales of the Thames. Its main tributaries are the Dorn and the Glyme, and the market towns of Moreton-in-Marsh, Chipping Norton and Woodstock all lie in its catchment, along with what remains of the old royal forest of Wychwood and the park at Blenheim.

A river under pressure

The partnership, which has worked on the river since 2014, says the Evenlode once ran clear through its whole length and now often runs brown and murky, with sewage fungus spreading and water-crowfoot, once common, hard to find. Its volunteer citizen scientists still test the water for nitrogen and phosphorus and survey riverflies, and by April 2026 it had added testing for E. coli, with funding from the Water Restoration Fund; it also offers grants to farmers and landowners to create wetlands, and stores flood water through natural flood management. The catchment still holds small populations of the native white-clawed crayfish and water voles, both nationally endangered, and rare plants of fen and meadow such as fen violet and downy woundwort.

Valley and boundary

Near Kingham the river runs in a wide, flat valley of meadows, with the railway beside it. OpenStreetMap marks a stretch of it as the county line, Bledington on the Gloucestershire bank and Kingham on the Oxfordshire side. This is low ground, and the meadows flood: walkers found them under water through the winter of 2025 to 2026.

What to see

The river itself is small and quiet, lined with willows, and the pleasure is in the valley around it.

• Pollarded willows and laid hedges along the riverside path north of Kingham station.
• Ridge and furrow, the corrugations of medieval ploughing, in the fields towards Bledington.
• Trains on the Cotswold Line running beside the river.
• Footbridges and kissing gates where the paths cross it on the Daylesford side.

Visiting

The Evenlode runs through private farmland, but public footpaths and bridleways follow and cross it, free and open at all times. The paths are flat but often wet, with stiles on the Bledington side, and from November to March wellingtons are the usual advice. Walkers on the Daylesford loop reported cows and sheep in the riverside fields in 2025 and 2026, so keep dogs under close control.

Getting there

Kingham station, on the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester, is the easiest start: turn right down the road from the station and the riverside footpath north to Bledington leaves it at a small bridge. Come by train, or park considerately in Kingham village; walkers in 2025 and 2026 reported parking at the British Legion. Our Kingham, Daylesford and the Evenlode walk crosses the river twice, once on a bridleway by the railway bridge and once on a footbridge with a kissing gate, and comes back down its meadows; it ends at the Wild Rabbit.

Nearby

Across the river, Bledington's green has the King's Head Inn and St Leonard's Church. In Kingham are St Andrew's Church, the Wild Rabbit and the Kingham Plough, and Daylesford Farm is on the hill to the north-west. Upstream are St Nicholas, Lower Oddington and the railway sign and seat at Adlestrop. The neighbouring river to the south is the Windrush.