Regions/ Thames Valley/

Chertsey

A reach of the Upper Thames where the river's working life still survives in a small handful of independent yards. The archive's first Chertsey documentation is the boat-building yard of Michael and Stephen Dennett at Laleham - a working family practice that has been restoring Thames craft, including the surviving Little Ships of Dunkirk, since 1957.

1Yard documented
2Subjects identified
70+Years at the yard

The Upper Thames between Chertsey and Laleham is one of the river's last working stretches. A handful of yards along this reach maintain the wooden craft - launches, river cruisers, sailing yachts, and the surviving Little Ships of Dunkirk - whose continued existence depends on the small number of yards that still know how to keep them. Dennett Boat Builders is the most visible of those yards, and the only one in the immediate Laleham area still operating a full hand-restoration practice.

Michael Dennett opened the yard at Laleham in 1988 with his son Stephen, after thirty years of training through the Surrey Thames boat-building yards of the 1960s and seventy. Stephen has been at the yard since childhood and is now its working principal. Michael, in his eighty-fourth year, is still in the workshop every working day. The archive documents both, the team that works alongside them, and the yard itself as the present-day working centre of Upper Thames boat-building.

Dennett Boat Builders

The yard at Laleham

A handful of place-establishing frames - the yard frontage, the river-side moorings, the shed where the Little Ships are kept. The full visit and its photographic record live in the journal entry; the people in the subject pages for Stephen and Michael Dennett.

The front of the Michael Dennett Boatbuilders building, the painted ‘Michael Dennett Boatbuilders / 01932 563446’ sign across its facade and a worker standing in the open doorway. A small canopy tent to the right.
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The exterior of the Dennett Boat Builders yard - the timber-clad workshop with the ‘Michael Dennett Boatbuilders Est. 1957’ sign mounted across its front, a balcony above and stacked materials below.
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A line of moored boats at the yard’s slipway, the white river launch in the foreground with its cabin canopy raised, a sailing yacht and other vessels behind, willows and far houses across the river.
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A close view of the cabin of a Little Ship of Dunkirk in the yard, the brass DUNKIRK 1940 plaque mounted on the cabin wall.
IM-0229

The yard, in its working parts

An atlas of the place

The front of the Michael Dennett Boatbuilders building, the painted ‘Michael Dennett Boatbuilders / 01932 563446’ sign across its facade and a worker standing in the open doorway. A small canopy tent to the right.
The front of the workshop on the lane - the painted ‘Michael Dennett Boatbuilders / 01932 563446’ sign and the open door into the dark yard. IM-0267
A wide view of the workshop with two workers visible - one standing at a long timber on a trestle in the middle distance, another bent over the deck of a small boat on the right. The corrugated workshop walls rise behind.
The main workshop floor, two craftsmen at separate tasks, a partially built hull on the right and the bench wall to the left. IM-0280
A sailing yacht under construction in the workshop’s tall main shed, viewed bow-on, the rudder hanging on chains in the centre, the boat’s white hull catching the daylight from the high pitched roof above.
The tall main shed, looking up at a sailing yacht under restoration with the high pitched roof above. IM-0295
The same sailing yacht in the workshop seen from the doorway - the boat propped up in the centre of the shed with the open doors framing it, rusted wheelbarrows and equipment to either side.
The same shed seen from the threshold - the yacht propped on chocks, framed by the open doors. IM-0296
A boat hull seen from above with its deck framing exposed - timber ribs and stringers laid across the bottom of the hull, a stencilled inscription faintly visible on one rib.
A boat hull mid-restoration, viewed from above with its deck framing exposed - timber ribs and stringers laid across the bottom. IM-0238
Twin propellers under the keel of a wooden hull in the workshop dry dock, the rudder between them, timber bracing of the cradle below and the boat’s underside above.
The dry dock, twin propellers under the keel, the rudder between them and the timber bracing of the cradle below. IM-0251
The propeller and rudder of a wooden hull seen from the bottom, the keel rising overhead in the workshop.
A single propeller and rudder on a separate hull - marine engineering at the heart of every Thames restoration the yard takes on. IM-0221
Stephen Dennett standing in the timber-store mezzanine of the workshop, a tall stack of plywood sheets and shelves of long timbers behind him, looking at the camera.
The timber-store mezzanine inside the workshop - tall stacks of plywood and shelves of long boards waiting to become next year’s boats. IM-0228
A vintage marine engine on a wooden pallet outside the workshop, polished brass instrument panel on its side, a corrugated workshop wall behind.
A vintage marine engine on a wooden pallet outside the workshop, polished brass instrument panel still on its side. IM-0299
The bow of the boat ‘Calina, Southampton’ in the dark of the workshop, the painted nameplate clearly visible on the white hull. A wooden ladder propped against the cradle on the left.
‘Calina, Southampton’ - the painted nameplate of one of the boats currently in the dark of the workshop, awaiting her turn at the bench. IM-0269
The boat ‘Lavinia II’ on a trailer in a narrow side yard between the workshop building and a neighbouring house, a wooden ladder leaning against the cabin and a metal water-tank in the foreground.
The narrow side yard between the workshop and a neighbouring house, with ‘Lavinia II’ on her trailer and the brick wall of the neighbour. IM-0298
A long wooden river launch moored alongside the yard’s slipway, its cabin and brass detail catching the sun, the river curving past with willows and houses on the far bank.
A long wooden river launch moored alongside the slipway, the river curving past with willows and houses on the far bank. IM-0268
A high-key view through a workshop doorway out into the yard - a white canopy tent set up in the sunlight, a worker just visible inside the tent, the dark interior of the workshop framing the door.
A canopy tent set up in the yard for outdoor restoration work - the workshop building dark behind, the tent bright with daylight inside. IM-0283
A wooden boat under tarpaulin in the yard, propped on a trailer, with a forklift parked alongside and the workshop building behind.
A boat under tarpaulin in the yard, propped on a trailer with the forklift parked alongside - the working configuration of a small Thames yard. IM-0216
From Chertsey

