Every Brook Flows Into A River and Every River Finds Its Way To The Sea: Ben Nathan wants to give us our rivers back

This area is full of rivers, brooks and streams. We no longer see them. They have been pushed underground, starved of light, polluted and neglected. Streams that rise on the slopes of the North London Glacial Plateau now flow through hidden culverts. Some remember their local names, where they occasionally show themselves, others have lost their names and need new ones. Out of sight means out of mind. Inspections are not carried out and infrastructure is not maintained. Spring water that is clean when it rises becomes polluted by road run-off and sewage from mis-connections.

Engineers buried rivers and with them our memories of how the landscape once looked. Artist Ben Nathan wants to change that. Artists can make this watery landscape visible again, recover memories of springs and brooks and give us our rivers back. 

Ben has been climbing into tunnels and culverts since he was a teenager. He has a “climb over the fence” methodology for exploring, not seeking permission but wearing good strong waders and taking a big stick to test for hazards, such as silt pits. He turned his attention to Bounds Green Brook, largely buried in a tunnel under the North Circular which follows the vale that the river once cut through the landscape. 

Water Testing, Strawberry Vale Brook © Ben Nathan

Ben set out to find the unmapped parts of Bounds Green Brook. As they don’t appear on Ordnance Survey maps, Ben went searching through archives, libraries and collections as well as speaking to local people for evidence of the brook and, of course, he went walking through cemeteries and allotments and climbing into underground culverts. He has photographed what he found and created a beautiful new map that strips out the roads and centres the river system, called Every Brook Flows Into A River and Every River Finds Its Way To The Sea.

Few people barrelling along the busy North Circular consider what lies beneath it or where their non-exhaust emissions (NEE), such as microplastics and heavy metals like zinc released as tyres wear down, will end up. The brook can sometimes be viewed, for example at Hobart Corner, which is where the water is tested by Ben and a team of volunteers, the Bounds Green Rangers.  Ben is also a water activist working with Thames 21, regularly testing water quality and collecting data to add to the Water Rangers site, as well as reporting pollution directly to Thames Water. 

Water samples on display at Bruce Castle Museum

When the brook emerges in Islington and Saint Pancras Cemetery, it changes its name to the delightful Strawberry Vale Brook and it is here that a culvert can be seen and entered. Unfortunately the name is the only thing that is delightful about the river these days. Strawberry Vale Brook was uncovered as late as 1974, as Ben showed in a photo from his recent fascinating talk at Bruce Castle Museum. The brook was once so clear and beautiful that it inspired Octavia Hill to set up the National Trust. Now, it is hidden under housing developments and polluted. The pollution from sewage is catastrophic. Ben, who has climbed down into actual sewers, says it's worse than the tunnels that lead to the sewage treatment works at Crossness on the Thames. Ben also works with East Finchley Allotments plot holders another place where the brook can be seen. Unfortunately, because the brook isn’t on Thames Water’s “Surface Water Outfall Programme", nothing is done about the sewage contamination. One of the aims of the Bounds Green Rangers is to get it on the programme which will oblige Thames Water to take prompt action. 

The thing is this is not at all how it should be. Bounds Green Brook is a statutory main river, a watercourse with legal status as defined by the Environment Agency. Testing this water has revealed alarming levels of ammonia and phosphates. Now consider that this brook flows into Pymmes Brook which flows to the River Lea and then to the Thames and from there to the sea. 

Ben wants his work as an artist not only to bring these rivers back to the light but to galvanise us to action. There has never been a better time to get behind campaigns like Ben’s and the Bounds Green Rangers and the Haringey River Squad. The crisis of our rivers is uppermost in the minds of politicians like the Mayor of London, especially after recent revelations in Channel 4’s must-see series, Dirty Business, another story of how citizen scientists took on the establishment. 

As Ben says, we deserve clean rivers. 

Ben’s exhibition is on at Bruce Castle Museum until Sunday 22nd March in the Maker’s Room. Here you will see his photos of his explorations, examples of the water they test, his trusty muddy waders and, the highlight, his beautiful map of a hidden river landscape. 

Ben will be in the gallery on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd if you missed his talk last week.

His website is here https://www.bnathan.co.uk/

Thames 21