The Thames from Hampton Court to Sunbury Lock

swiss chalet

This building was prefabricated and shipped from Switzerland in 1882 as a feature for the garden of a house called Riverholm, demolished by the 1920s and replaced with the houses you now see stretching downstream past the weir.

 

There’s a story that the land was given by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) in payment for a gambling debt, which seems unlikely. But by 1909 it was called O’Hagan’s boathouse, and Edward did have a Lord-in-Waiting called Maurice Herbert Towneley-O'Hagan, 3rd Baron O'Hagan (1882-1961). So maybe the legend is a bit true.

 

It’s also possible O’Hagan was imitating the Swiss Chalet built as a playhouse at Osborne House for Victoria and Albert’s children in 1854.

 

After a period as the boathouse for Riverholm, the Swiss Chalet was used as part of Hucks and Co  boatyard (owned by Frank Hucks, then by his son Dick) until 1996 and was up for sale for £2.5 million. It’s now been sold, but nothing seems to have happened yet.

 

The boatyard has a drydock that drains out below the weir via a 36” pipe that runs underneath the back gardens of the houses downstream of the boatyard.