Riverside.south of the Thames and west of the Tower. Walton at Sunbury Lock

Riverside.south of the Thames and west of the Tower. Walton at Sunbury Lock

Sunbury Lock Ait

Sunbury Lock Ait. This island has no residential accommodation and is accessible by a footbridge over the lock as well as walkways on the lock gates. There is a bridge to Wheatley's Ait across the weir, but this is not open to the public.  The island predates the deepening of the navigation and was previously known as "Sunbury Church Ait". It was bought by the City of London Corporation from about six proprietors for the site of the lock, which was predated by a flash weir. The footbridge and old lock house are on the site of the original lock

Coal post in the grounds of the Yacht Club, north side of Sunbury Lock Ait.

Middle Thames Yacht club. Founded in 1956.

Wilson’s Boat Yard

Riverside

Sunbury Lock. This is on the south bank at Sunbury.  There are a series of locks and two in current use. These are downstream of the original lock which was built in 1812 having been planned in 1805 and was built with the lock cut was created out of an existing channel beside the island and a lock house. By 1852 major water extraction from this section of the river led to a rebuilding. The lock was relocated to its present site with a new lock house.  There are two locks - One is hand-operated and was built in 1856. A second lock was opened in 1927 by Lord Desborough, then Chair of Thames Conservancy, and includes a slide for small boats.

Sunbury Weir. The earliest weir was built in 1789 to divert water and make a deeper channel for navigation. The main weir is between Sunbury Lock Ait and Wheatley's Ait. There is another weir at the upstream end of Wheatley's Ait.

Old Sunbury Lock House

Waterside Drive

“Sunbury Lock Gas Works” This is actually a tank farm owned by BPA, the British Pipeline Agency Ltd.  Here aviation fuel is received by pipeline and pumped to Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

Weir Hotel. This riverside pub and hotel dates from the late 1870s.

Sources

Industrial Archaeology of Elmbridge

Middle Thames Yacht Club. Web site

Pub History. Web site

Sunbury Matters. Web site

Sweet Thames Run Smoothly. Web site

Wikipedia. Web site. As appropriate