Kepax Ferry, Barbourne, Worcester

by H W Gwilliam

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 time immemorial, but evidence points to the fact that it started about a hundred years ago, when Barbourne Park, a private estate which stretched from Barbourne Brook beyond Park Avenue, was sold and built up. On the river side were six cottages, all occupied by a Mr. Bailey and his six married daughters. Mr. Bailey had a boat and, as it was on the very popular footpath from Pitchcroft to the meadows of Camp, he began to ferry people across the river. A Mr. Barnard, who knew it well, wrote in 1929, ‘I cannot remember ever hearing anyone calling it by the name of Kepax. When I was a boy the ferry was invariably spoken of as ‘Bailey’s Boat’. Kepax and Camp ferries, with the riverside paths, made Hallow and Camp very popular in Victorian and Edwardian times.

Copyright © H W Gwilliam 1982



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Severn Ferries and Fords in Worcestershire Worcestershire History Encyclopaedia