| Swift Ditch | |
|---|---|
 Culham old bridge crossing the Swift Ditch just above its outflow to the Thames | |
| Details | |
| Location | Left bank of the River Thames |
| Opened | c. 1055 |
| Length | 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) |
| North end | Opposite Thrupp, half way between Nuneham Railway Bridge and Abingdon Lock |
| South end | Just below Culham Bridge |
The Swift Ditch is a 2 km (1.2 mi) long artificial channel that formed a short-cut for river traffic to and from Oxford, across a meander of the River Thames in England. It was formerly the primary navigation channel. With the main river, it creates Andersey Island on the left bank of the Thames opposite Abingdon-on-Thames. Within a poem published in 1632, the Water Poet John Taylor wrote:[1]
At Abingdon the shoals are worse and worse
That Swift Ditch seems to be the better course