London's River Tales for Children (eBook)

INTRODUCTION

THE MANY RIVERS OF LONDON AND THEIR STORIES

When we talk about London, most people know about the River Thames. The Thames is London’s big river. But did you know that there are actually twenty-one rivers in London apart from the Thames? Many of them have been forced underground by the development of the city but they all have their own history and their own stories to tell.

The River Thames

Although it is only tiny in comparison to the Amazon, the Nile or the Congo, the Thames has been known, for hundreds of years, as one of the greatest rivers of the world – just like them. It has been England’s main waterway since the time of the Romans, who named it Thamesis and built the first city of Londinium on its banks.

By the time the new St Paul’s Cathedral was built after the Great Fire of London, the Thames had become one of the world’s busiest rivers and there were so many ships along it that there were traffic jams – or river jams. By then, London had become the biggest city in Europe, with ships leaving for and arriving from everywhere around the globe, bringing new goods and people here. The very first coffee, cocoa, tomatoes, bananas and exotic spices arrived up the Thames to be taken all around the country for people to try out these strange new foods. Immigrants, refugees and, very sadly, slaves too, arrived here as London became the centre of the huge British Empire. You will read some of their stories in the pages that follow.

Some of the most important events in British history happened on the banks of the Thames – such as the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament, the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London. Important prisoners were taken by boat down the river to be put into the scary Tower of London, from where they might never have left. Royal palaces were built on the riverbanks and in one of them Queen Elizabeth I entertained a strange pirate guest, who you can read about in one of the stories. There were pageants, or water parties, on the Thames where the King would sail down the river, lying back on luxurious red velvet couches while many boats with his important guests followed behind, listening to the music played by floating orchestras, entertained by fireworks and eating banquets of the finest food.

But, of course, some of the important events were not always such fun. Some children, called mudlarks, had to earn their living by searching in the mud for anything valuable that might have been dropped from a ship. The river sometimes turned violent and a surge of water from the North Sea would sweep upstream and flood many people out of their homes. You’ll read that, thankfully, this doesn’t happen anymore because of the Thames Barrier.

Another tale will take us back to the time when the Thames often froze over in the winter. This led to the Frost Fairs, when a tent city would be set up on the river with amusements, food and winter games.

There are also stories about fish in the Thames. But fishing on the river came to an end in the middle of Queen Victoria’s reign. So much dirt and sewage were going into the Thames that it became dangerous even to breathe in the fumes from the river. This became known as the ‘Great Stink’. People became ill, the fish died, the river was declared ‘dead’ and the politicians in Parliament couldn’t work because, being right next to the river, they were choking. That led to huge sewers being built, which helped, but it is only in the last fifty years that the river has really been cleaned up. Now life has returned to the ‘dead’ water and the good news is that the fish are back! An amazing 125 different kinds of fish can be found today in London’s biggest river.

Some of the Other Rivers of London

The other, smaller London rivers also have many stories to tell. Along them people were able to bring in grain to make flour and hay to feed their animals, especially all the horses needed for transport. They were able to build water mills and provide fresh drinking water for people when the River Thames itself had become too dirty to drink. Some, like the Wandle, Lea and Ravensbourne, still splash along and flow above ground, but the ones known as the ‘lost rivers’, because they are now underground, are still flowing beneath the streets and thoroughfares of London.

And they all had roles to play in making London the biggest capital city of Europe. In fact, one of the most important rivers in the world is here in London and most people have never even heard of it. That’s probably because if you take the Waterloo and City Line underground train or walk into the great Bank of England, you wouldn’t know that underneath you there is a river flowing down to the Thames. So, let’s start with this one …

The River Walbrook

It was one of the most important rivers in the world – and you’ve probably never heard of it! Although it is a very small river, and one that disappeared underground many years ago, without the Walbrook there wouldn’t be a London as we know it today. It was this river that helped the Romans to find a place to build the city’s first port, Londinium. They could defend it easily and safely harbour their ships, bringing all the goods from the Roman Empire. Most importantly, the Walbrook gave the people plenty of fresh water to drink.

The new Roman invaders could build the first strong city between the two hills, Ludgate Hill (where St Paul’s Cathedral now stands) and Cornhill, on either side of this little, but important, river. For the first time in England, there were brick and stone buildings with underfloor heating, public baths, shops and theatres, all with beautiful mosaics in the floor. And the Romans built their temple to the god Mithras. From the River Walbrook the Romans spread out over most of Britain, stayed for 500 years and found the perfect spot to build Londinium, where the Walbrook and the Thames come together.

The River Lea

Unlike the Walbrook, the River Lea is much longer. Grain was brought down the river from the countryside outside London so that the people on the north side of the Thames could grind it into flour for their bread. Hay was also brought along the river to feed the horses and donkeys who had to pull the carts and carriages that took people and goods around the city, in the days before cars and lorries.

During the Great Plague of London in 1665–66, the river became famous when bargemen from the town of Ware brought fresh water and food in their sailing barges for the people trapped in the city. The heroic bargemen were awarded the Freedom of the River Thames by the grateful citizens of London. This meant that, unlike others who sailed into London, they never had to pay taxes for using the city’s waters.

One hundred and fifty years later, the River Lea became famous again when gunpowder from the Royal Gunpowder Mill at Waltham Abbey was transported down to the Thames and the waiting ships. The gunpowder played its role in winning the Battle of Waterloo, which stopped Napoleon from trying to conquer the whole of Europe.

The River Effra

People walking along the Thames in Victorian times noticed a coffin floating down the river. ‘How weird!’ they thought, but it was eventually found to have come from West Norwood Cemetery, where the grave seemed undisturbed. People said that the grave had been dug very close to the route of the River Effra, which runs right underneath the cemetery. After a heavy rainstorm, the coffin, in the newly dug grave, had sunk into the underground river and floated right underneath the houses and gardens of south London before coming out at the Thames at Vauxhall.

The River Peck

Have you ever wondered how a river starts? Often, rivers start from water that bubbles out from under the ground, and this is called a spring. The River Peck starts as a spring in a place called One Tree Hill in south London. This little spot has many stories attached to it. Among other legends it is said that Boudicca, the Queen of the ancient British tribe, the Iceni, was finally defeated here by the Romans after her army had destroyed London. They say that when she saw her army defeated, she killed herself and is buried near the Peck spring on One Tree Hill.

Queen Elizabeth I was said to have had a picnic up here under a mighty oak tree that must have been watered by the young Peck stream. She was so impressed that she knighted it, just like she would knight a hero, and it became known as ‘The Honour Oak’.

Dick Turpin, the famous highwayman, would wait by the spring on the hill here, where he could spot travellers very clearly coming across Peckham Rye Common below and ride down easily on his horse, rob them and get away quickly.

These days, apart from a very short stretch of the river flowing through Peckham Rye Park, it flows underground until it enters the Thames by the Greenland Dock in Rotherhithe.

The River Neckinger

It is thought that this river got its unusual name from the spooky things that happened at the wharf where it entered the Thames. In the 1600s, this was the place where pirates were executed. The noose on the rope that hanged them was nicknamed the ‘devil’s neckcloth’.

Now, a neckcloth in those days was called a ‘neckinger’ and so the river was named after it. A public house stood here for hundreds of years with the equally spooky name, The Dead Tree Inn.

The Westbourne

Although most of this river can no longer be seen, there are two surprising places where it appears overground instead of being buried in huge pipes underground. The first is a place...