on the eastern bank to the north-east is the historic town of dorchester with its ancient abbey. the river follows a long bend round to clifton hampden. here it goes under clifton hampden bridge and past the historic barley mow public house, as mentioned in the book, "three men in a boat". after the bridge and before clifton lock, the river divides between the old river course, past long wittenham; with the navigation following the clifton cut. the river meander is now a weirstream and has almost no public footpath access.