Walking Group
Event Hours(1)
Dates for 2026
15th January, 19th January, 19th March, 16th April, 21st May, 18th June, 16th July, 20th August, 17th September, 15th October, 19th November and 10th December
With a different route each month, Our amazing volunteers design the walks for all abilities with plenty of interesting sites to see along the way, plus visits to coffee shops and pubs for lunch.
Arrive at The Avenue Club for 9.30am, setting off at 9.45am.
Please contact the Avenue Club for further details
Summary of the Avenue Club Walk – 11 December 2025
Serge’s Walking Group
So on a gloriously sunny day, 21 of us and Monty set off to explore the Duke’s River whose mouth is on the Isleworth bank of the Thames just upriver of Syon Park.We walked across Old Deer Park and across Richmond Lock. However, first things first and a coffee stop was held at the Town Wharf a few yards from the mouth of the Duke’s River. Very kindly, Mine Host Mike opened up early for us with plentiful supplies of tea and coffee. Forewarned about the absence of food to be provided by Mike, Josie acted as biscuit monitor with a wide variety to choose from.
And then on to the River. We learnt that the river was constructed by John Gates who had been made Bailiff of the King’s Manor of Isleworth, after being instrumental in the destruction of the Abbey at Syon in 1539. The intention was to provide sufficient water flow to power two flour mills – the Isleworth Flour Mill and the Brazil Flour Mill which was slightly inland from the Isleworth mill. Water was taken from the river Crane and the flow in this river was increased by constructing a western section of the Duke’s river taking water from the Colne river and joining the river Crane close to Heston.
Unfortunately, John Gates lost his head, literally, in supporting the Duke of Northumberland in the plot to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne instead of Mary Tudor.The “new” river came into the possession of the Earl of Northumberland in 1604 and stayed in the family’s ownership until the 1930s when it was sold to Middlesex county Council. Neither Flour Mill survives. The Isleworth Mill was destroyed by fire in 1795 but was rebuilt by Samuel Kidd in the early 1800s who enlarged it and added, in 1846, two steam engines. At its peak it had four stones and was the largest flour mill of its type in England. It closed in 1934.
Walking westward along the river we came to Ingrams Almshouses and learnt that, together with the church tower of All Saints Church, these are the only remaining buildings pre-dating 1700, as there had been so much redevelopment of the area. A few yards on we came to the former site of the Brazil Mill. We learnt that the Mill was converted into a brewery in the 18th century and was then purchased by the Farnell family in 1800 and we could witness commemorative stones in the walls of the river to the Farnells. The business became “Farnell and Watsons” and then the Isleworth Brewery Company in 1866. It was taken over by Watney Combe Reid & Co in 1923 and eventually stopped brewing in 1952.
Walking westward again and inland along the river, we learned that the slightly unusual course of the river is possibly due to the need to feed water to the moat of a moated farmhouse, which is also no longer with us. Before reaching the Mogden Sewage Treatment works, we passed the probable site of a former calico mill, now occupied by the Royal Oak pub.
Although there are many laudable reasons for the presence of the works – it replaced 28 smaller treatment works – we learnt that it had not always been appreciated by the local community and that it probably needs to expand to about three times its size to adequately cope with the demands placed on it today, which of course it cannot. We also learnt that the Duke’s river had been straightened in order to provide a water supply for the works.
And then it was a short walk past the two rugby grounds – the Allianz Stadium (formerly known as Twickenham) and the Stoop, home of Harlequins Rugby Club – to the Mereway Nature Park and the junction with the river Crane. As we walked along the Crane towards Twickenham, we learnt that the river is currently undergoing restoration by Richmond Council having previously been widened, straightened and artificially reinforced, damaging its biodiversity. And so to lunch at the Cabbage Patch pub in Twickenham. And the end of the formal part of the walk.
Given the sheer volume of rain that we had experienced in the days leading up to the walk, it was great to see so many people joining the walk.
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