The river as a boundary

London Studios Until sufficient crossings were established, the river provided a formidable barrier, with Belgic tribes and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms being defined by which side of the river they were on. When English counties were established their boundaries were partly determined by the Thames. On the Northern bank were the traditional counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, London Studios Middlesex and Essex. On the southern bank were the counties of Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey, and Kent. However the 214 bridges and 17 tunnels that have been built to date have changed the dynamics and made cross-river development and shared responsibilities more practicable.

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A long running dispute London Studios between the City and the Crown over ownership of the river was not settled until 1857, when the Thames Conservancy was formed to manage the river from Staines downstream. In 1866 the functions of the Thames Navigation Commission were transferred to the Thames Conservancy, which thus had responsibility for the whole river.

In 1909 the powers London Studios of the Thames Conservancy over the tidal river, below Teddington, were transferred to the Port of London Authority.

In 1974 the Thames Conservancy became part of the new Thames Water Authority. When Thames Water London Studios was privatised in 1990, its river management functions were transferred to the National Rivers Authority, in 1996 subsumed into the Environment Agency.

In 1965, upon the creation of the Greater London Council, the borough London Studios of Richmond-upon-Thames incorporated parts of both Middlesex and Surrey, while the 1974 boundary changes moved some of the boundaries away from the river, so that, for example, some of the traditional county of Berkshire became part of the administrative county of Oxfordshire, some of the traditional county of Buckinghamshire became part of the administrative county of Berkshire, and some of the traditional county of Middlesex became part of the administrative county of Surrey. On occasion – for example in rowing – the banks are still referred to by their traditional county names.

Crossings London Studios
Main article: List of crossings of the River Thames
Newbridge, in rural Oxfordshire
Railway bridge at Maidenhead
The Millennium Footbridge with St Paul's Cathedral in the background
Hammerton's Ferry near Richmond.