An idyllic home on the river – opera impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte bought this island just downstream from Shepperton Lock to build a country residence on it
Last year in this column, I wrote that I thought the authorities should introduce a mandatory test and a licence of competence before anyone was allowed to take a boat out on the water – and several people jumped down my throat, berating me for proposing to introduce more bureaucracy into our leisure time.
Following on from last week’s Riverwatch in which I outlined an idea for closing off Walton Lane at the Walton Bridge end that was put forward by Doug Myers from Weybridge, I’ve had a note from Nick Pollard, the chairman of the Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society.
Authors have written books about rivers for hundreds of years – and that’s simply because waterways are fascinating subjects, having played a major role in the development of our towns and cities, agriculture, industry, trade and, in more recent decades, leisure and relaxation.
