View source for Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
[[File:Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry.jpg|thumb|right|The ferry seen from the Weybridge bank.]]
[[File:Shepperton Ferry.jpg|thumb|right|The ferry seen from the Shepperton bank; the arched bridge in the background links [[D'Oyly Carte Island]] to the south bank.]]
The '''Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry''' is a pedestrian and cycle [[ferry]] service across the [[River Thames]] in [[Surrey]], England. The service has operated almost continuously for over 500 years.
==Connected communities and landmarks==
The ferry runs from [[Shepperton]] on the north bank of the river to [[Weybridge]] on the south bank. It provides a crossing for the [[Thames Path]], and is the only ferry on route of the path itself. Three public houses are within 300 metres of the ferry, two on the south bank and two of which focus on their restaurants, one of which is a [[listed building]] and was the home of the Dutch Ambassador.<ref name=Callum_2022>{{cite news |last= Marius |first= Callum |date= 19 February 2022 |title= The 500-year-old ferry service where you ring a bell and a wooden boat takes you across the River Thames |work= My London |url= https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/500-year-old-ferry-service-23104461 |access-date= 16 March 2023 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.thegoodpubguide.co.uk/pub/search?name=&location=TW17+9LJ&distance=1&lat=51.3823972&lng=-0.45971829999996316 Good Pub Guide] Accessed 2015-04-07</ref>
==Operation==
The ferry operates from 0800 on weekdays, 0900 on Saturdays, and 1000 on Sundays. Service finishes at 1700 to 1730 in winter and 1800 in summer. Operation is on request and intending passengers should ring the bell provided on each side of the river. Tickets can be bought in the Ferry Coffee Shop or on the ferry itself. When the ferry is not in service, the nearest alternative is to cross the river downstream at [[Walton Bridge]], a round-trip distance of some {{convert|3|mi}} on foot, further by car.<ref name=Callum_2022/>
The ferry has operated on different vessels for over 500 years discounting a 26-year-break before 1986.  Exceptional expense and a very low housing density in the immediate area prohibited a proposed replacement by a long, unsupported by piers, footbridge.  The river was made fully lock-controlled along these reaches.  Before 1815 Shepperton at its Lower Halliford neighbourhood was one of the first fording places of the Thames.<ref>[http://www.spelthorne.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=2344&p=0 Shepperton Conservation Area Preservation and Enhancement Proposals] at 2.1, R. Fairgrieve, 1994, [[Borough of Spelthorne]]</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Weybridge – Shepperton Ferry: Information & Timetable |url= https://www.allaboutweybridge.co.uk/shops-services/weybridge-shepperton-ferry-across-river-thames |publisher= All about Weybridge |access-date= 16 March 2023 }}</ref>
==In film, fiction and the media==
In fiction, the Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry is the scene of the first confrontation between the British military, six twelve-pound artillery pieces, and the Martians, five fighting-machines, that the protagonist witnesses in [[H. G. Wells]]' [[science fiction]] [[novel]] ''[[The War of the Worlds]]''. A Martian is destroyed by a direct hit from an artillery shell, and its comrades use their heat rays to wreak vengeance on the fleeing crowds waiting to cross the ferry.<ref>{{cite book | title = War of the Worlds | chapter = Chapter 12 - What I saw of the destruction of Weybridge and Shepperton | url = http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds/Book_1/Chapter_12 | first = H.G | last = Wells }}</ref>
==See also==
*[[Crossings of the River Thames]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{river item box|table=start
|river=[[River Thames]]
|upstream=[[Chertsey Bridge]] (road)
|downstream=[[Walton Bridge]] (road)
}}{{river item box|table=end
|river=[[Thames Path]]
|upstream = northern bank <br>[[Staines Bridge]]
|downstream = southern bank<br>[[Hampton Court Bridge]]
|thisis = '''Shepperton to Weybridge Ferry''' <br> (alternative [[Walton Bridge]])}}
{{coord|51.382355|-0.456812|type:landmark_region:GB|display=title}}
[[Category:River Thames ferries]]
[[Category:Transport in Surrey]]