Sonning Eye

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Print of Sonning Bridge (1799), linking Sonning Eye (left) with Sonning (right)

Sonning Eye is a hamlet on the Oxfordshire side of the River Thames, opposite the village of Sonning in England and linked by the historic brick-arched Sonning Bridge and the more modern Sonning Backwater Bridges. It lies off the B478 road that now bypasses most of Sonning Eye.

Sonning derives from the Viking name Sunna and Eye literally means island (cf. eyot) since it is based around a small gravel mound surrounded by the river's flood plain. There is also a true island between two branches of the river, where The Mill at Sonning, an 18th century watermill now a converted dinner theatre, is located, with the millrace running through what is now the bar area.

The hamlet is part of the civil parish of Eye & Dunsden, with the villages of Dunsden Green and Playhatch, at the very southernmost tip of Oxfordshire, between the towns of Reading and Henley-on-Thames. Before 1866, it formed part of the Oxfordshire section of Sonning civil parish. At the heart of Sonning Eye is a conservation area and there are a number of notable Grade II listed buildings including several historic barns that have now been converted for modern use. One house has some excellent William De Morgan tiles.

Sonning Eye is surrounded by the alluvial flood plain of the River Thames, much of which has been extracted for gravel, forming a number of lakes. In particular, a rowing lake has now been formed, named the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake, after Olympic oarmen Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent. Other local sports include sailing and water skiing.

Also on the riverside near the Sonning Backwater Bridges is the French Horn, a luxury hotel and restaurant. There is a small public car park here, a place to launch small boats, and a grass area by the river bank that is popular with fishermen.

Position: grid reference SU751760

Nearby towns and cities: Henley, Reading

Nearby villages: Dunsden Green, Playhatch, Shiplake, Sonning