Town in Oxfordshire, England
Henley-on-Thames
The first Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race wasn't on the Tideway at all: it was rowed at Henley in 1829, and the town has been the capital of English rowing ever since.
Key information
- County
- Oxfordshire
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 11,600 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- Henley Royal Regatta, rowing, the Thames and George Harrison's Friar Park
- Famous people
- George Harrison (lived at Friar Park), Sir Frank Crisp, Anne Damer, Prince Albert (regatta patron)
- Football clubs
- Henley Town
About Henley-on-Thames
The Boat Race started here, then left
Before it belonged to London, the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race belonged to Henley. The very first race between the two universities took place here in 1829, and crowds lined the Thames to watch. The race moved to the London Tideway in 1836, but Henley had made its mark. A few years later the town decided it wanted a rowing event of its own, and the result became one of the great fixtures of the English summer.
A regatta invented to fill the town with visitors
Henley Royal Regatta began in 1839 as a one-day event, launched after a public meeting at the Town Hall. Prince Albert became its patron in 1851, which is where the 'Royal' comes from. It now fills six days at the start of July, Tuesday to Sunday, a format introduced in 2022. The format is brutal and simple: a knockout, with two boats racing side by side along a straight course of 1 mile 550 yards. The course starts at Temple Island, a little white folly designed by James Wyatt in 1771, and finishes near the town bridge. The regatta's biggest prizes include the Grand Challenge Cup for eights and the Diamond Challenge Sculls for single scullers. The Stewards' Enclosure has a dress code that is half the fun, with men in jackets and ties and the odd stripy blazer or pink cap on show. Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, has its clubhouse beside the course. The course even hosted an Olympic event. The rowing at the 1908 London Games was staged here.
The Beatle with a Gothic mansion and a miniature Matterhorn
In 1970 George Harrison bought Friar Park, a Victorian Gothic mansion on the edge of Henley, and lived there for the rest of his life. It was built by Sir Frank Crisp, a London lawyer and keen microscopist with a taste for practical jokes. Crisp filled the grounds with a vast rock garden, complete with a scaled-down Matterhorn, along with caves, lakes and a good many garden gnomes. Harrison, who loved all of it, shot the cover of his 1970 album All Things Must Pass among those gnomes. The house is private, but the story is part of Henley folklore.
Two faces on the bridge
Henley Bridge dates from 1786 and was designed by William Hayward. Its keystones carry carved heads of Isis and Father Thames, the work of the sculptor Anne Damer, a woman making her name in a field that gave very few women the chance. The river made Henley rich long before rowing did. Barges carried grain, malt and Chiltern timber down to London, and the town sat on the busy coaching road between London and Oxford. Brewing was big business, and the Brakspear brewery operated in the town until it closed in 2002. Its old premises by the river have since found a new life as a hotel.
Theatres, books and a river museum
The Kenton Theatre in New Street dates from 1805 and is one of the oldest working theatres in Britain. It still puts on plays and concerts today. By the river stood the River & Rowing Museum, designed by David Chipperfield and opened in 1998. It told the story of the Thames and of rowing, and had a gallery devoted to The Wind in the Willows. It closed permanently in 2025. Henley also turns up in Jerome K. Jerome's comic classic Three Men in a Boat (1889), as one of the stops on the trio's Thames voyage. In summer the Henley Festival follows hot on the regatta's heels, with a floating stage on the river and plenty of black ties.