Teddington Lock Boat Rollers

The rollers sit on the lock complex's own island, between the weir stream on the Teddington side and the lock cut on the Ham side. A paddler can drag a board over the rollers to bypass the lock chambers, or lock through instead alongside the barge lock, the launch lock and the smaller skiff lock; Teddington Lock is staffed around the clock. A few hundred yards further downstream, an obelisk on the Surrey bank marks where the Environment Agency's non-tidal Thames hands over to the Port of London Authority's tidal reach, so this stretch sits close to the point where the two regimes meet.

On the Surrey bank, the water borders Ham Lands, a 72-hectare local nature reserve reclaimed from a former gravel pit; its flood meadows carry wildflowers now scarce elsewhere in London, including meadow saxifrage, bee orchid and pyramidal orchid. The Grade II listed footbridges crossing to the rollers' island, a suspension bridge over the weir stream and an iron girder bridge over the lock cut, are the most visible structures on this stretch of river. About 450 metres upstream, Trowlock Island holds the Royal Canoe Club's clubhouse.