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'''Draft new content''': |
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'''Goring Gap Wiki page content to 2024-01-16''': |
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{{Short description|River Thames valley in south east England}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} |
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{{Use British English|date=March 2017}} |
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{{Distinguish|text = the protected gap between [[Goring-by-Sea]] and [[Ferring]]}} |
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The '''Goring Gap''' is the narrow valley, occupied by the [[River Thames]], between the [[Chiltern Hills]] and the [[Berkshire Downs]]. It is approximately {{convert|10|mi}} upstream of [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] and {{convert|27|mi}} downstream of [[Oxford]]. The river here delimits [[Berkshire]] from [[Oxfordshire]]. The village of [[Goring-on-Thames|Goring]], on the Oxfordshire side of the Thames, gives its name to the gap. |
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==Formation== |
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{{Annotated image |
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| image = Wales,_Central_and_S_England_slope_map_50_m.png#%7B%7Bint%3Afiledesc%7D%7D |
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| image-width = 1500 |
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| image-left = -860 |
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| image-top = -450 |
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| width = 300 |
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| height = 250 |
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| float = right |
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| annotations = <!-- empty or not, this must be included --> |
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| caption = Elevation: slope map with the Goring Gap in the southwest (bottom left) between the white hills. Click for broader map and to enable varied magnification. |
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}} |
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Half a million years ago the chalk hills mentioned formed a continuous [[escarpment]], thus the Thames flowed northeastwards to reach the [[North Sea]] sharing the catchment of the [[Great Ouse]]. A headwater of the latter still comes within {{convert|2|miles}} of low-gradient Thames tributary the [[River Cherwell|Cherwell]] in an almost flat landscape. During maxima of the recent [[ice age]]s, the plain of the lower course froze, leaving all of northern England covered in ice sheets. The sheets grew to reach a likely previous escape, an overflow via the deep valleys of the [[River Bulbourne|Bulbourne]]-[[River Gade|Gade]], upper [[River Colne, Hertfordshire|Colne]], [[River Stort|Stort]] and [[River Stour, Suffolk|Stour]]. The Thames was thus halted, in a lake submerging the plain of Oxford: a winter-frozen but summer-thawed type. This eventually became so high that it overtopped the escarpment and cut a new route through the chalk, creating the Goring Gap. |
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Since the ice sheets receded, the Thames has continued its new course – that is, one through Berkshire, to soon meet the [[River Kennet]] which had already carved out the lower Thames valley.<ref name=icgg>{{cite web | url = http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/587934.PDF | title = Geology and Soils | publisher = Imperial College | author = Michael J Crawley | access-date = 21 March 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070630151108/http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/587934.PDF | archive-date = 30 June 2007 | url-status = dead}}</ref> |
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==Context and localities== |
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The Goring Gap constricts the Thames, narrowing the otherwise broad valley. Downstream lower hills almost face each other at [[Henley-on-Thames]]. |
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Steep hills rise southwards to [[Lardon Chase, the Holies and Lough Down|Lardon Chase]], the nearest section of the Berkshire Downs while the [[Chiltern Hills]] rise to the north. The twin villages of Goring and [[Streatley, Berkshire|Streatley]] face each other at the heart of the gap.<ref>{{Cite web|title = GEOGRAPHY & GEOLOGY|url = http://www.visitgoringandstreatley.co.uk/geography--geology.html|website = Visit Goring and Streatley|access-date = 2016-01-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = The Goring Gap|url = http://www.savegoringgap.org.uk/the-goring-gap.html|website = Save the Goring Gap|access-date = 2016-01-23}}</ref> The [[Thames Path]] local section between Reading and Oxford, and the [[Ridgeway National Trail|Ridgeway]] (local successor to the [[Icknield Way]]) cross the Thames here. |
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The Goring Gap forms an important communications and transportation corridor. Besides the river itself, which is now limited to navigation for leisure purposes, the gap accommodates the [[A329 road]] linking Reading and Oxford, along with the [[Great Western Main Line|Great Western Main Line railway]] from [[London]] to [[Bristol]] and [[South Wales]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=2006212&jid=GEO&volumeId=63&issueId=01&aid=2006208|title = THE GEOLOGY OF THE THAMES VALLEY NEAR GORING, as illustrated by the Model in the Museum of Practical Geology.|last = Sir A. STRAHAN, K.B.E., F.R.S.|date = 1924|journal = Reports & Proceedings—Geologists Association. Mem. Geol. Surv.| volume=63 | issue=1 | pages=43 | doi=10.1017/S0016756800002429 |access-date = 2016-01-23}}</ref> |
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==Gallery== |
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{{Panorama |
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|image = Goring Gap.jpg |
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|height = 230 |
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|alt = View over tree-covered hills on a sunny evening. Houses of a large settlement are visible between the trees. |
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|caption = The Goring Gap on a summer's evening from [[Lardon Chase]] |
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}} |
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<gallery> |
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File:GoringGap01.JPG|A tree-lined part of the Thames in the Goring Gap. |
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File:Goring Gap in winter.jpg|The river and gap seen from [[Lardon Chase, the Holies and Lough Down|Lardon Chase]] on a snowy January day, with the [[Chiltern Hills|Chilterns]] in the background |
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</gallery> |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist|30em}} |
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==External links== |
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*{{commons category-inline|Goring Gap}} |
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{{Coord|51|31|23|N|01|08|30|W|region:GB_type:landmark|display=title}} |
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[[Category:Landforms of Berkshire]] |
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[[Category:Landforms of Oxfordshire]] |
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[[Category:Geology of Oxfordshire]] |
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[[Category:Geology of Berkshire]] |
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[[Category:Transport in Berkshire]] |
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[[Category:Transport in Oxfordshire]] |
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[[Category:Chiltern Hills]] |
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[[Category:Geography of the River Thames]] |
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[[Category:Landforms of England]] |
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