Monkey Island is an island in the River Thames in England, on the reach above Boveney Lock. Its nearest village is Bray, Berkshire. Its dominant building is a small hotel since the late 19th century. The reach on which it sits is a main reach in boat hiring and tour boating, between Windsor and Maidenhead. The island and the reach have been a tour destination since Georgian times – particularly so after its purchase by the Duke of Marlborough of 1738 (of the current Dukedom well-noted for Blenheim Palace) who in nameplay put colourful statues of monkeys in his various gardens for visitors to discover. In one of his two small buildings on the island (by Palladian architect Robert Morris) some of these remain. Origins Monkey is simple Old English: Monks Ey(ot), Monks' Island. It was probably a source of fishing revenues and may have been regularly visited by monks living and working at Amerden Bank, a moated site near Bray Lock on the Buckinghamshire bank of the river, as part of the Merton Priory from 1197 and a later house until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. By the 14th century, it had passed to the Canonesses of Burnham Abbey (a mile to the north). In the Bray Court Rolls of 1361, the island is written Bournhames Eyte. Many islands in the Thames below the Wiltshire/Gloucestershire border had a religious aspect. The name recurs in the P.R.O. plan of 1640 as Burnham-Ayt. The island passed to the Englefield family in 1606. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Oxfordshire stone and bricks were shipped in barges for rebuilding of the City. On their return, the barges carried rubble to be spread about certain of the Thames islands. The rubble reduces erosion and greatly built up the land. The Duke's Island In 1738, Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough acquired the island from Sir Francis Englefield. Spencer had seen the property while attending the Kit-Kat Club at nearby Down Place. The Duke was a well-known angler, and it was he who erected the first two buildings on the island to indulge his hobby. The fishing lodge and the fishing temple, as they were then described, remain as the Pavilion and the Temple, respectively. Palladian architect Robert Morris was enlisted to design and build both buildings at a cost of £8,756. The ninth Earl of Pembroke was also involved in the