There are around 120 captivating islands along the River Thames, from Canvey Island in the far east to St John’s Island, the last island of the navigable Thames in the far West near Lechlade. All the islands have their own captivating story to tell, none more so than this one – which for some reason seems to be imbued with ancient Egyptian history.
It’s a little-known island near Shepperton Lock and it’s aptly called Pharaoh’s Island. Here there are 23 lovely exclusive riverside homes all with names inspired by ancient Egypt. There’s Philae, Luxore, Memphis and The Sphinx, Thebes and Paraoh’s Cottage to name but a few. But why you might ask? What has the Thames got to do with the River Nile?
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Well, it’s all got to do with Admiral Lord Nelson – Britain’s famous one-armed, one-eyed, inspirational naval commander who was eventually killed at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. One of Nelson’s greatest victories was the Battle of the Nile in 1798 where at Aboukir Bay his forces bravely fort off Napoleon’s first attempt to attack British India.
Apparently after this notable win, the island was actually given to Lord Nelson as a prize for his service to the nation. It wasn’t just a random decision. Nelson apparently used to love fishing in the area when he wasn’t at sea.
One wonders what Nelson would have made of the island today. It’s still got many of the huge trees that were planted here in the 1870s by the Thames Conservancy, but instead of the ramshackle wooden bungalows that were once here, there are now beautiful island homes. There was once no running water or mains drainage – even up until the 1960s and many of the houses were, until then, just used for holidays.
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That regattas were once popular on the island, and this is seen in an extract from the Sporting Life in 1909: “The bungalow residents on Pharaoh’s Island, Shepperton-on-Thames, held their first annual regatta on June 5, and the venture passed off most successfully.
“The contests were under A.K.A., and T.P.C. rules, and many members of the Skiff Club and boating and Punting Club took part. All the bungalows were en fete, and much hospitality was dispensed to visitors at Mrs Jenkins’s Nada, where the prizes were afterwards distributed.”
The first house wasn’t built on the island until 1903, by Sir Cyril Atkinson, and named Sphinx due to his interest in Egyptology. As Surrey Live reported in 2020, when the house was last sold, it has attracted the attention of the film industry. It’s a beautiful home with its own swimming pool and grounds that take up a large part of one end of the island. It sold for £2,100,000 in April 2021.
But not all the homes are this pricey. Memphis, a detached bungalow on the island sold for £520,000 in 2021. Pharoah’s Cottage, a three-bed detached property sold for £775,000 in 2020. Opportunities to buy them are rare though so you’ll need to get in quickly.
“Eyots and Aits, Islands of the River Thames”, by Miranda Vickers is widely available from booksellers.
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