Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Central London's Lost Rivers
Tags for Forum Posts: Wightman Road, harringay streams, history
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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I once did the walk that followed the course of the Tyburn. There is a little pipe where it flows into the Thames.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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There are people who like to drop down into these old rivers, now mainly part of the storm water network. Here's some photos from one adventurer after checking out the River...
And here's one example shot;
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Permalink Reply by alistairj on
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The very wonderful Diamond Geezer walked the hidden river Fleet also.
http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_diamondgeezer_archive....
Whilst you are there, what he said about visiting Harringay is:
http://lndn.blogspot.com/search?q=harringay
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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oh.. I'm a diamond geezer reader too!
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Great site Alistiar. Will go over that one in more detail. And interesting blog story too.
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Permalink Reply by Eddie Finnegan on
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Ah, but these hidden stygian rivers will get their own back one day, says U.A. Fanthorpe in her witty, incantatory poem
RISING DAMP
'A river can sometimes be diverted but is a very hard thing to lose altogether.'
- Paper to the Auctioneer's Institute, 1907
At our feet they lie low,
The little fervent underground
Rivers of London
Effra, Graveney, Falcon, Quaggy,
Wandle, Walbrook, Tyburn, Fleet
Whose names are disfigured,
Frayed, effaced.
These are the Magogs that chewed the clay
To the basin that London nestles in.
These are the currents that chiselled the city,
That washed the clothes and turned the mills
Where children drank and salmon swam
And wells were holy.
They have gone under.
Boxed, like the magician's assistant.
Buried alive in earth.
Forgotten, like the dead.
They return spectrally after heavy rain,
Confounding suburban gardens. They infiltrate
Chronic bronchitis statistics. A silken
Slur haunts dwellings by shrouded
Watercourses, and is taken
For the footing of the dead.
Being of our world, they will return
(Westbourne, caged at Sloane Square,
Will jack from his box),
Will deluge cellars, detonate manholes,
Plant effluent on our faces,
Sink the city.
Effra, Graveney, Falcon, Quaggy,
Wandle, Walbrook, Tyburn, Fleet
It is the other rivers that lie
Lower, that touch us only in dreams
That never surface. We feel their tug
As a dowser's rod bends to the surface below
Phlegethon, Acheron, Lethe, Styx.
(1982)
(not to mention the sewer under Harringay Passage, of course)
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Excellent poem and very true is the potential of these rivers returning to wreak havoc.
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Watch out! The Stonebridge brook goes under Effingham - Fairfax and the Hermitage brook goes under Woolaston and Umfreville. They go into the Lea after converging at the end of Grove Rd N15 at Markfield Park. THE HORNSEY HISTORICAL SOC HAVE AN INTERESTING BOOK ABOUT THIS SUBJECT "HARINGEYS HIDDEN STREAMS" OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT - IT'S IN THE LIBRARY OR YOU CAN BUY IT FROM THEIR WEE SHOP AT THE END OF ROKESLEY AVE ON TOTTENHAM LANE (Oops - sorry for the capitals, i didn't mean to shout!)
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Ah, thanks for this. Was thinking about this today as I'd thought I'd heard of this before. So they go all the way to Lee Valley .... that's a lot of houses they're travelling under.
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Mostly these old brooks go under roads, parks and back gardens. It's problematic to build on top of culverts ( and alot of new agers reckon it's also unhealthy for the inhabitants!). If you ever see an old stranded weeping willow tree there's sure to be an old water course underground nearby. Also look for dipped areas that frequently flood. When it's been raining alot you can see a little spontatneous brook up on Wightman road coming under the fence from Jewson's wood merchants - nice to see nature undetered...
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The Groundwater Diaries by Tim Bradford is also worth a read. He's a local (well, stoke Newington) illustrator and writes pretty amusingly about punk rock's connections to our lost rivers (!?!).
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Frank, I love (NOT) your very simpatico attitude to that dirty little spontaneous brook gurgling out onto Wightman Rd. 'Nature undeterred indeed! I'm trying to get Brian Haley to come up here and find/fund some means to deter the babbling little bugger.
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