London's lost rivers, then & now: Wandle & Lea

Uncover London's lost waterways. Once vital to Londoner's lives, many of these rivers have been abandoned or concealed beneath our streets. Let's look at how two of these, the Rivers Wandle and Lea, have changed over the centuries.

Alwyn Collinson

Digital Editor

2 May 2019

Croydon Church, Surrey, painted by James Bourne, 1800-48

The Wandle rises in Croydon and once ran through the town past the Church of St John the Baptist. Despite this leafy scene, Croydon was growing rapidly in the 19th century. By 1848 the river was used as "an open sewer". ID no. 61.151/1

Croydon Church, John Chase, 2019

The Wandle's filthy state encouraged Croydon's municipal government to cover over the river and install fresh water and sewer pipes. Today the Wandle runs unseen beneath the road in front of the still-standing church tower.

The King's Head, Merton Bridge, painted by J.T. Wilson, 1850

Painted when Merton was still a village outside London, mainly a farming community. This picture shows the Kings Head, a public house by the river Wandle.

Merton High Street from the Wandle's bank, John Chase, 2018

This modern photograph shows that although Merton and its high streets have changed beyond recognition, the river remains, flowing the same course it has for centuries.

The DLR viaduct over Bow Creek, with Pura Foods in the background, Peter Marshall, 1992

The last few miles of the River Lea before it flows into the Thames are known as Bow Creek. Peter Marshall documented the Lea Valley since the 1980s, showing the decline of industry, areas of wilderness & the redevelopment of the Olympic Park site.

Limmo Peninsula Ecological Park from Leamouth, 2018

In 2018, when Museum of London photographer Richard Stroud took the same view, the Pura Foods factory had been replaced with new housing and an ecological park built on the peninsula.

Old River Lea by the junction with Pudding Mill River looking South, Mike Seaborne, 2006

This photograph was taken as part of a Museum of London project documenting the site of the London 2012 Olympic Games prior to its closure for redevelopment in July 2007.

River Lea, West of the London Stadium, 2018

The Pudding Mill River has now been almost completely covered over by the London Stadium. You can see the stadium's carpark in this photograph. This is probably the most recently London river to be buried.

The rivers of London have changed immeasurably over the years, from sources of drinking and washing water supporting small communities, to open drains choked with industrial pollution and human waste. The construction of the great Victorian sewer network buried so many of London's languishing streams beneath brick and concrete, and Londoners began to forget their rivers. But over the last century, once-secret rivers are now being rediscovered; some like the Lea Valley have been made cleaner and greener.

The Secret Rivers exhibition closed 27 October 2019.