London's Lost Rivers, Volume 2

About London’s Lost Rivers, Volume 2

Tracking eleven rivers beneath London that have been culverted, placed in tunnels, or diverted into the sewer system.

Below the pavements, out of sight, a network of secret rivers pulses beneath the capital’s busy pavements. The second volume of London’s Lost Rivers explores eleven more rivers that have been buried, hidden or mislaid across the city—watercourses that have been culverted, placed in tunnels, or diverted into the sewer system. But while they may be hidden from view, clues remain, and this book will show you how to find them.

These eleven walks trace the routes of buried rivers, tracking the impression they have left on the landscape and cityscape of London. Walks include the little-known Cock and Pye Ditch that shaped Covent Garden, Tottenham’s Moselle River (not to be confused with the French version), the East End’s unsavory-sounding Black Ditch, and the Ravensbourne, linking rural Bromley to the heart of the British Navy at Deptford.

Accompanied by S. F. Said’s haunting and evocative Polaroid photographs, this guidebook tracks routes that are recorded on no map, stripping back the layers to reveal London’s veins and arteries.