Monkey Island, Bray
Encyclopedia
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River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
in England, on the reach above Boveney Lock
Boveney Lock
Boveney Lock is a lock on the River Thames situated on the Buckinghamshire bank opposite the Windsor Racecourse and close to Eton Wick. Boveney is a village a little way upstream on the same side. The lock was first built in 1838 by the Thames Navigation Commission...
near the village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
of Bray
Bray, Berkshire
Bray, sometimes known as Bray on Thames, is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. It stands on the banks of the River Thames, just south-east of Maidenhead. It is famous as the village mentioned in the song The Vicar of Bray...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
. It is now occupied by a hotel, but sports an interesting history involving grotesquely painted monkeys and the Duke of Marlborough
Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough
Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough KG, PC , known as The Earl of Sunderland between 1729 and 1733, was a British soldier and politician. He briefly served as Lord Privy Seal in 1755...
.
Origins
Although painted monkeys still lurk in the pavilion, the name Monkey Island stems from the Old EnglishOld English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
Monks Eyot, i.e., Monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s' Island, after those monks residing at Amerden Bank, a moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
ed site near Bray Lock
Bray Lock
Bray Lock is a lock and weir on the River Thames in England near Bray and Dorney and is just above the M4 Bridge across the Thames. The lock is on the Buckinghamshire side of the river on the opposite bank from Bray itself and Maidenhead which are in Berkshire...
on the Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
bank of the river, as part of the Merton Priory
Merton Priory
Merton Priory was founded in 1114 by Gilbert Norman, Sheriff of Surrey under Henry I. It was located in Merton, Surrey, England at the point where the Roman Stane Street crossed the River Wandle....
from 1197 until the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
. By the 14th century, Monkey Island had passed to the Canonesses of Burnham Abbey
Burnham Abbey
Burnham Abbey was founded as a house of Augustinian nuns in 1266 by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, who presented the community with the surrounding lands and the parish church of Burnham in Buckinghamshire...
, a mile to the North, and in the Bray Court Rolls of 1361, the island is called Bournhames Eyte. That name recurs in the P.R.O. plan of 1640 as Burnham-Ayt.
The island passed to the Englefield family in 1606. After the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
in 1666, Oxfordshire stone was shipped downstream in barges for rebuilding of the City
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. On their return, the barges carried rubble to be dumped on the Thames islands. Such London rubble gave Monkey Island today's solid foundation, and raised it high enough to eliminate the danger of serious flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
ing.
The Duke's Island
In 1738, Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of MarlboroughCharles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough
Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough KG, PC , known as The Earl of Sunderland between 1729 and 1733, was a British soldier and politician. He briefly served as Lord Privy Seal in 1755...
acquired the island from Sir Francis Englefield. Spencer had seen the property while attending the Kit-Kat Club at nearby Down Place. The Duke was a well-known angler, and it was he that erected the first two buildings on the island to indulge his hobby. The fishing lodge and the fishing temple, as they were then described, stand to this day as the Pavilion and the Temple, respectively.
Palladian architect Robert Morris was enlisted to design and build both buildings at a cost of £8,756. The ninth Earl of Pembroke was also involved in the design of the Temple; the Duke paid him £2,277 for his work from 1745 to 1748.
Reflecting the craftsmanship of the time, the Duke had the Pavilion built out of wood blocks cut to look like stone – an original feature that can be seen today. Inside the Pavilion, perhaps the Duke’s most intriguing mark is the delightful Singerie
Singerie
Singerie is the French word for "Monkey Trick". It is a genre depicting monkeys apeing human behavior, often fashionably attired, intended as a diverting sight, always with a gentle cast of mild satire...
paintings of the Monkey Room. Spencer commissioned the French artist Andieu de Clermont to paint these captivating and unique scenes of monkeys doing rather humanlike activities – shooting, fishing, smoking – and it is known they were completed before 1738. Andieu de Clermont is also known for his paintings in Langley Hall
Langley Hall
Langley Hall is a red-brick building in the Palladian style, located in Loddon, Norfolk. It was built in 1737 for Richard Berney, on land that until the Dissolution of the Monasteries belonged to Langley Abbey, and sold two years later to George Proctor to enable Berney to repay his debts...
in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
.
