[n 3] Though the weir at Teddington Weir marks the managed river's usual tidal limit, after prolonged rainfall causing very high fluvial flow, specifically at high tide, a higher limit of slack water (stand of the tide) causes eddies to arise as far upstream as the top of this reach, the next lock.

Just before his retirement, Truss proposed locks at Molesey and Teddington, each having a weir with long tumbling bays, similar to modern practice.

Rennie and William Jessop again proposed four long cuts in 1805, each about 1.5 miles (2.4 km), but the Navigation Committee were thwarted by strong opposition from landowners.

[6] Zacchary Allnutt, by then Surveyor for the Second and Third Districts, stretching from Staines to Mapledurham near Reading, suggested locks at Chertsey, Sunbury and Teddington in 1805.

Finally Leach drafted plans in 1810, which he suggested were "at once practicable and expedient, the least expensive, and the most likely to pass through Parliament without opposition and yet calculated to remedy the most prominent evils complained of."

An Act of Parliament was obtained by the City of London Corporation in June 1810, which authorised construction of locks and weirs at Chertsey, Shepperton, Sunbury and Teddington.

[6] Leach then took charge of the work, which was undertaken by contractors Joseph Kimber and John Dows who also built Sunbury Lock.

[7][8] Work at Teddington started in September 1810, but there were delays caused by flooding in November and December, and Leach awarded the contractors an extra £500.

The cofferdam protecting the works would need to be removed as river levels rose in the winter, which would have delayed completion until the following July, and so again Leach stepped in, awarding advance payments to the contractors, which enabled them to finish on time.

[15] In 1940 Teddington Lock was the assembly point for an enormous flotilla of small ships from the length of the River Thames to be used in the evacuation of Dunkirk.

Early twenty-first century renovation and improvement work in the area around the locks was undertaken as part of the Thames Landscape Strategy Teddington Gateway project.

Located 0.5 miles (0.80 km) above the lock is Trowlock Island, towards the Teddington bank, followed by Steven's Eyot in the centre of the river.

Half the Longford River, which feeds the water-features of Hampton Court Palace, runs out of a grated culvert opposite Raven's Ait and below the Water Gallery.

On the Surrey side is a consistent green buffer and towpath between the river and Ham/Kingston, widening to Canbury Gardens, until the high-rise town centre is reached.

A riverside park and playing fields flank the mouth of the Mole until Hampton Court Bridge, near to the top of the reach, overlooking part of the Palace.

There are navigation transit markers between Kingston Bridge and Raven's Ait on the Hampton Court bank, to allow river users to check their speed.

Numerous pleasure boats ply for trade, London Riverboat services and chartered trips between Kingston and Hampton Court.