Heathwall St was one of the stopping points on the
Battersea & Wandsworth Trades Union Council annual John Burns Walk which I
led on
Saturday 3 August.
I explained that it was named after Battersea’s
lost river, the Heathwall, also known as Heathwall Sluice, which is buried
underground running from the Falcon Brook (also underground) through the Este
Rd and Falcon Park, Shaftesbury Park and Queens Rd areas and parallel with
Wandsworth Rd to Nine Elms. Its name also survives in Heathwall Park at the end
of Robertson St and the Heathwall Pumping Station on the Thames at Tideway. Its
course marks the boundary between Wandsworth and Lambeth.
The Heathwall is little known as one of many of
the Lost Rivers of London. Jon Newman has now produced a book, part history,
part a do-itself yourself walk, about it: The
Heathwall. Battersea’s Buried River (Backwater Books).
Its
History
Over the centuries its name evolved from Hese/Hyse
in Saxon/Norman times to Hethe/Heath. It was one of the many water courses and
drainage channels through Battersea’s the waterlogged fields. Its repair and
upkeep was left to the individual landowners and its walls to Westminster Abbey the principal one. From its
establishment in the 16thC the Surrey and Kent Sewer Commissioners had to deal
with legal squabbles over who should pay for works to improve the drainage
system. By 1700 the fertile and well
watered fields of the Heathwall level were some of London’s most productive
market gardens.
As the number of buildings grew the system had to
cope with more and more household and industrial waste. From 1774 there was a general sewers rate. In
1847 the Commissioners were replaced in 1847 by the Metropolitan Commission of
Sewers, and then in 1855 by the Metropolitan Board of Works. Under its chief
engineer John Bazalgette all the rivers in South London bar the Wandle and Ravensbourne
were turned into underground sewers. It took 20 years to complete the work. The
scheme was not a success and flooding continued. In the end the Heathwall
pumping station was opened in 1898. Further capacity was added in 1959/60 and
more is being worked on at present.
The
Walk
The majority of the book is a description of the walk
through the area the Heathwall had flowed. In keeping with Jon’s other walk
books it is rich in detail and atmospheric. ‘Outside the gatehouse and to the
right, the boundary wall of Glycena Road sits over the line of the Heathwall…..
but one can almost re-imagine it flowing past their Gothic castellations like a
fantasy moat, defending its respectable tee-total working class residents from
the horrors without.’ (p. 19)
It’s a delight to read for those who want to know
more about the parts of Battersea and Lambeth along the walk. Readers can use
it to do the walk themselves, although it may be advisable to do it in two
sections from Price’s Candles to the end of Heathwall Park and then from there
to the pumping station via Vauxhall/Nine Elms. For local historians it is an
important contribution to our knowledge.
Inevitably in order to keep the book to 56 pages
and not to overload it with too many details of any particular section of the
walk, there is much more information than Jon could not include.
The book is nicely illustrated by David Western,
and maps are included.
The
Heathwall can
be ordered from me sean.creighton1947@btinternet.com
Jon’s
Other Books
Battersea’s
Global Reach. The Story of Price’s Candles (History & Social
Action Publications)
River
Effra: South London's Secret Spine
Battersea
Nocturne. A walk
through Whistler's Battersea intercut with journal writings and images.
Death
on the Brighton Road. An
account of a nine mile bike ride from the gallows at Kennington to the gibbet
at Smitham Bottom.
Lovely
Lambeth. A walk through
Blake's Lambeth intercut with poems and images.
Lost
in Herne Hill. A walk through
John Ruskin's childhood home of Herne Hill - backed by the Herne Hill Society
No comments:
Post a Comment