The first pound lock at Iffley (and one of the first two on the Thames) was built by the Burcot Commission, set up in 1624 to improve navigation up to Oxford. The site is on the eastern stream; a western stream runs behind the adjoining meadows. In 1774, a new lock was built, and in 1810, a lock house was added on its western side. Between the 1830s and 1880s, there were plans to abolish the lock, thought to be a cause of back-flooding and waterborne disease in Oxford's riverside parishes. In the 1870s a main sewer for Oxford was built through Iffley to Littlemore; this improved public health and may have weakened the anti-lock argument. The plans were scrapped. In 1924, the lock was rebuilt and the layout altered; the present lock house, on the eastern bank, dates from then.

Until 1974 this stream of the river was the boundary between Oxfordshire and Berkshire; archaeology indicates that in early times this stream was much narrower and Iffley was an early crossing-point. River traffic is still important but working barges have largely given way to pleasure and sporting craft.

Click on the diagram below for link to enlargement.