Oliver's Island
Oliver's Island is a tree-covered ait (river island), in the River Thames in England. It is in the London Borough of Hounslow, on the Tideway, facing Kew and Strand-on-the-Green in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, and is owned by the Port of London Authority. Description The thickly-wooded islet is a haven for herons, cormorants and Canada geese. It is mid-stream equidistant from Priory Park Allotments, Kew and Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick. Etymology and alternate name The islet derives its name from a story that Oliver Cromwell once took refuge on it, but there is almost certainly no truth in this story. It was called Strand Ayt until a century after the English Civil War, by which time a myth had arisen that Cromwell had set up an intermittent headquarters at the Bull's Head, Strand-on-the-Green. The story was embellished with the suggestion that a secret tunnel connected the island to the inn, but no evidence of any tunnel has ever been found. History In 1777 the City of London's navigation committee installed a tollbooth on the islet to levy charges on passing craft to fund improvements to the river's navigability. This was a wooden structure in the shape of a small