Penton Hook Island is a mainly wooded former peninsula created into a series of three weir-divided islands in the River Thames in England, so created in river modifications since 1815 with a navigable lock and weir stream channel to form meander cutoffs. It has a lock and weirs that are the division between the Laleham Reach, above Chertsey Lock and Staines Reach, above Penton Hook Lock.
At this point the natural course of the River Thames forms naturally almost a complete loop, a hook shape of a peninsula which is attached to the towpath (here, northerly) bank in the form of walk-over, relatively wide, lock gates. The long hook or spit of land forms today a series of three weir-divided islands in the river, adjacent to Penton Hook Lock. It has been since at least the medieval period the southern extremity of Staines upon Thames. Across the river it neighbours Penton Hook Marina, Penton Hook Yacht Club and riverside homes of Thorpe, Surrey, to the west and similar homes along Laleham Reach, Chertsey to the south and east, the latter being the most distant part of Chertsey from the town itself.
In administrative geography the area forms the southern extreme of the ancient (and current as of 2015) ecclesiastical parish of Staines. [1] Its low-lying periodic winter flood-meadow status has deterred habitation. It is more robustly protected from initiatives to construct on greenfield sites by being part of the Metropolitan Green Belt settled national planning policy. [2]
The three sluice-controlled barrages allow control of the river at its highest by the construction of the large weir at the apex of the long loop and further weirs along the narrow north section. [3]
The uninhabited island in public ownership is fairly wooded and is used for nature conservation and appreciation. The west has a backwater dug out to provide a fish refuge when the stream is strong and a fish spawning stream constructed in 1999. The island has many paths laid out for viewing its trees, squirrels, nesting birds, fish and waterfowl. These particularly cater for angling; for the Thames two permits are issued by the Environment Agency that can be bought online or in post offices.
The island was created when Penton Hook Lock was built, although before the lock was built in 1815, Thames waters would often flood across the neck of the "hook". The section of river has long been the subject of weirs for fishing and to improve boating for fishing and trade. [2]
The monks of Chertsey Abbey understood they could use the re-doubling of the river on itself here to construct today's Abbey River, their leat (mill stream) from the Thames south of the Island past their Abbey in Chertsey before the Thames. This benefited 300 let farrens (parts) for horse and cow grazing on their bypassed flood meadow to the south, each at more than £1 per year each by the 19th century, Laleham Burway. The revenue contributed to a partial ownership dispute between Chertsey and Westminster Abbeys (owner of Laleham Manor) in 1278 — Westminster's almost adjacent built-up settlement (manor) of Laleham was enlarged by four acres in return for repudiating all claims to the lower mead. [4]
During the 18th century, the city of London, which administered this stretch of the river, made a number of attempts to abolish the fish-weirs which impeded navigation. There had been at least one weir near Staines in the Middle Ages: it was called Savoury's Weir or Deep Weir and was probably by the curve in the river near Riverside Drive. The city authorities constructed the lock across Penton Hook in 1815 because of frequent floods.
— Victoria County History for Middlesex, 1962, Susan Reynolds (Ed.) [2]
Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around 17 miles west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Staines is close to Heathrow Airport and is linked to the national motorway network by the M25 and M3. The town is part of the Greater London Built-up Area.
Spelthorne is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Staines-upon-Thames; other settlements in the area include Ashford, Sunbury-on-Thames, Shepperton, Stanwell and Laleham. It is named after the medieval Spelthorne Hundred which had covered the area.
Teddington Lock is a complex of three locks and a weir on the River Thames between Ham and Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Historically in Middlesex, it was first built in 1810.
The Thames Path is a National Trail following the River Thames from one of its sources near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Woolwich foot tunnel, south east London. It is about 185 miles (298 km) long. A path was first proposed in 1948 but it only opened in 1996.
Staines was a local government district from 1894 to 1974 named after the English town of Staines.
Laleham is a village on the River Thames, in the Borough of Spelthorne, about 17 mi (27 km) west of central London, England. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, it was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Laleham is downriver from Staines-upon-Thames and upriver from Chertsey.
