History of Henley

Henley's history is intrinsically linked to the river. Displays and exhibits trace the history of the town's development through the ages, highlighting the influence of the River Thames. In the Middle Ages poor navigation above Henley made the town a centre for transfer of goods between land and water transport. The present stone bridge, depicted in Sibrecht's painting at the museum, replaced the wooden one in 1786.

Henley-on-Thames is a small Thames-side town with a world-class reputation. It is known throughout the world that rowing means Henley and that Henley means rowing. Henley hosted the first University Boat Race in 1829, established the Royal Regatta in 1839 and hosted Olympic regattas in 1908 and 1948. Henley is the home of rowing history in Britain, and the Museum is a temporal home which fosters this spirit. Once pivotal to trade between Oxford and London, Henley is now a centre of recreation on the river.

The opening of Henley's own branch line on the Great Western Railway in 1857 meant ever-larger crowds came to the regatta for rowing and revelling. Once a market town dependent on river trading and trade, Henley-on-Thames developed a diversity of industries in the course of its history from glass making, brick making, breweries, engineering, more recently motor, financial and software companies.