 Welcome to the latest in a series of webinars produced by volunteers from the Cambridge Museum of Technology. The museum was founded 50 years ago with the intention of preserving the building and machinery from the old sewage pumping station in Cambridge, and to act as a base for exploring the wider industrial heritage of the city. Our mission is to enable as many people as possible to explore, enjoy and learn about Cambridge's industrial heritage. We recently completed a major multi-million poundary development in partnership with the National Lottery Fund and Historic England, which provides modern visitor facilities and exhibition spaces and allows the museum to run a varied programme of education and community programmes as well as family events. The museum relies on a dedicated team of staff, volunteers and trustees, and we're always looking to add to our team of volunteers. We welcome people with all skills and backgrounds, so if you can offer your time and expertise, please contact us via the website. Today's webinar is free, but as an independent museum, we rely on the generosity of our visitors, both in person and online, to maintain and develop our operations. So please consider supporting us with a donation or sign up to support the museum through your online purchases. Don't forget that you can submit questions throughout this webinar. The audience is in Listen Only mode, but you can type questions in the Q&A panel in your webinar screen, or you can submit an email using the address on screen, or via the museum's social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook. Crossing the Cam by Ferry. Hello, my name is David Stubbings and today I'm combining two of my volunteer roles. As Chairman of Jesterdon Local History Group, I created this talk some 10 years ago and it has been requested by many groups and my talk on the Cambridge Horse Trams is often asked for. I have volunteered for the Cambridge Museum of Technology for about 15 years and I find the museum a good mix of history, technology, practical work and meeting people. I'm giving this talk at the museum, which is right beside the River Cam. Today we have many choices of bridge by which to cross the river. But let's look at a map of the river before the bridges. The map shows the river and here is Cambridge. Here is Mordlin Bridge, also known as the Great Bridge for many years. Downstream there is the A14 road bridge and for the train enthusiasts there's the railway bridge. The shaded areas represent Cambridge and the villages. Today the areas are merged into one big Cambridge, but for hundreds of years they were separate populations with open land between them. Also for many hundreds of years the only bridge across the river Cam was the Great Bridge. We know it as Mordlin Bridge, which is at the bottom castle hill in the centre of Cambridge. Why have public ferries? The answer, it was a long walk without them. If you're a young man in Fendin and you want to go and see your young woman in Chesterton, you obviously go across the ferry. But if you overstay your time, you have to walk a mile into Cambridge and then an extra mile to where you would have taken the ferry. So the ferries made life a lot easier. So they were the public ferries, they were also private ferries. What is the difference between the public ferry and the private ferry? The public ferries were staffed by a full-time ferryman. The public paid a fare to the ferryman who would then wind the ferry across the river. Private ferries were at the commercial boat yards and some of the university rowing club boat houses. The ferry was only operated when somebody from the boat yard or club wanted to cross the river. I presume no fare was paid. I'd like to know more about the private ferries. So if anybody has information, let me know. Here's one picture of the Bannum's private ferry. The buildings in the background there are Bannum's boat yard where they built boats and hired them out. Today the area is Ace Marina and the apartments and Elizabeth Way Bridge is where the crane, the boat yards are in the picture. I think Bannum's moved out of the premises the time the bridge was being built in 1970-71. The bridge builders then used the ferry to get across the river. On completion of the bridge the ferry was lifted out of the water and left on the bankstrog roadway. That was an ideal opportunity taken by two chaps to go and measure the ferry. They created this engineering drawing dated 1972. The ferry is about 15 feet long and about 9 feet wide. It is flat bottoms which will mean it will float in shallow depths of water which could well be the situation at the river bank. The thick line represents the path of the chain. The links of the chain, according to the drawing, were about two inches long, so quite heavy chain. The chain is anchored to the ground on each bank and passes around the winding drum on the ferry. The chain lays on the riverbed when the ferry is not being wound across. The drum is turned by manual effort with a crank handle. The chain wraps around the winding drum with the teeth which engage with the chain. As the drum is turned the chain is pulled in