Lechlade, Buscot and the Thames

The Lechlade, Buscot and the Thames walk is a level 4.5-mile (7.2km) loop from Halfpenny Bridge in Lechlade-on-Thames. It follows the river upstream to Inglesham church, crosses to Buscot by lanes and fields, and returns past two locks and the Trout Inn. There are three stiles and one busy road.

Halfpenny Bridge and the Thames Path

Halfpenny Bridge, probably built between 1792 and 1794, is a single arch of ashlar with a dry arch on its south side for the towpath. Walkers paid a halfpenny toll to cross it until 1839. Steps beside it take you down to the Thames Path, the National Trail that runs 185 miles from the river's source near Kemble to Woolwich.

Lechlade stands where the River Leach joins the Thames near St John's Bridge, and it is the highest town on the river that larger boats such as narrowboats can reach. The River Coln, which runs down past Bibury and Fairford, joins the Thames at Inglesham, the first place the walk reaches.

The walk follows the edge of the meadows upstream to the Round House, turns away from the river at a sharp bend and crosses a footbridge.

Inglesham church

A few metres off the route, beside the stile, St John the Baptist at Inglesham is a small Grade I church that its listing values above all for its unrestored interior. It has a Saxon core, enlarged probably when the church was refounded in 1205 and again later in the thirteenth century. In 1888 and 1889 the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings repaired it without altering it, and William Morris helped; our story on William Morris tells how he came to the upper Thames at Kelmscott.

Buscot church, the Old Parsonage and the lock

From the Buscot road the walk passes Buscot Wick Farm and crosses pastures to Buscot church. St Mary's, Buscot, is Grade I: a thirteenth-century church with fifteenth-century additions and a Perpendicular west tower with a sundial on its south face. Next to it, the Old Parsonage is a rectory of 1703 built onto an older house, listed Grade II*.

At the river, Lock Cottage is the lock keeper's cottage of the late eighteenth century, which its listing records as a National Trust holiday cottage. The walk crosses the Thames on the bridge over Buscot Weir and then on the gate of Buscot Lock itself, and comes back upstream on the far bank past Buscot church and manor.

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St John's Lock and Father Thames

St John's Lock, built in 1791 on a short new cut that bypassed St John's Bridge, is the highest lock on the Thames. Beside it reclines Father Thames, a statue modelled in 1854 by Raffaelle Monti for the Crystal Palace, with a shovel for the navvies and bales and a barrel for the river's trade. It stood at the source of the Thames in Trewsbury Mead until 1974, when it was moved to the lockside.

Paths, stiles and the road

The walk is level all the way, with three stiles and one busy road to cross. The ground is meadow, a narrow road, farm tracks, the edges of pastures and the riverside path. The directions name the stiles, one by Inglesham church and two at Buscot, as well as gates and footbridges, and you cross Buscot Lock on the lock gate. Take care crossing the busy main road near Inglesham. The leaflet says nothing about livestock or mud and gives no time for the walk. On the riverside meadows at Lechlade, which this walk shares with our shorter loop, walkers on AllTrails report flooding after winter rain (some turned back with the path under water in January and February 2026) and cattle and geese loose beside the river at times, so check the river after wet weather.

Food and drink

The Trout Inn at St John's Bridge is the one pub on the route, by St John's Lock on the way back, about a mile from the end. The Trout Inn is a family-run inn with fishing rights on the Thames. It is closed on Mondays; the bar opens from 11am to 10pm Tuesday to Saturday and noon to 9pm on Sundays, and lunch is served from noon to 2pm (2.30pm on Saturdays, 3pm on Sundays) and dinner from 5.30pm to 8.30pm (7.30pm on Sundays). In Lechlade, the New Inn Hotel on the Market Place has rooms and a restaurant that serves every day: lunch from noon to 2.30pm (3pm on Sundays) and dinner from 6pm to 8.30pm, until 8.45pm on Fridays and Saturdays (from 5.45pm on Saturdays) and 8pm on Sundays.

Parking and dogs

The leaflet gives no parking, buses or dog rules. Walkers on our shorter loop from Lechlade to St John's Lock report town-centre parking limited to 2 hours and a riverside pay-and-display car park a short walk away, and cattle and geese loose beside the river at times. With pastures and three stiles on the way, a dog needs a lead near stock; our guide to walking the Cotswolds with a dog has the rules.

More on the upper Thames

Lechlade has a closed church, a manor 3 miles off and two more river walks for a second day. In the town, St Lawrence's is a Grade I church largely rebuilt in the fifteenth century, where Shelley wrote verses in the churchyard in 1815; it has been closed for restoration since January 2026 and the parish expects it to reopen in time for Christmas 2026, with services moved meanwhile to the Memorial Hall and the Baptist church. Kelmscott Manor, William Morris's house, is 3 miles from Lechlade. Up the Coln, the river valley walk from Quenington to Fairford is 5.75 miles, and the loop from Eastleach follows the River Leach to Akeman Street. The leaflet (opens in a new tab) has the grid references for each turn.