The Islands in the Thames
I'm sure I read somewhere that Jim Lawes had investigated the little islands on the Thames and gave an account of their history but I seem to have a different slant on all this.For starters there were images printed of bike parts taken on private lands. I recall this was Bill Palmers island, not Brentford Ait, and as far as I am aware he did not sell this little area on to anyone. Could you have been trepassing on private property when you took pictures and such-like? I know Bill Palmer did own bits of other land on the mainland, as did Goddards and Hounslow council, that was bought up by propery developers, together with the old defunct Manifold wines site, upon which the Ferry Quays estate now stands. But not the island. And the old boat-works. I know someone is still using those boat-yards to do boat work and have been doing so for the past decade with Bill Palmer's blessing. Though without any documentation it could be argued that the current user had been there long enough to claim squatter rights.As to the Brentford/Lots Aits, these two islands were created in the late 1800s when the river was dredged to make it deeper and shored up to stop it falling back into the river. If you look close, what you call Lots Ait is two seperate islands with lots of trees and shrubs growing on them. There never was any pub on there as you previously claimed. So you won't find any structure when you investigate. There may have been a drinking den but I think the drinking den mentioned in days of yore was on an island a bit further down - on the opposite side of Kew Bridge - on one of the islands in the Thames in Chiswick - off Strand on the Green.This is my take on the history of the area.
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