Discover Oliver's Island: A Riverside Retreat

Great destination! Enjoyed the open trail and peaceful outdoor atmosphere.

Great destination! Enjoyed the open trail and peaceful outdoor atmosphere.

A tiny island in the Times River

Full with wildlife and nature

This island can be accessed by the boat and is popular among scavengers. The island’s name derives from the story that Oliver Cromwell once took refuge here but there is almost certainly no truth in this. It was called Strand Ayt until a century after the Civil War, by which time the myth had arisen that Cromwell had used the Bull’s Head in Strand on the Green as an inter­mit­tent head­quar­ters. The story was further embell­ished with sugges­tions of a secret tunnel connecting the inn and the island, allegedly constructed to help Catholic priests escape Protes­tant persecutors. From the late 18th century Oliver’s Island had a kind of tollbooth, a wooden structure shaped like a small castle, which levied charges on passing craft to fund improve­ments to the river’s navi­ga­bility. A barge was moored alongside, from which the tolls were taken. By 1865 there was a smithy and barges were built and repaired here. In 1909 the Thames Conser­vancy assigned Oliver’s Island to the Port of London Authority (PLA), which used it as a storage depot and as a wharf for derelict vessels.