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THE ISLAND STORY: History.
LINKS:
Follow the following links for more TDI and Thames Ditton Information. http://www.memoryscape.org.uk/Drifting06.htm is memories of the present time. Here's the unecyclepedia's reference to T.D. Retrieved from "http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Thames_Ditton"
THE TOTALLY FACTUAL
AND ACCURATE
HISTORY The company is looking for someone to do a proper history of the Island. It would seem that very little has been written down and what is remembered will fade through time. Someone please volunteer. I get e-mails from people wanting information. One of the problem being that the island was part of Richmond until the boundary changed and the island became part of Elmbridge.
The following is from the 'Molesey Website' Here they are discussing the History of Boyle Farm House In 1763 George Tash and Mrs. Digby came to an agreement for her to purchase the freehold of the house, together with various other pieces of land, freehold and copyhold, in Thames Ditton and East Molesey, for a total price of £7,000 . It was still the second largest house in the parish, exceeded only by Ember Court, but as that was somewhat removed from the village itself, the owner of Fords was considered to be the local squire.Mrs Digby, who was a wealthy woman, having inherited a considerable fortune from her father (, commenced upon a process of enlarging and improving the estate, which heightened her standing in the community even further. Firstly, she purchased what is now known as "Thames Ditton Island" (then called "Ditton Hill") , and the two smaller islands nearby, which were copyhold of the manor and honour of Hampton Court. Secondly, she acquired a total of twenty-three acres in several pieces, including a field known as "Stones" which stood on the south side of Summer Road (then known as "Moulsey Lane"), and some land in a common field called "Beeston Field" (Otherwise "Basingfield") .At that time the road from Thames Ditton village to Kingston ran from the High Street by where the Fountain now stands, eastward in more or less a straight line, crossing the river Rythe and passing close to Long Ditton wharf, to the Portsmouth Road behind where the City Arms public house now is. And was known, as one might expect, as "Wharf Road" . The garden of Fords stood adjacent to the northern side of this road, right up to the Rythe .Part of the land purchased by Mrs. Digby was on the further side on this road, and was known as "The fifteen Acres". Thinking that it would be distinctly advantageous to throw this land into the curtilage of the house and make it part of the garden, with the additional benefit of moving the road further away from the house, she obtained from the crown a writ of Ad Quod Damnum, which obliged the sherriff of the county to hold an inquiry to ascertain if any harm would arise to anyone if she was allowed to divert the road to a new alignment .On 11 January 1771, therefore, the sherriff of Surrey, Sir Richard Hotham, called together on the site twenty "honest and lawful men" from the district. They decided that no harm or prejudice would occur from such a diversion; and at the next general quarter sessions Mrs. Digby was granted permission to "completely and substantially make another Road or Highway - in her own Land and Soil - of the Breadth of Thirty Feet in the clear from Ditch to Ditch. Beginning "at the stable in the occupation of the Reverend Mr. Dry" across to "a certain Bridge in the King's Highway leading from Kingston to Esher opposite a Blacksmith's shop in the occupation of Thomas Window". Which she, her heirs and assigns, were required hereafter to "well and sufficiently repair and maintain". This substituted road is, of course, the present St. Leonards Road, although this is a comparatively new name. It was originally called "Kingston Lane
Having thus extended the grounds adjacent to the house, the land at the eastern end, which had been the kitchen garden , was hived off, splitting the area into two more or less equal parts, and on the further portion another large mansion was built, which came to be called "Ditton House". This also stood facing the river, with lawns gently sloping down to the water's edge. Its site is now occupied by King's and Queen's Drives.The following is a history of the island. Not mine and probably parts are inaccurate but most is correct. Thames Ditton Island The Island, one of three, is 350 yards long and has 47 houses and a population of around 100. On the second largest, Boyle Farm Island, is a single house, home to just one family. Swan Island, between the two, is the smallest. On it was once the ferryman's hut, recently restored by the present owner, in which the original incumbent must have passed a meagre life, taking people across the main stream and to and from the Island, for a small fee at all times of the day and night. In Victorian times the slipway, with its riverside inn, provided a useful dock for the passage of goods and people up and down the river. Large sailing barges from the Port of London would moor here to load or unload, their crews and attendant Wagoner's taking rest and sustenance at the inn. The Island was then not much more than an overgrown, muddy, tree clad hump, but the skiffs of the day trippers from Kingston would be moored there to allow their occupants to enjoy a riverside picnic In the early part of this century came the fad for riverside weekend bungalows: the idea spread and a number of holiday chalets were built on the Island. Life there must have been a matter of indoor camping, as there were no facilities of any kind: water and paraffin had to ferried over in cans, and only the smarter sheds had a roof over the earth closet. As time passed, the attractions of the waterside location drew more and more people, so that by 1930 the whole of the perimeter was covered in wooden bungalows, with the owners' boats moored at the bottom of their gardens. It was the building of the suspension bridge in 1939 that really opened up the Island as a place for permanent occupation. As well as providing passage on foot, it also carried the water, electricity and gas in, and the sewage effluent back out to the town drains. Originally leased from the island's owner, the publican at the Olde Swan, by 1963 all the houses had passed into freehold ownership and a limited company was formed to take over the bridge and adjacent gardens and to provide maintenance services. Each householder has to bear a share of the running costs, of which the principal items are the purchase of water and the regular repainting of the bridge. Nearly all the dwellings are on stilts, in an attempt to prevent flood damage, but the river has, in times past, risen to cover the island in several feet of water. More recent incursions have merely covered gardens and lawns, the mild annoyance being repaid with the depositing of a rich silt. Life on the Island is different, with river views, passing vessels, wild life and a complete lack of road traffic. Each wave of newcomers has invested in an upgrade or complete rebuild in timber or brick, so the Island has almost lost its rustic look, but a few of the original bungalows modestly remain. (thanks to Michael Russell for this) CLICK HERE FOR THE ALLEGED HISTORY
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