There are three Islands in the River Thames near Thames Ditton, Surrey, on the reach above Teddington Lock. Thames Ditton Island, the largest of the three, is 350 yards (320 metres) long and has 47 houses and a population of around 100. The second largest, Boyle Farm Island, has a single house. Swan Island, between the two, is the smallest.
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Henry VIII lived at Hampton Court long before there were any locks. The River Thames was then tidal, at least as far as Sunbury, and there were no bridges. Back then, the usual way from Surrey to the King's residence and the surrounding district was by carriage or cart, down the Thames Ditton High Street, over what is now the Slipway and, at low tide, straight through the ford to the other side. With the tide in, the ferryman would take you over for a groat or two. At that time, the king would be rowed up from Westminster to his place in the country. The last mile or so would have been on a narrowing, twisting creek, especially at low tide.
To effect a grander arrival, the king had the river dug out straight, thus leaving the islands separated from their home county, Middlesex. Indeed, the islands were thereafter still treated as being in Middlesex and only moved into Surrey at the county upheaval in 1972. Before there were locks and weirs to control the levels, Summer Road in Thames Ditton would flood at most high tides, and be barely passable at all in the winter months, hence its name.
The first wooden bridge over the river at Hampton Court opened in 1753, but there was a toll and the ferries remained -- they were cheaper, and it was quite a way to walk just to reach the bridge from the village. The first, rather rickety, bridge was replaced first by a more substantial timber one, in 1778, and by another, in steel and brick, in 1865; this one lasted until the concrete structure we have today was built in 1933. The Thames locks began to appear late in the 18th century, the last to be built being that at 'Moulsey' (today called Molesey, in 1815.
For many centuries the Island formed part of the lands of the Manor of Imworth (Imber) and was associated with what became Forde's Farm and later Boyle Farm. In a survey of the manor of Imber in 1608 the Island was known as Colly's Eite (Ait or Eyot meaning a small island) and is recorded as '2 acres of pasture'. On the Surrey bank opposite, where the Swan inn was built, the slipway and nearby Wharf provided a useful dock for the passage of goods and people up and down the river. Large sailing barges from the Port of London would moor here to load or unload, their crews and attendant waggoners taking rest and sustenance at the inn.
The Island was then not much more than a muddy hump, but the skiffs of the day trippers from Kingston would be moored there to allow their occupants to enjoy a riverside picnic. In the early part of the 20th century came the fad for riverside weekend bungalows: the idea spread and a number of holiday chalets were built on the Island. Life there must have been a matter of indoor camping, as there were no facilities of any kind: water and paraffin had to ferried over in cans, and only the smarter sheds had a roof over the earth closet.
As time passed, the attractions of the waterside location drew more and more people, so that by 1930 the whole of the perimeter was covered in wooden bungalows, with the owners' boats moored at the bottom of their gardens. It was the building of the suspension bridge in 1939 that really opened up the Island as a place for permanent occupation.
As well as providing passage on foot, it also carried the water, electricity and gas in, and the sewage effluent back out to the town drains. Originally leased from the island's owner, the publican at the Olde Swan, by 1963 all the houses had passed into freehold ownership and a limited company was formed to take over the bridge and adjacent gardens and to provide maintenance services.
Boyle Farm Island is the second largest of the three islands. It contains a single house, home to just one family. It is directly opposite the historic mansion of Boyle Farm, which is now known as the Home of Compassion. Whereas its larger partner, Thames Ditton Island, has at times been administratively part of Middlesex, Boyle Farm Island has always belonged to Surrey.
Swan island is the smallest of the three islands. On it was once the ferryman's hut, recently restored by the present owner, in which the original incumbent must have passed a meagre life, taking people across the main stream and to and from the Island for a small fee at all times of the day and night.
It was the building of the suspension bridge in 1939 by David Rowell & Co. that really opened up Thames Ditton Island as a place for permanent occupation. As well as providing passage on foot, it also carried the water, electricity and gas in, and the sewage effluent back out to the town drains. Originally leased from the island's owner, the publican at the Olde Swan, by 1963 all the houses had passed into freehold ownership and a limited company was formed to take over the bridge and adjacent gardens and to provide maintenance services. Each householder has to bear a share of the running costs, of which the principal items are the purchase of water and the regular repainting of the bridge.
Nearly all the dwellings are on stilts, in an attempt to prevent flood damage, but the river has, in times past, risen to cover the island in several feet of water. More recent incursions have merely covered gardens and lawns, the mild annoyance being repaid with the depositing of a rich silt. The river level has ceased to be of any great concern, as the weir system at Teddington Lock and the control system operated by the Environment Agency at Reading control winter spates. River outings at these times have to be curtailed as Father Thames rushes by at a fast walking pace.
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Thames_Ditton_Island Thames Ditton Island] at Wikimedia Commons
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