Cigarette Island Park

Cigarette Island Park is a 5-acre (2.0 ha) public park in East Molesey, in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, close to the border with Greater London and Hampton Court Palace.

Until the 1930s the area was an island at the confluence of the River Mole and the Thames, known as The Sterte as early as the 14th century.

[1] Writing in 1843, James Thorne described the location as "a noble one", saying that "From its mouth the Thames, with Hampton Court on the opposite bank, form a picture of surpassing beauty.

[3] In 1926 council plans were drawn up to convert the island into a public park, in part to curb the "ever-increasing nuisance of caravan dwellers and occupiers of sheds".

[1] In the early 1930s the Mole was diverted into the River Ember and the creek was filled in, and the park opened to the public in 1935.