Thames Ditton Island

Three river islands form a linear group, close to the junction of the two main old streets of Thames Ditton village, in the River Thames in a corner of modern Surrey, on the Kingston reach above Teddington Lock. Thames Ditton Island, the dominant ait, is 350 yards long and has 48 homes with gardens ; Boyle Farm Island has one house; Swan Island, between the two, is the smallest.

Henry VIII lived at Hampton Court 300 years before there were any Thames locks; these reached Teddington from upriver by 1810. Kingston Bridge was the only bridge above London Bridge and below the Chertsey Bridge. Travelling from London to Hampton Court, instead of carriages through villages of Middlesex including the market town of Brentford monarchs down to the last regular visitor, George II, tended to be rowed up from Westminster to the palace. As the lack of locks and limited fish weirs attest, the river beside the palace was a broad but twisting creek, especially at low tide at times of lower rainfall. To have a grander arrival and alleviate flooding of the village, Cardinal Wolsey or Henry had the main channel locally dug out straighter, doing away with the ford from the grounds of Hampton Court on the north bank . Before locks and weirs controlled the levels, Summer Road in Thames Ditton would flood at most high tides – its mud would not dry in the winter months, making it impassable, hence its name.

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