A watery revival

After proposing the return of our Routemaster, Boris Johnson has another equally desirable whim for London.  The new mayor’s advisors want to make the capital more liveable by unearthing it’s lost rivers.

There are over a dozen waterways other then the Thames running through London, most of them however, have been transformed into little more than sewers. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Fleet which rises in Hamstead, flows though Kings Cross and gave its name to the street which was built over it. Another fairly well known is The Tyburn, running from South Hampstead, through St James’s Park to Vauxhall, this leant its name to the ‘Tyburn Tree’ gallows which originally stood by the river’s banks. Another Hampstead river is the Westbourne which flowed through Kilburn, become the Bayswater rivulet then the original Serpentine in Hyde Park before running under the now lost Knightsbridge which gave it’s name to the area. These days the Serpentine is fed by water from the Thames instead and the only sign of the Westbourne that can easily be seen is a large iron pipe running over the platforms in Sloane Square Underground Station.

Less famous in our time but of great importance to the Romans is Walbrook which runs from Finsbury, then under the London Wall, emerging into the Thames beneath Cannon Street station.  

South of the city, the Effra was converted into a major sewer by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, it originates by Crystal Palace flowing through Brixton to meet the Thames near Vauxhall. Lost underground for their entire run are the Falconbrook from Balham to Battersea, the Neickinger from Southwark to Shad Thames. Two rivers ‘channelised’ but already receiving attention are The Wandle, aboveground for most of it’s run from Waddon and the subject or restoration plans by Wandsworth Borough Council; and the Quaggy in Greenwich and Lewisham , subject to re-naturalisation plans since 1990, including restoration in Lewisham town centre.

One of the mayor’s advisors has even touted the possibility of turning Fleet Street into a waterway in the style of a Venetian canal. 

In addition to the rivers, plans first touted by Ken Livingston to link Primrose Hill to Trafalgar Square with a tree lines promenade have been repeated by the new mayor’s advisor Sir Stimon Milton. The scheme would see Portland Place and Regent Street turned into something resembling Barcelona’s Las Ramblas.

Further reading:

• The story of London’s neglected waterways can be read in N.J. Barton’s The Lost Rivers of London: A Study of Their Effects Upon London and Londoners, and the Effects of London and Londoners on Them.

Photographs in this post:

1. Fleet: Knee deep in Old Father Thames by Mr J. Doe
2. Effra: Vauxhall Bridge by Hachimaki

First stop, Beijing

Despite Boris rephrasing his policy on a new Routemaster for London, from a commitment to an ambition, a grandstand appearance has already been arranged for the iconic bus.

Alongside the likes of David Beckham, Leona Lewis and our blond bombshell mayor, a Routemaster will be the star of the show in Beijing, as the Chinese city hands over the Olympic baton to London in this summer’s closing ceremony. Unfortunately, the bus seen by 90,000 fans in the ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium, will be a trusty old AEC Routemaster on loan from Transport of London. 

The Games arrive in London in 1,500 days - but will a new bus?

Tube parties and Ancient Greek schools

Photo by Rooney

A month in the job and today was the day of Boris’ first regular press conference, an event that under his predecessor happened once a week, but which the new mayor would rather keep a little less often to allow him to spend more time ‘out there’ amongst Londoners.  On the subject of Ken Livingston, he reserved praise for the ex-mayor’s appointment of an environmental officer, a move he intends to follow.

The questions kicked off with the Tube alcohol ban, following Saturday night’s ‘last round on the underground’ parties. 17 arrests were made on the night, when 50 staff were abused and spat at, three of whom were assaulted. Johnson said the party was “anthropologically misunderstood”, but to be honest he had little to defend. The moment that people began hurling abuse - and saliva - they won the anti-alcohol argument for the Mayor. Boris’ hopes that the move will become self-policing smacks of a little too much optimism however and won’t cheer many of the Underground staff. 

Talking of whom, the Mayor reiterated his belief that a no-strike deal by Tube workers would be in the best interests of London, but doesn’t expand on the plan’s progress.

He was, meanwhile, more than happy to elaborate on language schools and his desires for Latin and Ancient Greek to be properly recognised in the Government’s language school programme.

More apposite for this journal, Boris replied to a question from the Financial Times on the progress of replacing London’s bendy buses, with a statement that it was a two step process, first losing the unloved Mercedes single deckers, before introducing a new ero of Routemaster. For the sake of London’s bus users I hope there isn’t two much of a gap between step one and step two.