Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 82.185.53.178 (talk) at 09:34, 6 September 2007 (→Literature and the Media). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Shepperton Lock is a lock on the River Thames, England. It is located on the border between Surrey and Middlesex, near where the River Wey and the River Bourne meet the Thames.

The lock connects to Lock Island where there is a river police station and Hamhaugh Island, a canoeing club is based here and a ferry service runs from below the lock to the end of Thames Street, Weybridge, where there are two rowing clubs and a canoeing club. Overlooking the lock and the islands is the Thames Court pub/restaurant.

The lock is just upstream of D'Oyly Carte Island, the former home to the Gilbert and Sullivan operas producer, Richard D'Oyly Carte.

History

A weir is recorded here in the 1086 Domesday Book. In 1813, the City of London Corporation built a wooden pound lock here. A stone lock was built in 1899, next to the existing wooden one which was then filled in and removed.

Access to the lock

The lock is on the Middlesex bank, and can be reached from Shepperton down Ferry Road or from Chertsey via Dockett Eddy Lane leading to Towpath. There is usually ample parking space. From the Weybridge side it can only be reached by ferry.

Literature and the Media

The lock in Charles Dickens Our Mutual Friend at Plashwater Mill is based on Shepperton lock.

In H. G. Wells The War of the Worlds one of the main battles fought against the invaders from Mars takes place between Weybridge and Shepperton lock.

Reach above the lock

Pharaoh's Island, given to Admiral Nelson following the Battle of the Nile, is immediately above the lock. The Middlesex bank is quite open with several larger houses along it until Dunsey Meadows a site of scientific interest. The Surrey side is built up until Chertsey Meads, the site of the Anglo-Saxon Abbey sacked by the Vikings, and the edge of Chertsey itself. The Thames Path follows the Middlesex bank all the way to Chertsey Lock.

References

• The River Thames Guide — About the Thames — Shepperton Lock

This Surrey location article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Surrey geography stubs
• 1899 establishments
• Locks on the River Thames