Ankerwycke Priory

Ruins of a medieval priory near Wraysbury on the Thames, beside the Ankerwycke yew. In Three Men in a Boat the narrator passes it at Picnic Point and spins a joke about Henry VIII courting Anne Boleyn there.

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
Three Men in a Boat	Jerome K. Jerome	backdrop	Passing Picnic Point, the priory ruins prompt a comic riff on Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn as courting lovers.

Three Men in a Boat — Jerome K. Jerome (1889)

Source: Exploration of Three Men in a Boat · Three Men in a Boat · Original · Readwise highlight

There are the ruins of an old priory in the grounds of Ankerwyke House, which is close to Picnic Point, and it was round about the grounds of this old priory that Henry VIII is said to have waited for and met Anne Boleyn.

• Role: backdrop
• In the book: Rowing past Picnic Point, the narrator notes the ruins of the old priory in the grounds of Ankerwyke House, where Henry VIII is said to have met Anne Boleyn, and turns it into a riff on how tiresome it is to share a house with a courting couple.
• Why it matters: Minor: a passing landmark the narrator uses for a digression rather than a scene.