The shore of the Thames estuary is one of the least known and least explored coastal areas in Britain. Despite the unsightly urban sprawl from Basildon to Southend, there are still large stretches of undeveloped marshland on the South Essex coast. Early maps of this area show several islands that were originally part of the mainland, formed from the silt in the river entering the estuary on the tides of the North Sea from the coast of East Anglia. It provides a home to grass snakes, lizards, butterflies, crickets and grasshoppers, wading birds, and avocet chicks on Two Tree Island close to the infamous Canvey Island. For 10,000 years the River Thames meandered from source to sea periodically throwing up mudbanks or carving parallel channels on the bends and creating islands along much of its length. There are around 180 islands altogether, some accessible by footbridge, some by road and others like Pharaoh's Island and Garrick's Ait only by boat. 30 are inhabited by small settlements, single houses or houseboats and all highly sought-after locations today. Some have connections to major historical events or famous personalities: Oliver's Eyot was a refuge for Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War, whilst Lot's Ait was the unlikely setting for Humphrey Bogart's 1951 film The African Queen, and the legendry Eel Pie Island played a key role in the development of British popular music. There are rare pictures like men cutting osiers on Chiswick Eyot in 1927 having waited until the high tide to float their load to the bank. We pass the Isle of Dogs, Richmond, Hampton Court, Bray and Windsor, Cookham and Henley-on-Thames, Reading, Abingdon, Lechlade to the source of the Thames, through hundreds of colour and archive images, as we travel through the estuary and London islands. With an informative text to take us along this gentle cruise downstream among spring flowers of white damsons, fine copper beech trees, weeping willows, churches and history and lore. 144 large pages in softback, 25.4 x 22.9cm.
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