The island’s name dates from when the Ray family managed a flour mill here. Boulter’s weir is situated at one end of the small island.
The weir is the latest in a series built here over the last 600 years. Early weirs were solid banks of interwoven stakes filled with stones built across the river. No-one is sure who built these firs weirs bur millers, fishermen and boatmen all had reason to do so. Millers such as the Rays, needed to keep a head of water to power their mills. Weirs intercepted fish and allowed local fishermen to sieve them out in large quantities. The deeper water created by the weirs let boats through reaches previously to shallow. Early weirs were often multi-purpose; head water was supplied for the mill, fish nets were sometimes lowered into the weir in place of sluice gates, and boats could ‘flash’ through a central section which could be opened. A winch was sited at the head of the island to haul boats up through the weir.*
*information from signboard next to the weir
