Kingston Grammar School Boat Club

The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows northwest through Surrey for 80 km (50 miles) to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey district of Mole Valley. The Mole crosses the North Downs between Dorking and Leatherhead, where it cuts a steep-sided valley, known as the Mole Gap, through the chalk. Much of the catchment area lies on impermeable rock (including Weald Clay and London Clay), meaning that the river level responds rapidly to heavy rainfall.During the second half of the 20th century pollution levels in the river were high; however, since 1995 the water quality has improved dramatically and the Mole now boasts the greatest diversity of fish species of any river in England. Twelve Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) that include wetland habitats are located within the Mole catchment area, and the stretch of river through Leatherhead has been designated a Local Nature Reserve. The Mole Gap forms part of a Special Area of Conservation and is an SSSI of European importance.The river has captured the imagination of several authors and poets, particularly since in very hot summers the river channel can become dry between Dorking and Leatherhead, most recently in 2022. In John Speed's 1611 map of Surrey this stretch of the river is denoted by a series of hills accompanied by the legend "The river runneth under". However the river's name is unlikely to have derived from this behaviour: The Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names suggests that Mole either comes from the Latin mola (a mill) or is a back-formation from Molesey (Mul's island). Domesday Book lists twenty mills on the river in 1086, of which Sidlow Mill was the oldest, dating from Saxon times.

Three river islands (aits) form a linear group, close to the junction of the two main old streets of Thames Ditton village, in the River Thames in a corner of modern Surrey, on the Kingston reach above Teddington Lock. Thames Ditton Island, the dominant ait, is 350 yards (320 m) long and has 48 houses with gardens (and moorings); Boyle Farm Island has one house; Swan Island, between the two, is the smallest.

The Thames Ditton Foundry was a foundry in Thames Ditton, Surrey, which operated from 1874 to 1939 and which under various owners produced numerous major statues and monuments as one of the United Kingdom's leading firms of bronze founders.

The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is a hand embroidery school in the United Kingdom, founded in 1872 and based at Hampton Court Palace since 1987.

Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, 12 miles (19 kilometres) southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief minister of Henry VIII. In 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the cardinal gave the palace to the king to check his disgrace. The palace went on to become one of Henry's most favoured residences; soon after acquiring the property, he arranged for it to be enlarged so that it might more easily accommodate his sizeable retinue of courtiers. The palace is currently in the possession of King Charles III and the Crown. In the following century, King William III's massive rebuilding and expansion work, which was intended to rival the Palace of Versailles, destroyed much of the Tudor palace. His work ceased in 1694, leaving the palace in two distinct contrasting architectural styles, domestic Tudor and Baroque. While the palace's styles are an accident of fate, a unity exists due to the use of pink bricks and a symmetrical, if vague, balancing of successive low wings. King George II was the last monarch to reside in the palace. Today, the palace is open to the public and a major tourist attraction, easily reached by train from Waterloo station in central London and served by Hampton Court railway station in East Molesey, in Transport for London's Zone 6. In addition, London Buses routes 111, 216, 411 and R68 stop outside the palace gates. The structure and grounds are cared for by an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces, which receives no funding from the Government or the Crown. In addition, the palace displays many works of art from the Royal Collection. Apart from the palace itself and its gardens, other points of interest for visitors include the celebrated maze, the historic royal tennis court (see below), and the huge grape vine, the largest in the world as of 2005. The palace's Home Park is the site of the annual Hampton Court Palace Festival and Hampton Court Garden Festival.

St Nicholas Church in Thames Ditton, Surrey, England, is a Grade I listed Anglican parish church that has parts that date back to the 12th century.

Hampton Court astronomical clock is a sixteenth-century astronomical clock in Hampton Court Palace.

The Hampton Court Palace Festival (also promoted as the Hampton Court Palace Music Festival) is an annual musical event at Hampton Court Palace in London. Established in 1993, the Festival is known for presenting artists across the music genres such as Sir Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Eric Clapton, Tom Jones, Andrea Bocelli, Frankie Valli, Van Morrison, Jools Holland, Liza Minnelli, James Morrison Buena Vista Social Club, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, José Carreras and Josh Groban. The concerts are held in the "Base Court" courtyard of the palace and continue a tradition of entertainment first introduced by monarchs and nobility in the 16th and 17th century. The event is held over 18 days in June, and is run in conjunction with Historic Royal Palaces. The venue supports an audience of 3,000, and the events culminate in a Festival Finale with a programme of classical favourites and a firework display on the East Front Gardens.In August 2010 PWR Events Limited were awarded the contract to promote and manage the festival.

The Pavilion is a house on Barge Walk in Hampton Court Park near Hampton Court Palace. It is Grade II* listed on the National Heritage List for England. It is the sole survivor of four pavilions for the Bowling Green at Hampton Court.It was designed by William Talman under the direction of Christopher Wren as part of William III's improvements to the palace. The house is set in 2.3 acres of gardens that include a parterre and water features. The remaining 143-year lease of the Pavilion from the Crown Estate was for sale for £6.5 million in 2007. The Pavilion was again for sale in 2012; priced at £10 million.The pavilion was occupied by Cecil Harmsworth King and his second wife Ruth Railton in the 1960s and 1970s.In 2019 a replica was built next to the original by R W Armstrong & Sons Ltd.

The Royal Tennis Court, Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed court for playing the sport of real tennis. It was built for Cardinal Wolsey between 1526 and 1529. Henry VIII of England played there from 1528. This court is still home to an active tennis club. In 2015 it was closed to visitors for major restoration works. During the 17th century various improvements were made to the court. One of the first acts of Charles II after his restoration in 1660 was to order the extensive refitting of the Tudor tennis court. This included the laying of a new tile floor, the remodelling of the galleries and repairs to the roof. At the same time, new nets, curtains and velvet cushions for the spectators' seats were provided. The interlaced initials above the net on the wall opposite the corridors are, however, not those of Charles but of William III and Mary II (1689–1702). Since the end of the 17th century the court has undergone little alteration. However, progress is not incompatible with history: in 1975 sodium halide lighting was installed.

The King's Beasts are a series of 10 statues of heraldic animals that stand on the bridge over a moat leading to the great gatehouse of Hampton Court Palace. The original statues were commissioned by King Henry VIII to represent his ancestry and that of his third wife Jane Seymour. These were destroyed during renovations in the late 17th century, but new sculptures based on the original specifications were erected in the early 20th century. The animals are: the lion of England, the Seymour lion, the royal dragon, the black bull of Clarence, the yale of Beaufort, the white lion of Mortimer, the White Greyhound of Richmond, the Tudor dragon, the Seymour panther, and the Seymour unicorn.

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. In 1843 the island was named Davis's Ait, and a later name of Cigarette Island derived from a houseboat with the name Cigarette which was moored at the site.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." By the end of the 19th century the site was a popular mooring site for houseboats.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". 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.The park is only a short walk away from Hampton Court station.