Rowing from Where?

Extract from Chapter IV of A History of St Catherine's Rowing 1875-1999

It is probably the case that St Catherine's first oarsmen, who repaired to the river for their exercise - shades of Mr. Verdant Green in Cuthbert Bede's nineteenth century classic - walked, ran or cycled, ready-changed, from St Catharine's Club in Catte Street, down the High, passing the Delegates at No.74, to Rose Lane and across Christ Church Meadow not to Hall's but the ramshackle dinginess of Salter's Yard at Folly Bridge; here the lovable Charlie and, in the fifties, Tom Bourne, looked after men and boats and kept a protective eye over a succession of barges provided by the Society.

In the 1880's, when there was enough funding to rent it, headquarters became the Toll Gate House on the Bridge itself. At what stage that `home' was relinquished is not known, but it was almost certainly in 1908 when the first barge was purchased from Wadham - largely by the subscriptions of old members.

Photo: The former Toll Gate House on Folly Bridge (nowadays a newsagents), which served as the Club's headquarters from 1880 until the 1900's.