The Thames Barge Driving Race under oars' or "sweeps" and ride tidal river currents alone, up river. The event commemorates the skills of lightermen who moved freight this way along the Thames up until the 1930s and in a wider context it encourages ongoing interest in moving cargo via water and as a way to recruit younger people back into river trades.The teams are normally made up of employees of Thames Lighterage companies, Port of London Authority or are sponsored by local businesses. The best places to view the race are Tower Bridge, London Bridge and Westminster Bridge. During the 1970s Britain suffered a major
Osney Bridge navigation channel of the river, and the bridge became a serious obstruction to navigation by the mid 19th century. In 1885 the central arch collapsed leaving massive piers Osney Bridge has the lowest headroom of any across the navigable Thames, and as such limits the size of boats that can travel past it without having to be removed from the water and placed upstream of the bridge. Osney Bridge Osney Bridge is a road bridge across the River Thames in Oxford, England, built in 1889 to replace a stone bridge which collapsed in 1885. It carries the Botley Road (A420)