Editing River Thames (section)

===Middle Ages===
A Romano-British settlement grew up north of the confluence, partly because the site was naturally protected from attack on the east side by the [[River Cherwell]] and on the west by the River Thames. This settlement dominated the pottery trade in what is now central southern England, and pottery was distributed by boats on the Thames and its tributaries.

Competition for the use of the river created the centuries-old conflict between those who wanted to dam the river to build millraces and fish traps and those who wanted to travel and carry goods on it. Economic prosperity and the foundation of wealthy monasteries by the [[Anglo-Saxons]] attracted unwelcome visitors and by around AD 870 the [[Vikings]] were sweeping up the Thames on the tide and creating havoc as in their destruction of [[Chertsey Abbey]].

[[File:London Bridge (1616) by Claes Van Visscher.jpg|thumb|A 1616 engraving by [[Claes Van Visscher]] showing the [[Old London Bridge]], with St Mary's Overie (over-the-river), now [[Southwark Cathedral]] in the foreground]]

Once [[William I of England|King William]] had won total control of the strategically important Thames Valley, he went on to invade the rest of England. He had many castles built, including those at [[Wallingford Castle|Wallingford]], [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]], [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]] and most importantly the [[Tower of London]]. Many details of Thames activity are recorded in the [[Domesday Book]]. The following centuries saw the conflict between king and barons coming to a head in AD 1215 when [[John, King of England|King John]] was forced to sign [[Magna Carta]] on an island in the Thames at [[Runnymede]]. Among a host of other things, this granted the barons the right of Navigation under Clause 23.

Another major consequence of John's reign was the completion of the multi-piered [[London Bridge]], which acted as a barricade and barrage on the river, affecting the tidal flow upstream and increasing the likelihood of the river freezing over. In [[Tudor period|Tudor]] and [[Stuart period|Stuart]] times, various kings and queens built magnificent riverside palaces at [[Hampton Court Palace|Hampton Court]], [[Kew]], [[Richmond on Thames]], [[Whitehall]] and [[Greenwich]].

As early as the 1300s, the Thames was used to dispose of waste matter produced in the city of London, thus turning the river into an open sewer. In 1357, [[Edward III]] described the state of the river in a proclamation: "... dung and other filth had accumulated in divers places upon the banks of the river with ... fumes and other abominable stenches arising therefrom."<ref name="autogenerated2007">Peter Ackroyd, Thames: The Biography, New York: Doubleday, 2007. "Filthy River"</ref>

The growth of the population of London greatly increased the amount of waste that entered the river, including human excrement, animal waste from slaughter houses, and waste from manufacturing processes. According to historian Peter Ackroyd, "a public lavatory on London Bridge showered its contents directly onto the river below, and latrines were built over all the tributaries that issued into the Thames."<ref name="autogenerated2007"/>