Up until the 19th century five major rivers wended their way through London towards the Thames but they disappeared from view following the engineering efforts of the Victorians to regulate the flow of water through the city. Of course they’re still there, but now they run through well-ordered brick tunnels with only the street names above giving away their origins.
The river that I want to tell you about today is the Tyburn, which has two sources – one spring in Hampstead and one in Belsize Park. It wends its way down through central London, shaping some of the roads that it runs under (particularly the meandering Marylebone Lane) and finally joins the Thames just to the west of Vauxhall Bridge – and here’s the plaque that I found today which proves it. Directly behind the plaque on the riverside is an archway through which the river flows at certain times of the year…
February 27, 2012
London Sights