Ken makes no apology to describe himself as a riverman and, as I discovered, the currents of this great watercourse have taken him in some unexpected directions.
Like his brother John Dwan – the Lighterman I spent a day with once – Ken has worked on the river his whole life, earning a living and becoming deeply engaged with the culture of the Thames.
#EEL PIE ISLAND SLIPWAYS FULL#
Everybody learns on the job.” One of just four yards left on the Thames, Ken has his order book full for the next year, busy converting barges into houseboats, and maintaining and repairing those already in existence which, by law, have to be surveyed every five years. “We have all the skills here, “ Ken informed me, “and the older ones are passing it onto the younger ones. Here, where there are no roads, and enfolded on three sides by trees and tumbledown shacks, a hundred-year-old boatshed over-arches a hidden slipway attended by a crowded workshop filled with an accretion of old tools and maritime paraphernalia.įor the past thirty years, this magnificent old yard has been run by Ken Dwan, where twelve men work – shipwrights, platers, welders, marine engineers and marine electricians – on the slipway and in the workshop. This tiny haven in the Thames proposes a further remove from the metropolis, a leafy dominion of artists’ cabins, rustic bungalows and old boatyards where, at the overgrown end of the only path, I came upon the entrance to Eel Pie Island Slipway. The kind of place where a crowd forms to watch a crow eating a bag of crisps – as I observed in the High St, before I crossed the bowed footbridge over to Eel Pie Island. Even though Twickenham is a suburb of London these days, it still retains the quality of a small riverside town. Great forum for all things boat related. One mans blog of his travels and experiences on his narrowboat ( great reading )
- The UK met office, forecast by region.- Great interactive weather site, post your own reports, weather forecast by postcode (Teddington is TW11).A very well thought out guide to the local area and community, with things to do, places to visit and places to eat. The definative list of everything in and around Teddington. :- Great site covering the history and description of the section upriver from Hampton Court to Sunbury.
Local self catering short-term studio lets.
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