Chertsey Bridge is a road bridge across the River Thames in England, connecting Chertsey to low-lying riverside meadows in Laleham, Surrey. It is 550 yards (500 m) downstream from the M3 motorway bridge over the Thames and is close to Chertsey Lock on the reach above Shepperton Lock. The bridge is a seven-arch tied arch white stone bridge built 1783–85 and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a weight restriction of 18 tonnes for LGVs.
The Thames Conservancy was a body responsible for the management of that river in England. It was founded in 1857 to replace the jurisdiction of the City of London up to Staines. Nine years later it took on the whole river from Cricklade in Wiltshire to the sea at Yantlet Creek on the Isle of Grain. Its territory was reduced when the Tideway was transferred to the Port of London Authority in 1909.
Shepperton Lock is a lock on the River Thames, in England by the left bank at Shepperton, Surrey. It is across the river from Weybridge which is nearby linked by a passenger ferry.
Laleham Burway is a 1.6-square-kilometre (0.62 sq mi) tract of water-meadow and former water-meadow between the River Thames and Abbey River in the far north of Chertsey in Surrey. Its uses are varied. Part is Laleham Golf Club. Semi-permanent park homes in the west forms residential development along with a brief row of houses with gardens against the Thames. A reservoir and water works is on the island.
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.
The River Bourne or the Chertsey Bourne is in Berkshire and Surrey; it runs from sources in Windsor Great Park and Swinley Forest through to the River Thames.
Staines Boat Club is a rowing club between Penton Hook Lock and Bell Weir Lock on the River Thames in England. The club was founded in 1869 when it was first listed in the Rowing Almanac as racing in that season. Its boathouse formally reopened in May 2022 after renovations. It is located next to the Hythe spur of the Thames Path in Egham Hythe, historically also known as Staines hythe, the last word meaning small harbour or river harbour.
Staines Bridge is a road bridge running in a south-west to north-east direction across the River Thames in Surrey. It is on the modern A308 road and links the boroughs of Spelthorne and Runnymede at Staines-upon-Thames and Egham Hythe. The bridge is Grade II listed.
Chertsey Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, against the left bank, an area of Green Belt including Laleham Park, the largest public park in Spelthorne. It faces the town of Chertsey and is the fifth-lowest of the forty-four locks along the non-tidal course of the river. Owing to a course alteration both banks at the site of the lock have been since medieval times in Surrey. Stone-built Chertsey Bridge built in 1785 is 210 m south (downstream) of the lock. The lock was built by the City of London Corporation in 1813, lengthened in 1893 and again in 1913.
Penton Hook Lock is the sixth lowest lock of forty four on the non-tidal reaches of the River Thames in England. It faces an island which was until its construction a pronounced meander and is on the site of its seasonal cutoff. It is against the left bank marking the church parish medieval border of Laleham and Staines upon Thames in Surrey for many centuries. Until 1965 their county was Middlesex. At 266 ft (81 m) it is the third longest lock on the river.
Hamhaugh Island is an island, historically known simply as Stadbury, in the River Thames in England south of Shepperton Lock, in Shepperton, Surrey.
Church Island or Church Eyot is an inhabited island in the River Thames in England on the reach above Penton Hook Lock in Staines-upon-Thames, Spelthorne, Surrey. It is in the upper part of the reach. It is approximately 200 m (660 ft) above Staines Bridge, but is thought by some historians to have been the site of the Roman bridges (Pontes) across the Thames recorded as a waypoint on the Devil's Highway between Londinium (London) and Calleva (Silchester).
Hollyhock Island is an inhabited island in the River Thames in England on the reach between Bell Weir Lock and Penton Hook Lock.
The Abbey River is a right-bank backwater of the River Thames in England, in Chertsey, Surrey — in the town's northern green and blue buffers. The L-shaped conduit adjoins mixed-use flood plain: water-meadows landscaped for a golf course, a motorway and a fresh water treatment works on the island it creates, Laleham Burway to its east and north in turn. Its offtake from the Thames is at the apex of Penton Hook, Staines upon Thames below its lower weir close to the Chertsey-Thorpe boundary in the Borough of Runnymede. Its outfall is the weir pool of Chertsey Lock back into the Thames, visible from Chertsey Bridge.
