Pipers Island, or Piper's Island, is the third-smallest map-named island in the River Thames, in England. It is on the Reading, Berkshire reach (the head of water above Caversham Lock). It is toward the edge of the central urban area of the town of Reading and connected by a gangway to Caversham Bridge, a road and pedestrian bridge that links that town to its left bank suburb of Caversham.
Pipers Island has been hard-landscaped into a public house and restaurant, The Island, the surrounding decking of which is shared for restaurant use and moorings of boats, used for a boat hire and larger vessels running hourly cruises during the Summer months. The banks of the island are today sheet metal topped with wooden decking. A protective rail guards the lower and somewhat smaller upper decks of the restaurant which are similar in design.
The ait is the third-smallest of those named on official maps of the Thames. [1] Maps show it has clearly approximately kept its footprint measurement of 0.147 acres (590 m2) shortly before the year 1900, though the few rounded corners of its then-boathouse use have been neatly squared since the restaurant's opening. [2] It is accessed on foot by a footbridge and staircase (also known together as a gangway) that connects the island to the centre of Caversham Bridge. The smallest island with vehicular access on the river is almost double its size, Swan Island, London which is in Twickenham. [3] [4] [5]
It is known that in 1766 the Firework Ait, Windsor was likewise called Piper's Eyot and had another name before its later renaming. [6] Guinea Piper was a celebrated waterman at the time. [6] One of Eton College's longboats was named after him - My Guinea's Lion. Another, Piper's Green was named after one of his watermen brothers Richard (known as Dick) or James (known as Jack) Piper and this eyot later came into the family's ownership where they plied a local boat repair trade. [6]
The ait is toward the edge of the central urban area of the town of Reading and connected by a gangway attached to the middle of the downstream stone balustrade of Caversham Bridge, a road bridge that links that town to its left bank suburb of Caversham, its closer bank. [7]
Caversham Lock is a lock and main weir on the River Thames in England at Reading, Berkshire. Both the lock and main weir are connected to De Bohun Island. The Thames Navigation Commissioners built the original lock in 1778. Additional sluices north of View Island and Heron Island form the whole weir complex. A footbridge, known as The Clappers, passes over the weir and all three islands to connect Lower Caversham to Reading.
This article lists the islands in the River Thames, or at the mouth of a tributary, in England. It excludes human-made islands built as part of the building of forty-five two-gate locks which each accompany a weir, and islets subordinate to and forming part of the overall shape of another. The suffix -ey is common across England and Scotland and cognate with ait and meaning island, a term – as ait or eyot – unusually well-preserved on the Thames. A small minority of list entries are referred to as Island, Ait or Eyot and are vestiges, separated by a depression in the land or high-water-level gully.
An ait or eyot is a small island. It is especially used to refer to river islands found on the River Thames and its tributaries in England.
Sonning Eye is a hamlet on the River Thames in the Sonning Common ward of South Oxfordshire, England, in the civil parish of Eye & Dunsden, at what is since 1974 the southernmost tip of Oxfordshire.
Chiswick Eyot is a 3.266-acre (1.3 ha) narrow, uninhabited ait of the Thames. It is a tree- and reed-covered rise on the Tideway by Chiswick, in London, England and is overlooked by Chiswick Mall and by some of the Barnes riverside on the far bank.
Three river islands (aits) 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 (320 m) long and has 48 houses with gardens ; Boyle Farm Island has one house; Swan Island, between the two, is the smallest.
Molesey Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England at East Molesey, Surrey on the right bank.
Platt's Eyot or Platt's Ait is an island on the River Thames at Hampton, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England, on the reach between Molesey Lock and Sunbury Lock.
Romney Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England near Windsor and Eton, about half a mile downstream of Windsor Bridge. It is on the Windsor side of the river next to a boatyard and adjoins Romney Island, a long strip-shaped ait in the middle of the river. The first lock was built by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1798.
Boveney Lock is a lock on the River Thames situated on the Buckinghamshire bank opposite the Windsor Racecourse and close to Eton Wick. Boveney is a village a little way upstream on the same side. The lock was first built in 1838 by the Thames Navigation Commission. The lock was rebuilt in 1898 closer to the Buckinghamshire bank, and a set of boat rollers were installed on the old site.
Steven's Eyot is a narrow ait (island) in the River Thames in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London, England, on the non-tidal reach above Teddington Lock.
Tagg's Island, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and part of Hampton, is an ait (island) on the River Thames on the reach above Molesey Lock and just above Ash Island. The island is roughly 400 metres long by 90 metres wide at its widest point, covering 6 acres. Although close to the Surrey bank near East Molesey, Surrey, the island is connected to the further Middlesex bank by a single track road bridge, being the only island on the non-tidal Thames accessible by car.
Garrick's Ait, previously known as Shank's Eyot, is an ait in the River Thames in England on the reach above Molesey Lock, the nearest land being Moulsey Hurst (park) on the Surrey bank and the opposite bank being a much narrower riverside park of Hampton. It is the only island in the United Kingdom named after an actor.
Firework Ait is an islet in the River Thames in England on the reach above Romney Lock known as the Windsor and Eton reach, Berkshire. It is the smallest island on the Thames with an official map-published name.
Appletree Eyot is an island in the River Thames at Reading, Berkshire, in England.
Rod Eyot or Rod Ait is an island in the River Thames in England near Henley-on-Thames on the reach above Hambledon Lock. It is close to Mill Meadows and the River and Rowing Museum.
Poplar Eyot or Poplar Ait is an island in the River Thames in England near the villages of Shiplake, Oxfordshire and Wargrave, Berkshire. It is on the reach above Marsh Lock.
Benn's Island, previously named Church Eyot, Kember's Eyot and sometimes referred to as Benn's Ait, is a private 0.1-acre (0.040 ha) ait (island) on the River Thames south-west of London. It is among a string of narrow islands above Molesey Lock and due to its clubhouse and size — the second-smallest named island on the Thames — it has deep foundation pilings to raise the building more than 1 m above the water line.
The unnamed eyot is an island in the River Thames in Berkshire, England, north of the village of Wargrave, Berkshire, its parish in civil terms and ecclesiastical parish in the Church of England. It is on the reach above Marsh Lock.
Thames is an electoral ward of the Borough of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It includes areas on both sides of both the River Thames and the River Kennet, to the north and east of the centre of Reading on the south bank, and to the east of the centre of Caversham on the north bank. It should not be confused with the ward of the same name that existed prior to the 2022 Reading Borough Council election, with which it has no area in common.
Media related to Pipers Island at Wikimedia Commons