Platts Eyot

Port Hampton on Platts Eyot

Platts Eyot from the Middlesex side with the bridge

Platts Eyot is an island on the River Thames at Hampton, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England, on the reach between Molesey Lock and Sunbury Lock.

The island was a typical ait used for growing osiers but was used for dumping spoil from excavation of the Stain Hill Reservoirs, creating the large hill on the island's Western end. There is a suspension bridge to the island from the Middlesex bank at Hampton.

Boatbuilding began on the island in 1868, when Thomas Tagg, who had been running a business on Tagg's Island, 1 km downstream, since 1841, expanded by building a boatyard and house on the Eastern end of this island.

In 1908 Thornycroft set up the Hampton Launch Works on the island. This boatbuilding works concentrated on cabin cruisers and speedboats, but also produced small naval craft - Coastal Motor Boats in the First World War and Motor Torpedo Boats, Motor Launches and landing craft in the Second World War. Thornycrofts closed their boatbuilding operation on Platt's Eyot when they were taken over by Vospers in the mid-1960s.

In 1960 the island was bought by Port Hampton Ltd. who diversified the use of industrial space.

Today the entire island is listed within the River Thames site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, with the Western end of the island being listed as Green Belt.

See also

• Islands in the River Thames

External links

• The Thames from Hampton Court to Sunbury Lock

Next island upstream	River Thames	Next island downstream
Grand Junction Isle	Platts Eyot	Benn's Ait