Thames Landscape Strategy - Hampton to Kew -

Arcadian Diary March 2005

What a lovely Easter weekend we have just had and as always when the sun comes out the riverside soon fills up with visitors. It really does earn its nickname as the playground for London. The warmer weather has also allowed me to take out my little boat for the first time this year. There are many fascinating things to see along the river by boat but one of the best has to be the small islands dotted along its length.

Islands have formed part of Thames life for centuries and have been used for many different purposes. One of the most important island industries of the past was willow growing. Willows provide excellent timber for a variety of tasks such as fencing, basket making, gates, ladders and of course cricket bats. To produce the correct type of wood, willows were managed in a way that was called pollarding or coppicing. This involves cutting off the crown of the tree so that many branches are thrown up in a tight cluster. When these reach the required size they are cut off (in the winter) allowing fresh ‘breaks’ to appear in the spring which will produce the next crop. A pollarded tree is usually cut at head height whilst a coppiced willow is cut almost the ground.

In our neck of the woods it was coppicing that provided the most important trade and many of the islands had large willow beds or ‘holts’ and employed quite a large number of people during the season. What was being harvested here was the thin wispy growths cut from the coppice called withies or osiers and these were used for ties, eel traps, basket making and rods. This ancient practice is still considered to be the best way of managing willows and as such has been revived recently in certain spots and can be demonstrated at Chiswick and Isleworth.

One of my favourite islands in along the Thames is Glovers Island situated between Marble Hill and Petersham. The island rose to fame at the end of the C19th when in 1888 Mr Glover the boatman who owned the island, threatened to sell it for advertising hoardings. There being no planning controls at the time this would have had a devastating effect on the river and the View from Richmond Hill. Local people came to the rescue and the money was raised to purchase the island and put a stop to the proposed development. In the end it was the generosity of one benefactor in particular, Sir Max Waechter who provided the necessary funds but only on the condition that the island was returned to nature.

The island today still has the remnants of some of the old buildings that stood on it in the past but on the whole is largely as Max Waechter would have wished, laid out to woodland and as such an important haven for wildlife supporting a wide variety of nesting birds. Species such as Canada geese, cormorant, mallards, moorhen, coot, great crested grebe, heron, mute swan and ornamental ducks have been recorded using the island for roosting, feeding and some breeding. As would be expected there is also a reasonable assemblage of typical woodland species including tree creeper, blackbird, long-tailed tit, coal tit, goldcrest, dunnock, lesser spotted woodpecker, crows, wood pigeon, magpie, jay and wren. There is also a breeding colony of exotic parakeets and an old boat has been used by both great crested grebe and Canada geese to nest in.

This said, it has to be considered that these islands are a valuable undisturbed place for wildlife to live and they are regularly submerged under tidal waters so the best way to watch the birds is from the riverbank with a good pair of binoculars.

As part of the London’s Arcadia Heritage Lottery funded scheme we have produced an island management plan for Eel Pie, Glovers, Corporation and Flowerpot Islands. We are still surveying the islands at the moment to establish exactly what is there and it is likely that this will continue for several years yet. In the short term there is some work planned mainly involving general day-to-day stuff such as pruning and the removal of invasive species including Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed that is (like some much of the riverside) beginning to take over. In addition, there is quite a lot of rubbish to be tidied up and believe it or not there has even been some fly tipping on the islands. Who would do this is anyone’s guess and why they would go to so much trouble to carry the rubbish over to an island is a mystery.

It is also planned to install a number of bird, owl and bat boxes on the islands and special ‘floating’ bird rafts that rise and fall with the tides. These boxes can be sponsored as part of the Arcadia project (contact Tasha Hunter on 020 8891 7399). Importantly all money raised also acts as valuable match funding for Heritage Lottery funds.

For those of you who fancy something a little bit more active there will also be opportunities for conservation volunteering planned to take place on the islands over the coming year. This will include removal of Japanese knotweed, installation of the bird boxes and species monitoring work. We are also looking for a volunteer Island Warden for each island. Preferably you should have access to a boat and possess some ecological knowledge.

The Easter weekend also marked the traditional start of the trip boat season. It always amazes me just how many of my friends have not been on a boat trip on the river as it by far the best way to see the Thames and to get close to the islands. Trips run all summer and leave from Kew, Richmond, Kingston and Hampton Court. They are not expensive and always fascinating. They can be taken as round journeys or one way combined with a walk or bus back to your starting point.

Living in Richmond, I sometimes take the boat up to Kingston to go shopping. It’s more expensive than the bus or train and takes a little longer (well usually anyway) but great fun. Details of all the boats can be found at local libraries or at the tourist information centres.

River Fact
Whilst working on Richmond Hill last month I was told a fascinating but gruesome interlude in the history of Terrace Field by a local historian who had joined us for the day as a volunteer. The story is as follows.

Richard Mihil the son of a Richmond baker took up a career in the Royal Navy but lacking patronage was unable to rise through the ranks beyond Midshipman and was eventually dismissed in 1763. Moving back home to Richmond he joined his brother Robert in the family firm (on the site of the modern-day Tesco in George Street), now a bitter drunk reliant on his brother’s charity. Following a drunken fight in the bakery Richard fatally stabbed Robert in the chest and was duly arrested.

Following trial by jury on March 25th 1767 at Kingston Assizes, a repentant Richard was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. On the morning of March 30th he was taken by cart to Richmond Hill where a gibbet had been specially erected opposite 3 and 4 the Terrace. At 1.30pm he was hanged in front of a crowd of over 1000 people before being dissected in a large marquee erected on the Terrace Field.

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