Thames Ditton Island
Coordinates: 51°23′40″N 0°19′55″W / 51.39444°N 0.33194°W Three islands form a linear group by the riverside at the end of the historic main street of Thames Ditton, in the River Thames in Surrey, on the Kingston reach above Teddington Lock. Thames Ditton Island, the largest of the three, is 350 yd (320 m) long and has 47 homes with gardens (moorings). Boyle Farm Island has a single house and Swan Island, between the two, is the smallest.
Henry VIII lived at Hampton Court long before there were any locks; these reached Teddington from upriver by 1810. The River Thames was then tidal and Kingston Bridge was the only bridge above Putney Bridge and below Chertsey Bridge. As there was no Hampton Court Bridge, a usual way to Hampton Court from the south-west of Surrey and thereabouts was by carriage or cart, northwards down Thames Ditton High Street, over what is now a public where the river is wide, and at low tide straight through the ford to the other side. When the tide was in, ferrymen would charge a groat or two.
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