Hollyhock Island is an inhabited island in the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

in England on the reach between Bell Weir Lock and Penton Hook Lock.

Location

The island is situated in a small channel between the larger

Holm Island Holm Island is an island in the River Thames in England on the reach above Penton Hook Lock, near Staines. It is on the Buckinghamshire bank, just upstream of Hollyhock Island. A house on it known as "The Nest" was used as a hideaway by the fut ...

and the north bank of the Thames. It is located in Berkshire, in the

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is a Royal Borough of Berkshire, in South East England. It is named after both the towns of Maidenhead and Windsor, the borough also covers the nearby towns of Ascot and Eton. It is home to Windsor ...

, near the county boundary with Surrey. Until county boundary changes in 1974, the island was within the county of Buckinghamshire and near the border with

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

. The island is approximately from the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

at the

Isle of Grain Isle of Grain (Old English ''Greon'', meaning gravel) is a village and the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula within the district of Medway in Kent, south-east England. No longer an island and now forming part of the peninsula, the area i ...

. Upstream of the island is

Runnymede Bridge Runnymede Bridge is a motorway, A-road, pedestrian, and cycle bridge, built in the 1960s and 1980s and expanded in the 2000s, carrying the M25 motorway, M25 and A30 road (Great Britain), A30 across the River Thames near the uppermost end of the ...

carrying the M25 motorway. Downstream is Church Island and

Staines Bridge 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 brid ...

. The island is on the reach between Bell Weir Lock and Penton Hook Lock. The 25-inch scale Ordnance Survey Great Britain County Series map, published in the 1890s, shows that the island was connected to both the north bank and Holm Island by footbridges. By the time of the 1962 25-inch Ordnance Survey map, these footbridges no longer existed.

Use

On the island was "The Nest", a house allegedly used by the future king Edward VIII and

Wallis Simpson Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a ...

as a romantic getaway. Current

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

mapping shows no buildings on the island and no connection with the mainland.

Footnotes

References

{{coord, 51, 26, 10.5, N, 00, 31, 39.5, W, region:GB-SRY_type:isle_scale:5000, display=title Islands of the River Thames Uninhabited islands of England Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

Location

Use

See also

Footnotes

References