The Aust Ferry was a ferry service that operated across the River Severn in Gloucestershire, England, between the villages of Aust and Beachley. See also Merchant ship A ferry is a form of transport usually a Boat or Ship, used to carry (or ferry) passengers and For other rivers named "Severn" see Severn River. The River Severn ( Welsh: Afon Hafren, Latin History See also History of Gloucestershire Gloucestershire is a historic county mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 10th century England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Aust is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is near the eastern end of the Severn Bridge, which was built in 1966 to carry the M4 Although the ferry loading points were both in England, most regarded the ferry as operating between England and Wales since the border into Wales is only a few miles from Beachley.
It was generally known as the Beachley Ferry on the Welsh side, and the Aust Ferry on the Bristol side. Before the Severn Bridge was opened in 1966, it was the only crossing of the estuary for road traffic between the West Country and South Wales below Gloucester, thus allowing cars to avoid a 60 mile road journey. For the Ontario community see Severn Bridge Ontario Not to be confused with Second Severn Crossing The The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region South Wales (De Cymru is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south and Mid Wales and West Wales Gloucester (ˈɡlɒstɚ) is a city, district and County town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England.
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History
The passage of the Severn between Aust and Beachley was probably in use from antiquity and was long the chief route between south west England and Wales. It was recorded in the 12th century when the de Clares, lords of Tidenham, granted quittance of the passage to the monks of Tintern, and was evidently much used in 1405 when great numbers of the English and Welsh were said to resort to the nearby chapel of St. The de Clare family of Norman lords were associated with the Welsh Marches, Suffolk, Tonbridge and Ireland. Tidenham is a village and Civil parish in the Forest of Dean of west Gloucestershire, England, close to the Welsh border Tintern (Tyndyrn is a Village on the west bank of the River Wye in Monmouthshire, Wales, close to the border with England, at about Twrog. The manor of Tidenham retained rights over the passage, and received rents from the parishes of Aust and Beachley, until the 19th century. [1]
The journey, a distance of over a mile at a point where the tides run swiftly, was a dangerous one, and its reputation, the roughness of the water, and the smallness of the boats deterred Daniel Defoe from making the crossing from the Aust side early in the 18th century. Daniel Defoe (1659/1661 — April 24, 1731 was an English Writer, Journalist, and Pamphleteer, who gained enduring fame for He referred to it as an ugly, dangerous, and very inconvenient ferry. [2] By that time, ferry crossings from the New Passage, between Redwick near Pilning and Sudbrook on the Welsh side, rivalled the Aust passage, which became known as the Old Passage. New Passage is a small hamlet in South Gloucestershire, located on the banks of the Severn estuary near the village of Pilning. Pilning is a village in South Gloucestershire, England, close to Redwick and Severn Beach. Sudbrook is a Village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom.
In 1825 a new era opened with the formation of the Old Passage Ferry Association, sponsored by the Duke of Beaufort, as Lord of Tidenham. The company built stone piers on both banks, and commissioned a steamboat which began to ply in 1827, with a second one five years later, although sailing boats also continued to be used. A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving a Propeller By virtue of these improvements the company achieved the transfer of most of the cross-Severn mail routes from the rival New Passage. [1] However, the passage remained dangerous. The Beachley-Aust ferry was lost with all hands on 1 September 1839. The same thing happened on 12 March 1844; the master, James Whitchurch was the son of the captain lost in 1839. [3]
The advent of railways, in particular the opening of the South Wales railway in 1852, the Severn Railway Bridge in 1879 and then the Severn tunnel in 1886, brought a sharp decrease in traffic; both the steamboats were scrapped by 1860 and eventually the service was closed altogether. The Great Western Railway ( GWR) was a British railway company and a notable example of Civil engineering, linking London with the West The Severn Railway Bridge was a railway Bridge in Gloucestershire that used to cross the tidal River Severn from Sharpness to Lydney The Severn Tunnel ( Welsh: Twnnel Hafren) is a Railway Tunnel in the United Kingdom, linking South Gloucestershire in the [1]
The car ferry
The ferry gained a new lease of life, however, with the growth of motor traffic, and a service was re-opened in 1926. Between 1931 and 1966 a ferry service was operated by Enoch Williams of the Old Passage Severn Ferry Company Ltd. Initially this was only able to transport passengers with bicycles and motorbikes, but by 1934 the Severn Queen was launched as a car ferry. Each ferry was able to carry just 17 cars. [4] The ferry timetable was notoriously affected by the huge tidal range on the Severn. It was unable to operate at low tide and at very high tides. The last ferry crossing occurred the day before the first Severn Bridge opened. For the Ontario community see Severn Bridge Ontario Not to be confused with Second Severn Crossing The
The Martin Scorsese film No Direction Home about the life of Bob Dylan has a promotional shot of Dylan standing in front of the Aust ferry terminal in May 1966, not long before it closed for good [5]. No Direction Home is a Documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th century American Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman, May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter author poet and painter who has been a major
The last remaining ferry boat, the "Severn Princess" which had been launched in 1959, was found wrecked and abandoned in Ireland in 1999 by Dr. Richard Jones, the grandson of Enoch Williams, and returned to Beachley in 2003. As of February 2007, the Severn Princess was resting on the west bank of the River Wye in Chepstow, beneath the railway bridge [6]. This article is about the river that flows along or close to the Anglo-Welsh border Chepstow (Cas-gwent is a town in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. The Chepstow railway bridge was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1852 A preservation group exists to restore the ship [7].
Several older roadsigns around central Bristol (in 2007) still show directions to "Aust Ferry", but with the word "ferry" painted out [8].
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References
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