Benn's Island

Hampton Sailing Club on Benn's Island above Molesey Lock

Benn's Island, previously named Church Eyot, Kember’s Eyot and sometimes referred to as Benn's Ait,^[1] is a private and very small ait (island) close to the Middlesex bank of the River Thames at Hampton, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in England, on the reach above Molesey Lock. The water between the island and the Middlesex bank is shallow, but navigable with care.

Since 1945 it has been leased by Hampton Sailing Club.^[2] The extensive building works and piling make a casual observer believe that the island is wholly artificial, but these are substantial extensions.

It had been used previously by another sailing club, the then Thames Valley Sailing Club, whose headquarters were a houseboat moored there and which was destroyed by fire in 1900.^[1][3]

The island is linked to the Middlesex bank by a manually operated pedestrian chain ferry at the downstream end.

See also

• Islands in the River Thames
• Sailing on the River Thames

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "Benn's Ait". http://www.marketingreinforcements.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index_bennsait.html. Retrieved 2009-12-10. "This was called Church Eyot, then Kember’s Eyot around 1700, but now named after the family that owned Benn’s Boatyard on the Middlesex bank, which was demolished in 1947." 
2. ^ "Hampton Sailing Club". http://www.hamptonsailingclub.com/club.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-09. "During 1962 the clubhouse was built on the piles at Benn’s Island." 
3. ^ Jackson, W F. "Boat Sailing on the Upper Thames" (pdf). http://www.thamessailingclub.co.uk/CobraManagedFiles/Our_History.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-10. "Next comes " The Thames Valley Sailing. Club," at Hampton-on-Thames, with a course, ten rounds of which make up four miles, from a buoy opposite the little Club Island" ^{[dead link]}

Next island upstream	River Thames	Next island downstream
Platts Eyot	Benn's Island	Garrick's Ait

Coordinates: 51°24′44″N 0°21′48″W / 51.41222°N 0.36333°W / 51.41222; -0.36333