Rowing in Eights week past the college boat houses.
A beautiful summer’s day
Rowing at the university seems to have been in existence since the 1700s. The first formalised ‘Summer Eights’ racing is recorded as beginning in 1815, a few weeks before the Battle of Waterloo. Brasenose claims the bragging rights of being the first college to be ‘Head of River’ beating Jesus College. By 1826, more codified rules for summer eights had been drawn up and it became an annual event.
By 1829, Oxford University Boat Club had formed and began racing Cambridge university.
Rowers on River Thames in Autumn
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