SUBTERRANEAN RIVERS

The Fleet, the Tyburn, and the Westbourne all originate on Hampstead Heath and all go underground.

Prehistorically the Thames flowed to the north of its current course. There was a time when many of the rivers that run into it in central London were themselves continuous rivers that flowed north-south.

The Fleet

It is possible to have a fleeting glimpse of the Fleet on Hampstead Heath, where it rises. Until the 19^thC the King's Cross area was known as Battlebridge after a bridge that spanned the river (and a battle that was never fought). Holborn probably derives its name from the bourn (or stream) flowing through the hollow.

Turnmill Street in Clerkenwell derives its names from the mills that existed along its length until at least the 1740s. These harvested the energy of the Fleet's flow to grind a variety of materials into powders.

In 1733 the section of the Fleet between Holborn Bridge and Fleet Bridge was arched over. Farringdon Street was built over the river north of Ludgate Hill in order to provide a venue where the Fleet Market (the relocated Stocks Market) could be held. The watercourse has left its mark in terms of local street names - Turnagain Lane led to the river, Old Seacoal Lane recalls how ships from the coalmining region of north-east England could be brought upstream to unload their cargo, and Fleet Street itself.

New Bridge Street (1765) covers most of the river's final stretch. The river s waters enter the Thames just upstream of the northern end of Blackfriars Bridge.

Location: Farringdon Street, EC4A 4AN. There is a small rectangular grill set just within the bus lane through which the Fleet can be seen. (Please only view the river if there is no oncoming traffic.) (red, yellow)

Ray Street, EC1R 3DJ. Outside The Coach & Horses pub, there is a circular manhole cover through which the Fleet can be seen. Visually its west-to-east flow is at odds with the street's east-to-west slope. This is because Ray Street was built so that it could cross above the Metropolitan Line's tracks, while the river could pass underneath them. (Ditto oncoming traffic.) (red, blue)

The Tyburn

The Tyburn flows across the Regent's Canal in the bridge to the west of Blow Up bridge.

There is flowing water in the basement Gray's Antique Market. It is claimed that this is the Tyburn.

By the Thames there are two probably early 19^thC houses. The smaller one stands over where Tyburn Brook enters the river.

Location: Gray's Antique Market, 58 Davies Street, W1K 5LP (blue, yellow)

West of the northern side of Vauxhall Bridge.

The Walbrook

Walbrook the street takes its name from a stream that rises in Finsbury. This disgorges itself into the River Thames. It was the first of London's rivers to disappear. By the end of the 16^thC the watercourse had been covered along its full length.

Location: Walbrook, EC4N 8AA (blue, pink)

The Westbourne

The Westbourne (the West Stream) flows south from Hampstead through Kilburn, beneath Shirland Road, and then along Westbourne Grove and Gloucester Terrace towards Hyde Park, with which the Serpentine, an ornamental lake, was formed in 1730 by its being dammed. The Westbourne no longer feeds the body of water. Its water feeds into the sewers. The lake's waters are pumped up from the aquifer beneath London. The river used to pass out of the park where Albert Gate now stands. It formed the western boundary of Belgravia. Pont Street takes its name from the French word for bridge, there having been one across the river along the road's course. In 1826 the Westbourne was diverted into the Ranelagh Sewer. This runs through Sloane Square Underground Station using a sizable pipe that can be seen running above the platforms and the tracks.

Location: The Serpentine, Hyde Park, W2 2UH (blue, pink)

Sloane Square Underground Station, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS (purple, grey)

See Also: THE ROYAL PARKS Hyde Park

David Backhouse 2024