This article lists the islands in the River Thames, in England. It excludes many of the smaller lock islands that were created when weirs and locks were built, and also some very small islands that immediately adjoin the larger ones. The Isle of Dogs and Isle of Grain are no longer islands although their names remain. Westminster used to be on an island called Thorney Island. Some other so-called islands are also now just promontories, often marked by a small ditch.
Most of the islands are natural, but a few were created by rerouting of the navigation channel. Many Thames islands are called "aits" or "eyots". Aits are usually longer thinner islands that have built up through an accumulation of silt.
Read more about Islands In The River Thames: List of Islands, Oxford Floodplain, Lock Islands
Famous quotes containing the words islands, river and/or thames:
“Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a couple of Irishmen have a private sparring- match on one of them, as it is a government monopoly; all the great seaports are in a boxing attitude, and you must sail prudently between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of their breasts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Though man is the only beast that can write, he has small reason to be proud of it. When he utters something that is wise it is nothing that the river horse does not know, and most of his creations are the result of accident.”
—Edward Dahlberg (1900–1977)
“The wind’s on the wold
And the night is a-cold,
And Thames runs chill
‘Twixt mead and hill.
But kind and dear
Is the old house here
And my heart is warm
Midst winter’s harm.”
—William Morris (1834–1896)