London’s Other Rivers - Central & East London

Nouormand: Pliaque à Londres (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The third part of this article introduces two more rivers which empty into the Thames from the north. The first could be seen to be the most important river, the River Thames aside, in the capital’s history, the River Walbrook. The other is a river which still flows as London’s second river and which has fallen into the spotlight again in 2012, the River Lea.

Walbrook
To the east of the Fleet, running through the City of London, the River Walbrook is one of London’s most influential lost rivers, arguably the most influential. In times passed, it would have risen in modern-day Finsbury (or possibly even further north in Shoreditch) and flowed through the city of London (under the city walls - one possible root of its name) and into the Thames near what is now Cannon Street Railway Bridge.

Like the Fleet, it can trace a history of settlement back to at least the Roman era and the Roman settlement formed where the two rivers would have met, 150 metres inland from the modern bank of the Thames, would have included a strategic port, temples (e.g., the temple of Mithras whose remains can still be seen nearby - although not in their original location) and government buildings. This important strategic town went by the name of Londinium and so, in other words, the settlement that was the origin of the capital city that we know today. The future global city grew up either side if the brook on the north bank of the Thames, up the slopes of what is now Ludgate (to the west) and Cornhill (to the east).

Being at the heart of Londinium, the river has therefore witnessed many significant episodes in the history of the capital and the country as a whole, but, as a smaller watercourse, it was always susceptible to development. Having deteriorating to an open sewer in the middle ages, the river was first covered in the mid 15th century and within a hundred years or so the entire stretch of the river within the city had been built upon. The modern river has been incorporated into the sewerage system since its construction in the mid 19th century.

Lea/Lee
London’s second river, the River Lea is perhaps the first of London’s other rivers that would come to mind for many, owing largely to the fact that the Olympic Park for the 2012 London Olympics was located in the lower Lea valley in Stratford, East London. The river itself, which flows from its source near Luton, through Hertfordshire and North London into the Thames at Bow Creek, is modest in comparison with the capital’s main artery however it still has a significant imprint on the London landscape. The old river has carved out a valley which cuts through the north east of London and although now drained, is responsible for a number of marsh areas such as those at Hackney and Tottenham. Unlike many of the other rivers mentioned so far, the Lea, owing to its greater size and position, has been harnessed by man for industry rather than being lost to sewers and development. As a result it still flows through East London in the man-made channels which would have serviced local mills for hundred of years.

© Stuart Mitchell 2012
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