at one end of the ferry and paid out at the other end. The winding drum is very similar technology to the pedals and chain on a bicycle. The chain gives the ferry fixed steering and means of propulsion in any state of the river. Low water, high water, slow flow or fast flow. Let's have a look at the first ferry which is the Plough pub and ferry. Here is the railway bridge, here is Ditten meadows, here is Ditten church and you make your way all the way through Fenditten to the pub and there was the ferry. The Plough pub ferry or Redgrind. Why was it called Redgrind? I don't know why it was called Red. I think the grind part comes from the sound of the chain but there is no winding drum on this ferry you say. This is a punt type ferry which I presume has replaced a former bigger ferry which had a winding drum. See how the ferry juts out into the river. I suspect many a rowing boat has collided. The Plough pub Fenditten. Today the ferry inlet on the pub bank can still be seen. Here is the made up bank for more boats to more and here is the inlet where the ferry used to dock. Moving upstream to the Pike and Eel. Here is the railway bridge. This is Sturbridge Common. The footbridge here goes to the Green Dragon. We'll see that next. Two ferries at the Pike and Eel. Both passenger ferries or foot ferries. Why the need for two ferries? The pub was for many years called the Pike and Eel. But in his last few years it was called the Penny Ferry and operated as a restaurant. In the foreground is the small ferry which is a punt with a winding mechanism installed. The man nearest the bank is standing by the winding mechanism. The punt would carry about six people. Presumably they would stand so the journey could be a bit rocky at times if they moved about. The bigger ferry is purpose made. In this picture there are eight people and a bicycle on board. The photo is of rowing eights going downstream to the start of a race. And spectators are gathered for a good place to see the finish. Note how much the ferry has jut out into the river. I would think there were times when the cocks of the rowing eight was squeezed close to the boat, the ferry, and there was a bit of a collision. After the race the sport of rowing is still very popular on the cam. And in the days before TV and iPhones the rowing races were a big spectacle with hundreds of people to view the event. The finishing post is a bit downstream from the pike and eel. It looks like the last race is over and the spectators are moving on. Some of them want to go to the pub and so take the ferry from Sturbridge Common to the Chesterton side of the camp. The large ferry has about 20 people, a dog and a bicycle on board. Some people are sitting on the bench. The small ferry, pictured left, maybe has 10 standing people on board. And in this picture you can well see the chain pulled taut. Here is the anchor post in the ground pulled taut as the winding mechanism draws the small ferry to the bank. Coloured postcard depicting after the races, a dated September 1908. The wording at the top is at the pike and eel after the races. That is when everyone wants to go on their way. I think there are some six rowing boats. One, two, three, four, five, six. Here is the steam launch. There's the funnel and you see the smoke. There's the awning of the steam launch and you can see the people inside. There's the big ferry. I can't see the small ferry in the picture. The pike and eel, large and small ferries, a coloured postcard again. You can see the pub name on the building and the stall with the red and white stripes attract people to buy some refreshments. But who has right of way? The large passenger ferry you can see docked in the bank, the other side. Small passenger ferry is on the right and is blocking the path of the rowing boat nearest to us. The man with the oars, he's not in a rowing position. He's taking it easy. The man on the ferry is ready with his mop pole to try and avoid the collision. The rowing boat on the far side has open water to carry on rowing and will pass the ferry without the boat's touching. I suspect there are sometimes words spoken between the ferry and the boat who has right of way. We both do tough. The last days. The pub business ceased trading in 2004. The building was used as a restaurant under the name the penny ferry, which recalls that there was a ferry at the pub and that the fare was a penny. This photo is of the pike and eel in 2009 when the threat of emolition was first mooted. The bridge on the bank is over the docking inlet for the large ferry. A demolition is in progress. You can still see the name, the penny ferry. The site now has five houses moving upstream to the Green Dragon, seen here from the ramp of the footbridge. Here is Sturbridge Common. We've just come from the pike and eel there. The Green Dragon pub is still there today. The footbridge and the popular route into town. This is Ferry Lane. The Ferry Lane street nameplate you can see on the wall there. Records the fact that there was a ferry nearby. Chesterton Horse Grind or the Green Dragon ferry. This shows well the two ferries. On the right is the passenger ferry or