The curious nature of the Duke’s décor later led some to call the island “Marlborough’s Folly.” Indeed, Lady Hertford described the Pavilion soon after it was finished with both a hint of admiration and amazement:
The parlour, which is the only room in it except the kitchen, is painted upon the ceiling in grotesque, with monkeys fishing, shooting etc., and its sides are hung with paper. When a person sits in this room he cannot see the water though the island is not above a stone's cast over: nor is he prevented from this by shade: for, except for six or eight walnut trees and a few orange trees in tubs there is not a leaf upon the island; it arises entirely from the river running very much below its banks.
The Temple, built one hundred yards from the Pavilion, was originally open on the ground floor like a market stall. The Duke’s fine and eclectic decorative taste is again evident in the first-floor room that was once a billiard room. Its grand ceiling – with Neptune
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
, shells and mermaids in high relief plasterwork of Wedgwood
Wedgwood
Wedgwood, strictly speaking Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, is a pottery firm owned by KPS Capital Partners, a private equity company based in New York City, USA. Wedgwood was founded on May 1, 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood and in 1987 merged with Waterford Crystal to create Waterford Wedgwood, an...
style – is said to be the work of Roberts of Oxford circa 1725, though some accounts attribute it to carver William Perritt.
The Duke of Marlborough died in 1758. Monkey Island was later purchased in 1787 by Henry Townley Ward, Esq., who later bequeathed it to P.C. Bruce, Esq., of Taplow.
Inn to hotel
By 1840, the Pavilion had become a riverside inn reached by ferry from the South bank. By the mid/late 19th century the hotel was called the 'Monkey Hall Hotel'. Visitors have been staying in various parts of the two buildings ever since. It became particularly fashionable just after 1900 when Edward VIIEdward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
and Queen Alexandra often had afternoon tea on the lawns with their children. Edward Elgar composed his violin concerto in 1910 in the Hut, a house on the riverbank facing Monkey Island. Musical stars Clara Butt and Nellie Melba entertained the island’s guests. From 1912, Rebecca West
Rebecca West
Cicely Isabel Fairfield , known by her pen name Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, DBE was an English author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. A prolific, protean author who wrote in many genres, West was committed to feminist and liberal principles and was one of the foremost public...
and H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
frequented the island. And it was here that West set her first novel, “Return of the Soldier,” the heroine being the daughter of the innkeeper.
The middle of the twentieth century saw extensive additions and refurbishment to the island. The footbridge that connects it to shore was added in 1956 after Christopher Reynolds purchased the island. In 1963 the dining area of the Pavilion was increased with the addition of the River Room, a large glass-walled building that hangs just over the Thames. Named in homage to the Duke, the Marlborough Room was added in 1970 at the upstream end of the building, whose walls were painted with battle scenes. In the same year, the Temple was extended to provide a further thirty bedrooms. The Pavilion and Temple are both Grade I listed buildings.
As proprietor from 1956 to 1971, Mr Reynolds brought renewed vigor to the island with his thoughtful additions. Monkey Island also enjoyed continued popularity: In 1964 it played host to a ball in aid of Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, which was covered in Tatler
Tatler
Tatler has been the name of several British journals and magazines, each of which has viewed itself as the successor of the original literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709. The current incarnation, founded in 1901, is a glossy magazine published by Condé Nast Publications...
under the headline “Oxfam-On-Thames.”
In 1967 Mr Reynolds produced Monkey Island’s own journal, “The Islander.” The first issue told of the popularity of the island’s Club Suppers, Island Luncheon Club for Ladies, and entertainment provided by Jimmy Fraser and Mike Allen.
The hotel was purchased by Major Fitzwilliams and later sold to the Weinreb Group which subsequently went into receivership.
In 1976 Paul and Liz Nichols purchased Monkey Island Hotel from the Liquidators and carried out extensive renovations during their 9 year tenure. The hotel achieved recommendations from the Michelin Guide, Egon Ronay and was a British Tourist Authority Country Hotel and Restaurant Award winner in 1983,1984 and 1985
In 1986 the hotel was sold to Basil Faidi, who further restored the Grade I listed buildings.
The hotel was sold some 10 years later to the Habtour Group and was then acquired by Dr Andreas C. Papadakis
Andreas Papadakis
Andreas Constantine Papadakis, FLS was a Greek Cypriot-born British academic, entrepreneur and leading figure in the field of architectural publishing. He opened the Academy Bookshop in Holland Street, Kensington in 1964 and moved into publishing as Academy Editions in 1968...
in September 2007.