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Kepax Ferry, Barbourne, Worcester

  • 16 Jan 2012
  • Bridges and Ferries
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Kepax Ferry was about a hundred yards north of the old tower of the Worcester Waterworks. Edward Corbett, in his article on Claines, says that this ferry dates from times immemorial, but evidence points to the fact that it started well over a hundred years ago, when Barbourne Park, a private estate which stretched from Barbourne Brook beyond Park Avenue, was sold and the land built up. On the east bank of the river were six cottages, all occupied by the Bailey family, Mr.Bailey and his six married daughters. Mr.Bailey had a boat, and as his house was on the popular footpath from Pitchcroft to the meadows of Camp, he began to ferry people across the river. Mr.Bailey, who knew it well, wrote in 1929, 'I cannot remember ever hearing anyone calling it by the name of Kepex. When I was a boy the ferry was invariably spoken of as "Bailey's Boats". Kepax and Camp Ferries made Hallow and Camp very popular in Victorian and Edwardian times for the citizens in the north of the City strolling along the riverside paths up the meadows.