Editing River Thames (section)

===Islands===
{{Main|Islands in the River Thames}}

[[File:Aerial view of London City Airport 2007.jpg|thumb|right|[[London City Airport]] is on the site of a dock.]]

The River Thames contains over 80 islands ranging from the large estuarial marshlands of the [[Isle of Sheppey]] and [[Canvey Island]] to small tree-covered islets like [[Rose Isle]] in Oxfordshire and [[Headpile Eyot]] in Berkshire. They are found all the way from [[Fiddler's Island]] in Oxfordshire to the [[Isle of Sheppey]] in Kent. Some of the largest inland islands, for example [[Formosa Island]] near Cookham and [[Andersey Island]] at Abingdon, were created naturally when the course of the river divided into separate streams.

In the Oxford area the river splits into several streams across the [[floodplain]] ([[Seacourt Stream]], [[Castle Mill Stream]], [[Bulstake Stream]] and others), creating several islands ([[Fiddler's Island]], [[Osney]] and others). [[Desborough Island]], [[Ham Island]] at Old Windsor and [[Penton Hook Island]] were artificially created by lock cuts and navigation channels. [[Chiswick Eyot]] is a landmark on the Boat Race course, while [[Glover's Island]] forms the centre of a view from [[Richmond Hill, London|Richmond Hill]].

Islands of historical interest include [[Magna Carta Island]] at [[Runnymede]], [[Fry's Island]] at Reading, and [[Pharaoh's Island, River Thames|Pharaoh's Island]] near Shepperton. In more recent times [[Platts Eyot]] at [[Hampton, London|Hampton]] was the place where [[Motor Torpedo Boats]] (MTB)s were built, [[Tagg's Island]] near Molesey was associated with the impresario [[Fred Karno]] and [[Eel Pie Island]] at Twickenham was the birthplace of the South East's [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] music scene.

[[Westminster Abbey]] and the [[Palace of Westminster]] (commonly known today as the [[Houses of Parliament]]) were built on [[Thorney Island (Westminster)|Thorney Island]], which used to be an [[eyot]].