Cigarette Island Park is a public park in

East Molesey Molesey is a district of two twin towns, East Molesey and West Molesey, in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England, and is situated on the south bank of the River Thames. East and West Molesey share a high street, and there is a second retai ...

, in the

Borough of Elmbridge Elmbridge is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its principal towns and villages are Esher, Cobham, Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge and Molesey. It directly borders the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and ...

, Surrey, close to the border with Greater London and

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief ...

. Until the 1930s the area was an island at the confluence of the

River Mole The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows northwest through Surrey for to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey distr ...

and the

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 ...

, known as The Sterte as early as the 14th century. In 1843 the island was named Davis's Ait, and a later name of Cigarette Island derived from a houseboat with the name Cigarette which was moored at the site. Writing in 1843, James Thorne described the location as "a noble one", saying that "From its mouth the Thames, with Hampton Court on the opposite bank, form a picture of surpassing beauty." By the end of the 19th century the site was a popular mooring site for

houseboat A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Most houseboats are not motorized as they are usually moored or kept stationary at a fixed point, and often tethered to land to provide utilities. H ...

s. In 1926 council plans were drawn up to convert the island into a public park, in part to curb the "ever-increasing nuisance of caravan dwellers and occupiers of sheds". In the early 1930s the Mole was diverted into the

River Ember The River Ember is a short river in the north of Surrey, England — a channel of the River Mole which splits in two south of Island Barn Reservoir, between East Molesey and Lower Green, Esher. The Ember, the larger channel, flows in an e ...

and the creek was filled in, and the park opened to the public in 1935. The park is only a short walk away from Hampton Court station.

References

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