Flush Bracket 6: Gatehampton Railway Bridge   

Flush Bracket on N.E. face of railway bridge over River Thames, S.W. from Gatehampton Farm [2GL]; E angle, NE pier of railway bridge - another early description of the location reads "on abutment wall of railway bridge (NE face) over River Thames NW of Pumping Station".

Location
Grid reference: SU 6060 7959.
Landranger 175: Reading & Windsor, Henley-on-Thames & Bracknell.
Structure: Bridge.
Waypoint: FB6.

Neighbouring Flush Brackets

G3418	Thames Grove 428.02m to the southwest.
G3417	Lower Basildon, Oxford Lodge 1.30km to the southeast.
G3419	Streatley, The Beeches 1.64km to the northwest.
7	Cleeve Mill 1.91km to the northwest.
G1793	Goring, Mount Cottages 1.92km to the north.

The nearest fundamental bench mark is Wallingford, 8.80km to the north.

Second Geodetic Levelling, England & Wales (1912-21)
This flush bracket was used during the Second geodetic levelling, England & Wales, and was levelled with a height of 136.9760 feet [41.7503 metres] above mean sea level (Newlyn datum). It was included on the Basingstoke to Wallingford levelling line. The surveyor's description was Flush Bracket on N.E. face of railway bridge over River Thames, S.W. from Gatehampton Farm.

Logged Visits
Logged on 28th February 2008 by RHW. Grid reference: SU 6060 7959. Condition: Good.
NW abutment, E angle NE face, just N of railway fence. Easy access from towpath. No immediate danger of becoming reburied.

Logged on 17th August 2007 by RogerTempleman. Condition: Good.
Pleasant walk beside the Thames!

Logged on 6th June 2007 by jochta. Condition: Good.
Happened to be passing through on a visit to the nearby pumping station. The FB was on plain show and you could see the recent excavations. It is on the NE face of the bridge wall. Lucky it wasn't any deeper!

Logged on 7th May 2007 by dal. Condition: Good.
Impressive excavation. Very nice condition.

Logged on 28th April 2007 by lackofluke. Condition: Good.
Wy1iec0y0te has certainly made a good job of digging this one out; it was still clear when I got to it. It really is in good condition considering it has spent years being covered by gravel. Anyway, it's good to put this one to rest and to know that more than half of the nine monodigital 2GL FBs survive.

Logged on 24th April 2007 by Wy1iec0y0te. Grid reference: SU 6060 7959. Condition: Good.
Hand dug and exposed today. Was covered by about 50cm of ballast.
The Plate is in very good condition,
located on the North Abutment on the North East side, 4" (100mm) from the corner on the "straight" retaining wall. For future excavating purposes it's is just 1 brick below the bottom of the top roundel adjacent to it.
To my knowledge it was last used around 1990 by Thames Water who did pipeline works in the area as is indicated on a record drawing.
I assume the covering ballast was from the railway engineering works, topping up the shoulders to the tracks etc. I have left it exposed for now but over time the stone will wash down again.
Lackofluke supplied photos to OSBM4.Damn he's quick. ;-))Thanks for the acknowledgement luke

enjoy

Logged on 3rd March 2007 by lackofluke. Condition: Couldn't find it.
I passed this way last week on my way between 8 and 4, but didn't bother logging a visit since I didn't do anything other than confirm that you really would need a suitable digging implement. I returned this weekend, digging implement in hand, to see if I could emulate dal's recent successes with _26 and _30 by finding this one.

Alas I didn't find it. Nor can I say with any conviction that it has gone. My trowel could not make much of a dent in the 2-3ft of gravelly spoil up against a roundel on the bridge. Furthermore I can't be entirely sure that it is safe to remove the spoil. The roundel by the spoil does not look in quite as good shape as others on the bridge. Perhaps it is acting as ballast to stop the roundel collapsing?

This FB is listed in the OS benchmarks database, as E ANG NE PIER RLY BR. This confirms that the FB is/was on the north bank of the river. So, if nothing else, we know we have been looking in the right place. I don't know if LandLine, MasterMap or large-scale OS maps can tell us anything more about its location. As far as I can see it might be on the roundel, or it might be on the 'flat' part of the E face of the bridge.

If someone wants to make a serious attempt at finding this one, I recommend they take a look at LandLine/MasterMap/large-scale maps, bring along suitable digging implement(s) and ask Network Rail in advance if there is any reason for the heap of spoil to be there. A metal detector may also come in useful.

Logged on 26th August 2006 by dal. Condition: Couldn't find it.
Nothing to add. If anyone fancies having a dig, I suggest waiting until the nettles die back.

Logged on 11th March 2006 by lackofluke. Condition: Couldn't find it.
Couldn't see it. It may be behind a heap of spoil beside the northeasternmost abutment of the bridge. Perhaps it's worth a return visit with a suitable digging implement? Nonetheless it is splendidly echoey under the bridge - much fun to be had making noises and listening to the echoes!

Logged on 14th August 2004 by jochta. Condition: Couldn't find it.
BM is shown on MasterMap but I suspect this is buried under ballast from the railway line.