foot ferry in midstream with the ferryman posing for the camera. On the left is the vehicle ferry or horse grind ferry in its mooring. On the bank three boys wait. They may be playing some game on the ground as one is squatting. A few years later the trees are a little bigger in this photo. The horse grind ferry is being wound across the river. On board is a horse and cart led by a man in a cab. The Green Dragon horse grind was the only vehicle ferry on the stretch of the river. Why was it called a horse grind? Taking the two words separately, grind can be a sound, and I think refers to the sound of the chain going round the winding drum. A very metal on metal sound. A grinding sound would have been familiar to people in the past to sharpen an axe for cutting firewood. Now the deck area of the horse grind ferry is big enough to accommodate the length and width of a horse and cart. And the big area means that the ferry is stable enough in water to not list while carrying the weight of the horse, the weight of the cart, and the weight of the load in the cart and the movement of the horse and cart during loading and unloading. So I think the ferry is referred to as a horse grind because it has the capacity to safely carry a horse and cart and because of the sound the winding drum makes. Note the wooden grip rods under the horse's feet to give hoof hold when the wood was wet and slippery. What sort of vehicle is this? The beer has changed on the pub. There is beef on it, for Bailey and Tebbitt. On the last photo, I couldn't make out the brewer. I think this is a baker's van. And I'm beginning to wonder why it's leaning to one side. It wouldn't have a flat tyre in those days. So perhaps there's the decking that needs some attention. Time to pose. A lazy Sunday afternoon perhaps with young trees on Sturbridge Common. They are now well-mature. Note the chain and the winding mechanism. Obviously not much flow. The ferry is just sitting there. What a nice way to spend a day. Can we put a date on the ferry? A date for the foot ferry and a date for the vehicle ferry. The pub building can give us an idea. It is of note as a long timber-framed range of the 16th century. That is 1520 to 1540. Why the need for a vehicle ferry? Where did the demand come from? Why the big building of the pub? Why is the road so wide? The answer is probably Sturbridge Common. The answer is probably Sturbridge Ffair. Sturbridge Ffair, the origins of the fare, is with the leper chapel. When it was in 1199 King John granted the chapel dispensation to hold a three-day fare to raise money to support the lepers. It was a trading fare to generate money. Entertainment activities would have developed later. The first such fare was held in September 1211 on the land behind the chapel. There was no railway there then. Because of the good transport by river and road, the fare grew in size at its height in 1589. The fare lasted four weeks and was the largest fare in Europe. In the 18th century, the fare began to decline. The final fare was in 1935. It seems reasonable that the need for the vehicle ferry grew out of the need for good road transport to and from the fare. So perhaps a vehicle ferry was created in 1500 or 1600. The foot ferry, perhaps earlier on, perhaps maybe 1400. The foot ferry at Sturbridge Common. Two men, two bicycles and the ferryman. On the common is Sturbridge Ffair. From what little can be seen of the fare, it looks small. So the photo is probably 1930 something. Note the bank is well made to withstand lots of foot traffic and lots of wheels. In other places, the river bank was earth. An interesting photo. Both ferries used as a floating bridge. The vehicle ferry has been taken off its chain and maneuvered to be in line with the foot ferry. Then planks of wood put between the two ferries. So they form a floating bridge. Why has this been done? It may be that at the time of Sturbridge Ffair, there was so many people wanting to cross the river that the hand wound ferries were much too slow. But also observed that the water level in the river has been let down to enable some work on the river bank somewhere. It may be that there was not enough depth of water for the ferries to operate. They would not get to the bank because they would run aground on the riverbed. The man in the shirt sleeves, perhaps he is the ferryman. Old Elf. Going, going. The old ferry at the horse grind. Old Chesterton, which with the coming of the new bridge will soon be a thing of the past. This newspaper cutting illustrates well the bench seat. You can see one person sitting there and two people standing. You can't really have a bench seat on this side because of the winding mechanism. A building work for the bridge in 1935. In this picture, the vehicle ferry has gone, but the passenger ferry remains. And this is what we have today. The Green Dragon Footbridge is a much used route into town. Jollyford Court. Council housing redevelopment in Water Street, Chesterton opened 2017. During the planning stages of this development, the council wrote to me as local history man and asked for suggestions from history. For the name of the houses. And I put forward