Thames Conservancy

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A boundary marker of the Thames Conservancy at grid reference TQ092664 about 100 metres upstream from the bridge at Walton-on-Thames.

The Thames Conservancy was a historical body responsible for the management of the River Thames in England. It was founded in 1857 and, although the length of the river it was responsible for varied over time, at the maximum extent it controlled the river from Cricklade in Wiltshire to the sea at Yantlet Creek on the Isle of Grain.

The Thames Conservancy was originally formed to manage the river, and to own the bed of the river, between the town of Staines, just to the west of London, and Yantlet Creek. This stretch of river had long been claimed by the City of London, and the creation of the Thames Conservancy was one result of the resolution of a long standing property dispute between the City and The Crown.

At this time the management of the bulk of the upstream river was the responsibility of the Thames Navigation Commission. However in 1866 it was considered expedient to put the navigation of the whole of the River under one management. The Thames Conservancy took over management of the river from Cricklade to Yantlet Creek, a distance of 177 miles (285 km). It should be noted that the Thames Conservancy did not acquire the ownership of the river bed for the section above Staines, this remained (and remains) the property of the riparian owners.

At the end of the 19th century the advance in the size of ships required that a single body take responsibility for the port of London. As a result of a Royal Commission in 1900, the powers of the Thames Conservancy below the tidal limit at Teddington Lock were transferred to the Port of London Authority, which commenced its duties on March 31, 1909. The Thames Conservancy remained responsible for the non-tidal river between Cricklade and Teddington.

On 1 April 1974, the Thames Conservancy was subsumed into the new Thames Water Authority, although much of the organisation remained intact as the authority's Thames Conservancy Division. However when Thames Water was privatised in 1990 the river management functions passed to the new National Rivers Authority and in 1996 to the Environment Agency.