George Dant

From 'Cambridge history - a personal view' on the Internet 2003, by C Hadley:

Ferries and Bridges
The "bridge" in "Cambridge" is the Great Bridge (now more commonly known as Magdalene Bridge) or, rather, a distant ancestor. The Romans probably built a bridge on or near this site. Other bridges have followed, of wood, stone, or steel. The Cam today looks relatively tame and easy to cross, but before man came along it was wider and shallower and edged by fen and bog, making it extremely hard to cross. Thus the relatively solid ground in this area made it not just the best but the only place to cross either by ford or by bridge what was quite an effective geographical boundary. Not surprisingly, a town appeared. The Cam is now well supplied with bridges of various kinds, but this is only recently the case. Apart from the Great Bridge most river crossings before the Edwardian period required a ferry, of which there were several. From West to East these were: Bate's Ferry on the site of Victoria Bridge; a ferry by the Fort St.George replaced by a footbridge in 1927; Dant's ferry replaced by the Cutter (aka Pye) footbridge (between Pembroke and Emmanuel Boat Houses); the Horse Grind ferry at Chesterton by the Green Dragon pub; B.Jolley's ferry from the Pike and Eel pub; and the Ditton Plough ferry. All of these were so-called "Grind" ferries, they were pulled across by a chain wound by hand. The Horse Grind ferry was unusual in that the grind was powered by a horse, hence the name. This ferry was the main ferry used for wagons and livestock, with another separate ferry for pedestrians. The adjoining road is still called Ferry Lane despite the fact that the footbridge has been there for over 60 years (since 1935) - similarly there is still a Ferry Path leading to the Fort St.George footbridge. There was a major accident at the Ditton Plough ferry in 1905 when drunken undergraduates tried to climb aboard an already full ferry after the May boat races. It overturned and three women were drowned. The absence of a ferry or bridge on this site means that Fen Ditton is probably harder to get to from the town centre now for cyclists or pedestrians than it was in Edwardian times and before.