It's hard to imagine now, but London used to be just a swamp. This owed much to the fact that the site of present day London sits on a bowl of London Clay.
The main river, the Thames, meandered, untamed across a wide floodplain, the size of which varied with the seasons. The Thames was also fed by several smaller rivers, the chief of which were the Westbourne, Walbrook, Tyburn, Fleet and Lee to the north and the Wandle from the south. The word "bourne" often occurs in this connection, it being the old Saxon name for "river".
Over the two centuries that London has been thriving and growing the main river – the Thames - has been corralled between man made river banks, although its snake-like progress through the capital still speaks of its earlier unruliness.
However, the small, tributary rivers became largely an inconvenience. The sole exception is the River Lee, which now has a series of reservoirs, supplying London with much of its water.
The other rivers were covered over or piped in and turned into storm water sewers to carry rainwater away to be discharged into the River Thames.
Most famous of the secret rivers is the River Fleet. This still runs under what is now New Bridge Street, and enters the River Thames near Blackfriars Bridge. The world famous Fleet Street – until recently centre of London's newpaper industry – takes its name from the river which flows past the eastern end of the street.
If you walk to the end of Fleet Street, you will see the road drop steeply as it joins New Bridge Street and then rise again, just as steeply up Ludgate Hill, opposite, towards St Paul's Cathedral. These are the banks of the River Fleet.
Walk a short way up New Bridge Street and into Farringdon Road and you will come to the splendidly ornate cast iron Holborn Viaduct. This was originally a bridge over the River Fleet, although it now carries its traffic over Farringdon Street.
Of the other hidden rivers of London the next most famous is the River Tyburn. This gave its name to one of London's most gruesome landmarks, the Tyburn gallows, near the present day Marble Arch.
Prisoners sentenced to be hung were brought to Tyburn in open carts from Newgate Prison, some four miles away, jeered at by crowds lining the route. Hangings were a great public entertainment and crowds flocked to Tyburn in much the same way as they flock to sporting events now.
Many place names betray the history of the area and Brook Street in Mayfair, home of both composers George Fredrick Handel and Jimi Hendrix gives the clue that the river Tyburn runs under here.
Near by is Avery Row, named after the bricklayer, Henry Avery, who, in the 1720s, built the culvert through which the Tyburn now flows. The whole area – once flat - now undulates, because of the artificial embankments that have been introduced.
The river then turns west because of the slightly higher ground along Piccadilly and then flows south through Green Park and right in front of Buckingham Palace before entering the River Thames on the north bank, just upstream from Vauxhall Bridge.
© copyright 2006 Jon Michael and London Vacation Secrets