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Today we walk another of London's rivers: the #BeverleyBrook. 'Beferithi', 'Beferlic', 'Bevreli', 'Beverley', it preserves in its name a trace echo of a time when it was home to beavers. Alas, they have long since gone. (Here one is cornered & gnaws off its testicles...)
#BeverleyBrook rises in Sutton & joins the Thames at Barnes Elms. The upper reaches were once boggy with ponds, & the lower reaches meandered across a wide flood plain, verdant with meadows. Extensive flood controls were built in 1923, but the river is still prone to flooding.
In @Ben_Aaronovitch's wonderful Rivers of London series, #BeverleyBrook is the hero's girlfriend - "a young black woman with cat-shaped eyes". Appropriately enough, she studies Environmental Science, with a particular focus on ‘The Environmental Benefits of Waterway Reversion'.
The source of the #BeverleyBrook, in the glamorous & rainy surroundings of Cuddington Recreation Ground. @sadieholland67 can barely suppress her excitement!
And here’s our first glimpse of the #BeverleyBrook! It flows northwards & downwards towards Worcester Park through a long line of trees
Already quite impressive... #BeverleyBrook
A bientôt, #BeverleyBrook
The Brook, formerly the Huntsmans Hall, & before that - back when it was originally built c. 1860, as the railways were being built - the Railway Tavern, stands on what was the far boundary of a hunting ground for Henry VIII.
Worcester Park takes its name from Edward Somerset, the 4th Earl of Worcester, who was appointed Keeper of the Great Park in 1606 (he also served James I as Lord Privy Seal).
Green Lane - a reminder of lost Arcadia - is where the #BeverleyBrook re-emerges
Green Lane - a reminder of lost Arcadia - is where the #BeverleyBrook re-emerges
The #BeverleyBrook runs between 3 gas holders & the Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Wood. The land originally belonged to Merton Priory, then the estate of Morden Manor. It was bought in 1931 by Merton Council, who named it after Sir Joseph Hood, a former MP & mayor of Wimbledon.
In the distance rises Motspur Park athletics stadium, built by the University of London in 1928 and where the world mile record was set there in 1938. It was sold to Fulham FC as their training ground in 1999. #BeverleyBrook
The charmingly named Brook Cottage - which does indeed back onto the #BeverleyBrook...
A brief diversion to cross the A3, but we now back on track... #BeverleyBrook
Huge excitement as we enter Beverley Park, where the #BeverleyBrook is joined by Pyl Brook, its principal tributary!!!!
The #BeverleyBrook adding lustre to the Maldon Golf Course
Beverley Way,(aka the A3), where late the sweet beavers swam... #BeverleyBrook
We enter the beautiful - & aptly named - Beverley Meads... #BeverleyBrook
The #BeverleyBrook as she flows along the edge of Wimbledon Common is much more scenic than she was when vanishing under the A3. (And I would like to thank @Ben_Aaronovitch for definitely making us think of her as a sassy girl studying Environmental Science...)
Entering Richmond Park, we are welcomed by - I think - a heron #BeverleyBrook
Leaving Richmond Park, & #BeverleyBrook is really picking up volume...
In times gone by, there used to be a bridge here over the #BeverleyBrook, much used - & I admit, this is speculation - by priests
It turns out the Priest’s Bridge is still in situ! #BeverleyBrook
Into Barnes, & there’s just a very faint hint of the Dutch Golden Age now about the #BeverleyBrook...
As twilight deepens, & the rain stars to fall, we pass through Barnes cemetery, closing in on the Thames... #BeverleyBrook
Journey’s end! #BeverleyBrook folds herself into the capacious embrace of Mama Thames!
A wonderful walk. In terms of tracking an actual river, seeing it appear, vanish, appear, one of the best. And hugely enhanced by the character with which @Ben_Aaronovitch has endowed her...
A wonderful walk. In terms of tracking an actual river, seeing it appear, vanish, appear, one of the best. And hugely enhanced by the character with which @Ben_Aaronovitch has endowed her...
