Being in such a vital crossing point on the Thames, a settlement at Streatley has existed for a long time; it was mentioned in the Domesday book. Neolithic tools have been found at the base of Lough Down and Bronze Age artefacts in the village. A Roman milestone is still present at the Bull crossroads. Long before the bridge was built a ferry used to operate between the two villages. Sixty people were drowned at Streatley in 1674 when a ferry capsized in the flash lock. The iron wheel pump, on the forecourt of "The Bull", was the only reliable water source in the great freeze of 1895, and water was sold from this point for sixpence a bucket.