3-066-007 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

A sketch at Henley Regatta, [Oxfordshire], 1874. 'That beautiful piece of the river, from Henley Bridge...down to the islet nearly opposite Fawley Court and Remenham, beneath the wooded cliffs of Park Place, has this week been made the scene of the annual contest among English amateur boatmen. The weather on Wednesday and Thursday, though bright at some times of the day, was unfortunately spoilt by violent stormy fits; but there was a pleasant hour for the more fortunate spectators who chanced to escape a wetting. Our front-page Engraving shows the enjoyable position of such a holiday party of gentlefolk on the margin of our gracious Thames, which, from Henley down to Windsor - ay, down to Weybridge and Walton - is as fair a stream, with banks as fair in cultured rural beauty, as any English scenery we know; nor would we consent to disparage the rather suburban attractions of Richmond and Hampton Court. The business of the Henley Regatta may be left to the commentator on "National Sports" in his next weekly chronicle of such performances. Our present aim is to bear witness, as we have often done before, to the charms of the Royal English River that flows through these metropolitan shires'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.