The Thames from Hampton Court to Sunbury Lock

grand junction island

The island used to be called Purvis Eyot.

 

It’s now called Grand Junction Island after the Grand Junction Water Company who built a water intake on the island for the nearby reservoirs. They must have been an offshoot of the Grand Junction Canal Company, who built the canal from London to Birmingham. After merging with other companies in 1929 it became the Grand Union Canal.

 

The island is still owned by the successor company, Thames Water, but the water intake hasn’t been used for perhaps 50 years or more.

 

There are chalets on the island, but unlike Garrick’s Ait or Sunbury Court Island, they are not for permanent occupation—plus boat moorings.

Here’s an email from Neil Shimmield, who grew up in Sunbury and emigrated to the USA. He saw the website and wrote about his memories of the island...

 

These photos mean such a lot to me because they remind me of the happiest times with my grandfather. In my day the bridge was painted green. That's the only difference.

 

The Metropolitan Water Board used to rent out plots on Grand Junction Island to boat owners.

 

My grandfather, Bill Jones, who was a fitter at BP, got friendly with a couple of Jewish millionaire brothers from London, Sidney and Samuel Gee, who rented the two large central plots on the island. Their relationship lasted from the mid-’50s until the mid ’70s.

 

My grandfather would caretake and garden for them so that the place would look beautiful when they came down from London on the weekends, often entertaining business clients. They had a cabin cruiser in the ’50s, which they traded in for a slipper launch in the ’70s. Both were named the San Fernando.