River Thames shipping coming in and out of London, in 1732 it received the world's first lightship. This became a major landmark, and was used as an assembly point for shipping. Today it is marked by Sea Reach No. 1 Buoy. The River Thames contains over 80 islands ranging from the large estuarial marshlands of the Isle of Sheppey and Canvey Island to small tree-covered islets like Rose Isle in Oxfordshire and Headpile Eyot in Berkshire. They are found all the way from the Isle of Sheppey in Kent to Fiddler's Island in Oxfordshire. Some of the largest inland islands, for example
Sittingbourne and Sheppey (UK Parliament constituency) Sheppey Central, Teynham and Lynsted, West Downs, and Woodstock. The constituency was created in 1997, mostly from the former seat of Faversham. It covers some of the district of Swale, including Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey. (On Sheppey is Queenborough which was a borough constituency until abolition as a rotten borough in 1832.) The constituency has been a bellwether of the national result since its 1997 creation. Unemployment claimant levels in November 2012 were close to the national average (3.8%) at 4.5%, in line with Cleethorpes, Thurrock, Hammersmith and Meriden. Sittingbourne and Sheppey (UK Parliament constituency) Sittingbourne and Sheppey