some ideas and they chose Jollyford Court. Benjamin Jolly, ferryman at the Pyconeal pub and Elf Ford, ferryman at the Green Dragon pub. Moving up stream again. Cut a ferry lane. You can see the street name plate there. So this bridge is known as Cut a Ferry Bridge and replaced the Cut a Ferry. Over the bridge is Midsomer Common. The building on the left is Emmanuel College Boath House. So this pink thing is Elizabeth Way. This is Midsomer Common where the fares are held. Here is Cut a Ferry Bridge. Cut a Ferry Lane. Cut a Ferry Path. And up here is Cut a Ferry Close. Under Elizabeth Way there. There is an underpass. And this is a picture of Cut a Ferry Path. As it gets to the underpass at Elizabeth Way. Why the name Cut a Ferry? Some research by Nick Moyer reveals that there was at some time an area of trees by the river. Trees can be felled and cut up for their wood. So the activity in that area was cutting. So the ferry at that location became known as the Cut a Ferry. You could understand the name as the ferry by the Woodcutter. Here is a picture of the Cut a Ferry. The big building is Emmanuel College Boath House. Built 1896. Here is the ferry. And it's quite likely that the man on the ferry is the ferryman David Dent. And behind him it's quite likely that is his house. So Emmanuel College Boath House on either side has a house. And at some time, presumably after David Dent had retired. The college got hold of the land and they've extended. Their Boath House built a bit on each end. Making a very pleasing proportion of Boath House. The Cut a Ferry. Ah, health and safety. You can see here. The health and safety device, a gas lamp. What you do want is to walk from the land on to the ferry. What you do want to know is as you're going across the river, when the ferry has got to the other side, what you want to avoid is walking on water. And in the dark winter mornings or evenings, the gas lamp would have given you a little bit of light which will enable you to step safely onto the ferry. The after school run. The ferryman is at the hand of the ferryman David Dent. The after school run. The ferryman is at the handle of the chain wheel. There are two passengers and they paid their fare. They have time for a photo. The young man is holding a basket and has a dog with him. Here's the head of the dog, front legs and there's the back. The girl seems to have both knee link trousers and a frock type garment and is wearing a cap. What would the cap represent? In 1928, a bridge was built and the ferry needed no more. Emmanuel Boathouse, as in the previous slides, is off the picture to the right. To student rowers, this bridge is known as Emma Bridge because of its proximity to Emmanuel College Boathouse. The boat in the fall water is one of Bannam's higher fleets. So this bridge can be known as Caterferry Bridge. Some people know it as Emma Bridge. Some people know it as Pi's Bridge. Pi made radios and then black and white TVs. They had a large factory in Hague Road or Camroad as it was and they employed several hundred workers. And many of them used the bridge to go to and from work. That 1928 bridge eventually was showing its age and in 2005, a new bridge was installed. Fort St George pub. The ferry was referred to as Ferry Path or Fort St George ferry or Fort Ferry. Today, the Fort St George pub is on the bank of the River Cam. You may be more familiar with this view of the Fort St George from Midsomer Common where the ferry is held. The pub dates from the 15th century. So a ferry of some sort, presumably a rowing boat, would have been available to get the drinkers to their beer. This is Victoria Avenue Bridge. These are the trees, the conquer trees of Victoria Avenue. The Fort St George pub is the building there and the ferry ran across to Ferry Path. And Ferry Path was then a country footpath. We know it today as Ferry Path. Oh, note the long shape of the Fort St George pub. The pub used to be on an island in the river. There was a branch of the river come round here. So the pub was not in any parish. So the pub did not pay any rates. Ferry Path as a street of houses. This is the other end of the country footpath today. If you stand in front of the old spring pub and look left, as the road turns the corner, you see this end of Ferry Path. Ferry Path was one of the first streets in New Chesterton in the 1880s as Cambridge expanded. The houses started to be built after the enclosure of land in the 1840s. Then the only river crossings were the ferries. The bridges were all in the future. View from the Chesterton bank to the pub. The ferry went between the posts on the near bank to the steps in front of the pub just to the left of the boat. The white building is the Fort St George pub. The house next to it, I wonder who lives there. Over the door there is the sign saying Ferry House. So it is reasonable that the ferry man, Lately Walter Paul, lived there. Higher up on the wall is the terracotta plaque saying Ferry House 1894. 