Archive Entries

Stephen Dennett, Boat Builder Makers
Documentary Archive April 2026

Stephen Dennett, Boat Builder

Makers

Working principal of Dennett Boat Builders, Laleham, Chertsey. Son of Michael Dennett, who taught him the trade from age two. Joined the yard as a partner in 1988 and has worked there ever since. Specialises in the restoration of historic Thames pleasure craft.

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Michael Dennett, Boat Builder Makers
Documentary Archive April 2026

Michael Dennett, Boat Builder

Makers

Founder of Dennett Boat Builders, Laleham. Trained at three Surrey Thames yards in the 1960s: Horace Clarke's Boatyard in Sunbury from age 15; Walton Yacht; and George Wilsons Yard in Sunbury, where he completed his apprenticeship. Self-employed from 22. Opened the Laleham yard with his son Stephen in 1988.

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Essay April 2026

Upper Thames Boats

Makers Makers

The Thames pleasure-craft tradition from the Edwardian slipper launch through the mid-century Surrey yards to the restoration workshops carrying the trade forward today. The Dennett yard at Laleham as the living lineage.

Read Essay →
People at Chertsey

Categories Represented

I The Makers →
Also in Thames Valley

Related Areas

Henley → Oxford → The Ridgeway →

From the visit

The contact sheet

A close view of the cabin and rear deck of a wooden river launch, varnished surfaces and brass detail in the workshop light. IM-0220 Stephen Dennett at a metal bench grate in the workshop, hand on the grate, looking up and away. IM-0227 A head-and-shoulders portrait of Stephen Dennett in the workshop, looking down and slightly away with a faint smile, the DENNETT polo and a boat hull visible in the background. IM-0230 Two workers handling the launch trestles around the boat ‘Calina, Southampton’, mid-task on a sunlit afternoon at the slipway. IM-0232 A worker in a flat cap and dark sunglasses standing on the upper deck of a yacht in the yard, hands on the safety rail, the white funnel beside him. IM-0233 Two workers in conversation on the slipway between two boats, the river behind them with another moored vessel and willow-lined far bank. IM-0235 A worker in a flat cap and grey sweatshirt working at the cluttered tool wall bench, head down on the work, the whole tool rack rising above the bench. IM-0242 A worker in a cap working alone at the tool wall bench, head down on a small workpiece, the dense rack of tools rising above and the workshop receding behind. IM-0246 A long-cabin wooden river launch moored at the yard’s slipway, the river behind it and the willow-lined far bank, late-morning sun. IM-0250 Stephen Dennett at the workbench in close half-light, head down on the work, the DENNETT polo and tool wall in shallow focus behind. IM-0256 A worker in a fur-lined cap and grey beard standing at the workbench, looking past the camera, the workshop’s parts shelves and the cluttered bench behind him. IM-0259 A worker in a knitted cap reaching up under the side of a hull at the workshop, working at the planking from underneath, the boat’s curve filling the upper half of the frame. IM-0260 A worker walking down the central aisle of the workshop between rows of paint-encrusted boat trestles and the tool shelves, the high roof and corrugated wall behind. IM-0265 The young hooded apprentice walking down the long workshop aisle away from the camera, the side of a hull on the left, the bench and tool shelves on the right, the workshop receding to a bright doorway at the far end. IM-0270 Stephen Dennett at the bench, side profile, the dense tool wall and shelves behind him, working with a small tool in his right hand. IM-0273 A wide view of the workshop’s side wall - a fluorescent strip light over the bench, dense tool racks, a hull on the right edge of frame, and a worker dimly visible at the far bench. IM-0284 A bearded worker in cap and DENNETT polo standing inside the open hull of a boat under construction, the planking curving up around him. IM-0288 A tall wooden cabin cruiser propped on chocks in the yard, a wooden ladder leaning against its side, a tarpaulin tent behind it. IM-0289 The leather-hatted yard worker walking through the yard, the boat ‘Mandolin’ on chocks behind him, the workshop building visible to the right. IM-0291 The leather-hatted yard worker walking out of the workshop into a bright doorway, the Axminster industrial saw bench in the foreground and rows of tall timber boards leaning against the workshop walls. IM-0292 A worker (Stephen Dennett) seen through the cabin window of a boat in the workshop, head down on paperwork at a small table inside the cabin, the wooden ceiling beams of the cabin behind him. IM-0293

Further in the archive

Walks and writings about this place

Elsewhere in the region