Islington’s Lost River and the source of the Walbrook

Islington the Watershed

It feels apt to be posting the blog on the day of the launch of my text, The Black Path, in the London Adventure series published by The Three Imposters. Walking the Philley Brook (Filly Brook, Fillebrook) with the brilliant Compilerzone in August that sound artist Brigitte Hart put me in touch with a friend who had pushed his cheese barrow along the length of the Black Path. What a great story. The conversation with Berto the Cheese Merchant turned to the matter of the Angel, and Berto mentioned Stephen Myers book, Walking on Water, which maps one source of the Walbrook rising in Islington and roughly following the course of City Road before making its confluence with the eastern branch of the Walbrook around Curtain Road. Berto placed the source outside the public toilets in White Conduit Street. Wow! This blog has its origins, twenty years ago, in that very terrain when I lived opposite the site of White Conduit House and became obsessed with the pleasure gardens of the area and their associated springs and wells. I had never come across any references to the Walbrook rising at the Angel, despite walking the City of London’s principal lost river twice. I had to explore further.

White Conduit House in 1820 from Old and New London
White Conduit House in 1820 from Old and New London
White Conduit House in 1827
White Conduit House in 1827
Site of White Conduit House Islington
Site of White Conduit House
White Conduit House Islington

Walking in London’s Wonderland

This walk follows the first section of the walk in Chapter 1 of my book This Other London which starts at the majestic Gunnersbury Park in West London. The Park was originally the grounds of Gunnersbury House, a Georgian mansion built for King George III’s aunt Princess Amelia. Today it’s home to Gunnersbury Museum and the house is open to the public.

We then walk along the ‘Golden Mile’ – a strip of the A4 Great West Road running through Brentford that from the 1920’s became an industrial centre for a number of household names and famous for its Art Deco architecture. Some of the companies based there included Smiths Crisps, Gillette, Currys, Beachams, and Firestone Tyres.

Our walk ends at the Gillette Building on Gillette Corner.

Looking for the Lost Rivers of Roman London

This London walk takes us to the City of London looking for the lost rivers and streams of Roman London on the western edge of the old Roman City. A number of channels were excavated at 7-10 Old Bailey that indicated this area was a major tributary valley of the River Fleet. Our Roman London walk starts at the top of Ludgate Hill near St Paul’s Cathedral then turns into Old Bailey, from here we go across Limeburner Lane into Old Seacoal Lane and along Farringdon Street. We turn into Bear Alley and then return to follow the course of the tributary back to its source just to the north of Newgate Street. From Greyfriars Churchyard we then follow the ‘western stream’ down across Paternoster Square to its confluence with the Thames near Puddle Dock.
Source: London Archaeologist Summer 2014

Map of the western stream in the City of London
Map of the western stream in the City of London
Looking down to Farringdon Road
Farringdon Road / River Fleet

Exploring Historic Rye, East Sussex

The Perfect London Day-trip

Once one of the medieval Cinque Ports and an important harbour, changes to the coastline and the course of the River Rother altered not just the landscape but the town’s fortunes and it became a haunt of smugglers. Many of the buildings in the town centre date from the 15th and 16th Century, including the charming Mermaid Inn which was rebuilt in 1420. The video includes Mermaid Street, Rye Castle and Ypres Tower, the River Brede, Romney Marsh, the River Rother, Martello Towers, WW2 pill boxes, and Rye Harbour and Beach.

Cinque Ports pub Rye
St Mary's Church Rye
St Mary’s Church
Viewing platform Rye Castle, Ypres Tower
Viewing platform Rye Castle, Ypres Tower
Black hut with red roof at Rye Beach
Romney Marsh Rye
Mermaid Street Rye at sunset
Mermaid Street

Final night of The George, Wanstead

Closing time for this popular local pub

Last night at midnight, Sunday 13th October, Time was called for the final time at The George, Wanstead, as a Wetherspoons pub. There was a sense of occasion from the time we arrived at 10pm. It was packed and stayed that way til midnight when drinks were no longer served. The George Orwell portrait went missing at some point. I wondered what would happen to the maps and paintings of Wanstead Park with the local history information. I ended many a Wanstead Park stroll in the George. And although the pub will re-open under new ownership it will be as part of a more upmarket chain which will price out many of the regulars who had a second home at The George, particularly the older people who could sit there for a few hours with unlimited tea refills for a pound, or enjoy a cheap meal. Wetherspoons get a lot of stick (mainly for their owner’s support for Brexit) but their pubs provide a valuable community resource which will be sorely missed in Wanstead. It felt like a true end of an era. And good luck getting a pint at midnight on a Sunday in Wanstead now.

The George Wanstead 13th October 2024
The George Wanstead 13th October 2024
The George Wanstead 13th October 2024
Site of the missing George Orwell portrait


Here’s some background on the pubs closure as a Spoons and it’s future as the George and Dragon

Discover London: 35 Questions About Its Pubs, Architecture, and Rich History

Here are the questions I covered in this YouTube Q&A video about London walks:

  • walk series that takes in locations that were used for album covers
  • time travel and be able to witness any year in London’s history
  • how about “Market London”?
  • favourite beers
  • buildings I’d remove
  • collab with Joolz? Tweedy? Geoff Marshall etc?
  • if Russell Brand got back in touch with you
  • favourite pub in Walthamstow
  • Nick Papadimitriou
  • how quickly you wear out your boots or shoes? And what is your preferred footwear for the walks?”
  • favourite electricity substation?
  • favourite pub in Leyton?
  • best pub in London.
  • how do you demarcate where one district of London ends and another begins?
  • which views in London never fail to move you
  • St Clement Danes church and Bow church
  • what season is your favorite to walk in?
  • do you ever find that not driving restricts your travel plans?
  • walk of York or Edinburgh.
  • Central London or City of London pubs that no longer exist
  • King Lud pub Iain Sinclair and Jack Kerouac
  • the feeling of discovering a new walk
  • favourite and least Favourite London Buildings
  • why some road names are single names?
  • why some roads are just called ‘High Street’
  • did you ever complete the London Loop?
  • favourite London documentaries or films?
  • favourite song or album about London?
  • reading list for the newly curious and the already entrenched?
  • favourite bridge in London and if so why?
  • how long do you spend writing the script for each video?
  • Madness songs walk
  • famous person that you didn’t like asked to join you on a walk
  • river walk taking the pubs on the Thames

The Black Path – launch events

I’m doing two events to launch my new publication – The Black Path

24th October 7pm – The Broadway Bookshop, Hackney – RSVP books@broadwaybookshophackney.com

21st November 7.30pm – The Wanstead Tap – book via the Eventbrite link below:

Register on Eventbrite

The Black Path is published by Three Imposters as part of the London Adventures series.

The shades of long-dead writers in the London streets, random meetings, quests and journeys striking lines across the city, the past seeping through the pavements, the unexpected erupting through the fabric of everyday life, glimpses of the fantastic in the ordinary: London Adventures can be any or all of these.
John Rogers’ contribution to the series is a psychogeographical ramble along the Black Path, an old drovers and porters road from Walthamstow to the markets in the City, featuring pie and mash shops and pubs, Francesca’s Cafe and the Battle of Broadway Market, the London bodysnatchers, the violent origins of Haggerston Park and much, much more from the colourful history of an ancient route.
Previous writers in the series include Iain Sinclair and Xiaolu Guo.
Limited numbered edition of 250 copies.
Price £10.00
Published by Three Impostors

Author John Rogers at the London Adventures launch, London Welsh Centre 29th March 2023
London Adventures launch London Welsh Centre 29th March 2023