1894, that's the same year that the pumping station opened. The view from the pub to the Ferry Path. With the pub behind the camera looking across the river, the building is Gonville and Keyes Boath House, often referred to as Keyes. The original Boath House was built in 1879. The posts at the end of Ferry Path are in the trees. In the sunshine, with the Boath Houses all around, this looks pleasant. But on a cold, wet winter's morning in, say, 1700, no Boath Houses then, this would have been a very out of town and remote place. If you slipped over, you might have to wait until the next rush hour before somebody helped you. Here's the morning rush hour. There are two people waiting on the bank and about nine on the ferry. Note the platforms at each end of the ferry to form a ramp between the ferry and the bank. When the water was low in the river, the slope of the ramp could be quite steep. Later that morning, perhaps, two more passengers and a bicycle. In the background is one of the commercial Boath Houses. Where you could hire a boat. How much did it cost you to go across the ferry? Walter Paul Lee was the last ferryman. And I gather from a report in Cambridge Evening News in 1972 that during his 40 years of serving, one and a quarter million people had crossed the river with no accidents. That works out to be about 70 people a day. At half a pence, half a D per person, that is an income per day of 35 pence. Say hello for Brady's 5p per day. Seems a good income. But long hours presumably say 7am for people to get to work for eight until some late hour. Presumably every day. So a little social life and few rest days. I suspect that were times in the mid afternoon when you had to go and find the ferryman in his house. The thoughts of George Bridge, 1928, which replaced the ferry. It links Pretorio Road on the left with Midsomer Common. Why replace a ferry with a footbridge that costs many thousands of pounds? I think the answer is speed of getting people across the river. And with Cambridge expanding, more people wanted to cross the river. How long did you take to cross the river by ferry? Let's say there are 12 people waiting on the bank and the ferry arrives empty. I reckon by the time that they paid bought in five minutes to get across the river unborded, that's a total of 10 minutes. So if you've just missed a ferry, you wait the 10 minutes that it takes to travel across the river and travel back again. And then you're 10 minutes, that's a 20 minute journey time. To walk across the bridge you say three minutes. What did the old ferry think of the new bridge? It did not like the new bridge and decided to part this life. A few weeks before the new bridge was opened. It sunk overnight when not in use, so no one was harmed. Moving upstream yet further to Bates Ferry. Here is Victoria Avenue. We've just come from the Fort St George ferry. Now very often a ferry was named after the pub that it served. But I can't see any obvious pub for the Bates ferry to supply with people. Maybe the Jolly Waterman at Mitcham's Corner, which is in the top left. Before Victoria Bridge was built, this was the scene. You could cross the river by Public Ferry operated by William Bates. The road from the riverbank will become Victoria Avenue. The big building is Christ's College Boath House built in 1887 and is still there today in updated form. This photo was taken in 1889, which is the same year as the bridge building started. No on the far right, the health and safety equipment. Very useful for seeing where you put your feet in the dark. Also the post in the ground which tethers the chain approaching the ferry as a black shadow. Which is presumably a person moving during the exposure of the photo. The person on the ferry leaning on the rail is presumably the ferryman William Bates. This is Christ's Boath House in 2013. It's had a makeover since then and the building on the left is now two stories. What is William Bates doing? He has the smart approach as he is wearing a top hat. Most workmen would have worn a flat cap. While waiting, what is he doing? Texting on his mobile phone? How life has moved on. On the right, the building in the distance is the Fort St George pub and its ferry is against the bank. Above Mr Bates' top hat, you can see another ferry with two men on it. I think that is for the boat building business which will be on the left bank here. I think this is the private ferry having crossed the river to the Midsomer Common side. Today we are used to a concrete edge to the bank, but then the bank was in many places earth. When dry, the bank was easy to step onto, but when the bank was wet, could you step onto the bank? Or did you slide back onto the ferry? Bates' ferry was replaced by Victoria Avenue Bridge, which was opened in December 1890. Considering that they started building in November 1889, 13 months building, try doing that today. To recap then, we looked at the Plough pub at Fanditon. There is now no river crossing. We looked at the Pyconeal, which had two ferries. There is now no pub and no river crossing. The Green Dragon pub had two ferries. It now has a footbridge. The Cusser ferry now has a footbridge. The Fortson George pub now a footbridge. Bates' ferry now Victoria Avenue Road Bridge. I hope your future crossing the Can by ferry will be more interesting. Thank you.