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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London’s Other Rivers - The Fleet

Blackfriars Bridge with St Paul's Cathedral behind (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The second part of this article introduces the largest of London’s lost rivers and one which can be considered to be integral to the growth and success of the ancient capital, the Fleet; a river which has been subsumed by the development of central London on the northern banks of the River Thames into which it would have emptied.

River Fleet
Perhaps also the best known of London’s lost rivers, the River Fleet has had a lasting impact on some of London’s most familiar areas and landmarks. As with it’s two cousins to the west, the Tyburn and the Westbourne, the Fleet would have risen from the higher ground of Hampstead where the two ponds of Hampstead and Highgate can still be seen today. On its course it would have flowed through the area we know as Kentish Town, Camden, King’s Cross and Farringdon, following the route of Farringdon Road and New Bridge Street to the site of Blackfriars Bridge.

The river has a rich and long history, from significant Roman settlements, including what is thought to be the oldest tidal mill in the world, to the numerous Anglo-Saxon wells that lined its banks (so much so that the river became known as the river of wells). It was on a bridge over the river near modern King’s Cross that Boudica is even meant to have finally met her end in battle.

However, subsequent centuries of industrial and urban development, due its proximity to the centre of London, led to a degradation in the areas along the river’s banks causing the waterway to become an open sewer. By the end of the 17th century the river had been converted into the New Canal in an attempt to revive it, but, as this failed, its southern reaches were gradually culverted in the mid 18th century due to a lack of use, before Blackfriars bridge was eventually built at the river’s old mouth. The middle section of the New Canal was superseded by the Regent’s Canal in the early 19th century and the uppermost stretches were covered in the late 19th by development of the Hampstead suburbs. Despite all this, the buried river can still be seen emptying into the Thames at Blackfriars and can even be heard through grates just off of Farringdon Road.

Just like many of London’s other lost rivers the Fleet’s presence can be traced back through place names which live on. Many of the streets in the vicinity carry a reference to the river itself or the wells and mills that would have existed along it; most notably of course, Fleet Street, the historical home of the newsprint industry, which approaches the old river valley from the west. The area of Holborn, also just to the west of the river is so named after the bourne (or one of its tributaries), with “Hol” being a derivation of either “old” or “hollow” referring to its valley. Meanwhile, Clerkenwell, on its eastern banks is a noticeable reference back to the river’s old wells. The name of the river itself refers to the Anglo-Saxon term for a tidal inlet, as it would have been, leading off from the tidal Thames.

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London’s Other Rivers - The West End

English: WORK 16/376; is an illustration, said to be from about 1680, of the permanent gallows at Tyburn, which stood where Marble Arch now stands. This necessitated a three-mile cart ride in public from Newgate prison to the gallows. Huge crowds collected on the way and followed the accused to Tyburn. They were used as the gallows for London offenders from the 16th century until 1759." (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

London is one of the most famous river cities in the world with the River Thames being its lifeblood down the centuries and key to its success as the hub of the biggest empire ever seen. However, if you ask people to name any other rivers running through the UK’s capital they may struggle. Before being built upon, numerous rivers coursed the low lying wetlands that once occupied the site of the Thames basin where London’s modern metropolis stands. Many smaller tributaries have disappeared with the development of the city and a good few streams and rivers became buried in culverts and sewerage systems, with just a handful maintaining their presence above the surface. this article looks at some of the more notable.

Tyburn/Tybourne
One long lost river which has a lasting legacy in spawning a significant area of settlement, despite its small size, is the Tybourne, or Tyburn. This stream would have risen in South Hampstead and meandered down to the Thames, splitting into two (possibly even three) before reaching the great river. In the process it would have created an island, Thorney Island, where Westminster Abbey was built and the Palace of Westminster also now stands. On its route it would have flowed through what we would recognise as Hampstead, St John’s Wood, Regent’s Park, Marylebone, Mayfair, and Westminster. The area of Marylebone is one in particular that can trace its name back to the ancient stream, named as it is after the church of St Mary on the banks of the bourne.

Through West London the river would have passed along or near many of what are, these days, the capital’s most familiar streets and landmarks: passed Primrose HIll, through Regent’s Park itself, along Baker Street, across Oxford Street and Bond Street tube station, across Piccadilly, through Green Park, through St James’s park, passed the front of where Westbourne
The River Tyburn should not be confused with the Tyburn Brook which in turn is a tributary of the next lost river, the River Westbourne. This river would have run just to the west of the Tyburn, but, akin to its near neighbour would have also originated from the Hampstead hills. On its route to the Thames in Chelsea (in the grounds of the Royal Hospital), it would have passed through wetlands and meadows that are now some of the most exclusive residential districts in the world, including Knightsbridge and Belgravia. Earlier in its course, it would have flowed through Kilburn, where a number of its tributaries met, Maida Vale, Bayswater and then Hyde Park.

The river has one of the most obvious legacies in the names of the surrounding areas of the West End. It was once named the Kilburn (royal river), particularly upstream, and was referred to as Bayswater further down its length, hence the modern names of two of the districts on its banks. What’s more, the stretch that passed through Hyde Park had been known as the Serpentine River and an echo of it can still be seen in the ornamental lake that forms the Serpentine and Long Water in the modern Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park (created by damming the river in the 18th century). Even Knightsbridge takes its name from a long lost bridge over the Westbourne - a spot where Empress Matilda once confronted the capital’s citizens during the 12th century’s Anarchy. The river also lends its name to many nearby streets such as Westbourne Park and the adjacent tube station.

In the 15th century the rivers waters from Bayswater were diverted to provide clean water for the city of London, however, as the surrounding West End developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, the waters became unclean and were buried to form sewers and culverts under the new residences. The underground river’s course can still be seen in pipes running through Sloane Square tube station.

© Stuart Mitchell 2012
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