Walking the Counters Creek – lost rivers of London

Lost river walk that links two of the magnificent seven

The Counters Creek has haunted me for a few years, just as the lost rivers of London collectively haunt London. It was there as a presence when I’d documented the protests to save the communities and buildings in Earls Court in 2015 & 2016. It reverberated beneath the tombstones of Brompton Cemetery when I filmed Andrew Kötting dressed as Straw Bear drifting through the portico. And one possible source of the Counters Creek was a marker on my psychogeographic sound trail around Kensal Rise for Brent 2020 London Borough of Culture. So I was well overdue a walk along its course.

Source of the Counters Creek - Kensal Rise has a Story plaque - John Rogers Brent 2020
One possible source of the Counters Creek on the Brondesbury Ridge
Kensal Green Cemetery Chapel - Counters Creek Walk
Kensal Green Cemetery Chapel – near the source of the Counters Creek

The recognised source of the Counters Creek is not up on the Brondesbury Ridge at the junction of All Souls Avenue and Chamberlayne Road, although it seems highly likely that springs from this high ground feed into the river. Both Nicholas Barton in his classic Lost Rivers of London, and Tom Bolton in London’s Lost Rivers – a Walkers Guide, place the source in Kensal Green Cemetery hidden beneath a large stone slab. From here it crosses the Grand Union Canal and flows across Little Wormwood Scrubs, beneath the Westway and down through Notting Dale, the edge of Holland Park to Olympia (where I stopped for a pint and accidentally realised the pub was close to the Countess’ Bridge that gave the river its contemporary name), Earls Court, Brompton Cemetery, Fulham Road, Kings Road, Lots Road, before making a glorious confluence with the Thames in its above ground guise as Chelsea Creek.

Counters Creek Walk
Interestingly, Nicholas Barton only dedicates one paragraph to the Counters Creek
Grand Union Canal - Counters Creek Walk
I was guided along the course of the Counters Creek by Tom Bolton’s brilliant London’s Lost Rivers – a walker’s guide published by Strange Attractor Press

It truly is one of the great lost river walks – not as celebrated as the Fleet, Tyburn, Westbourne, or Effra – but certainly worthy of a song as Paul Whitehouse had improvised from the deck of a Thames Clipper as we filmed a chat about the Thames and passed the confluence. It’s a shame that song never made the final cut of Episode 2 of Our Troubled Rivers. But the song of the Counters Creek can still be felt rising through its culvert beneath the streets of west London.

John Rogers and Paul Whitehouse
John Rogers and Paul Whitehouse during the filming of Paul Whitehouse Our Troubled Rivers

The Earl’s Court Monkey


Annette and Desi with their stuffed monkey at the Earl’s Court Fringe Film Night organised by the Save Earl’s Court Campaign.

No Home

No Job

Not Swell

It says on the monkey’s chest.

After showing a clip from London Overground where Iain Sinclair and Chris Petit walk past a row of Victorian Railway workers’ cottages near Old Oak Common I mention to the audience that they are under threat. A lady raises her hand and tells us that they were demolished 3 days ago.

London Overground on London Live and Earls Court

So I ended up talking about my London Overground film with Iain Sinclair on London Live 1 0’clock news the other Sunday. The screening at Leytonstone Pop-Up Cinema the following Wednesday saw the biggest turn-out we’ve ever had at the film club in the 8 years we’ve been doing it. It was a nice homecoming for the film and there was an interesting Q&A afterwards.

 

John Rogers Leytonstone

Tonight I’ll be showing some clips from the film at the Earl’s Court Fringe Film Night with an extended cut of the footage shot in Brompton Cemetery with Andrew Kotting dressed as the Straw Bear and Iain Sinclair talking about some peculiar associations mostly notably Williams Boroughs sitting atop the tombstones making strange recordings of the dead.

earls-court-halloween_orig

The next screening of the full-length film will be at the Swedenborg Film Festival in Bloomsbury on Saturday 26th November alongside Andrew Kotting’s new film Edith Walks.

Save Empress Place in Earls Court from demolition

The other week Earls Court Area Action Group laid on a colourful Victorian themed to protest against the planned destruction of Empress Place and two adjacent pubs. Thankfully the Prince of Wales pub has been given ACV listing which should give it some protection but the architecturally and culturally important street of terraced housing in Empress Place is under serious threat. I went along with my camera to make a record of events and help spread the word.

You can learn more about the campaign and how to help save this wedge of vital London heritage here

Watch the video of the previous Save Earls Court protest in February 2015

‘We’re building slums of the future’

save earl's court

Throughout the filming of the Drift Reports/Trews Reports I have done on housing in London one of the features that has stood out has been the role of foreign investment driving property development in London.

Property Week have published an excellent article examining the boom in overseas buyers purchasing London property off-plan and the resultant feedback loop of developments aimed squarely at that market.

I recently heard Boris Johnson claim that less than 10% of property in London was sold to overseas investors – which is patently false according to Hannah Brenton’s article, placing the figure at 70% some sectors of the London property market.
Here are some selected extracts from the article:

“The surge of overseas money flooding into the market is supported by figures from Savills, which show that 70% of all new-build properties in the £1,000-£2,000/sq ft bracket were sold to foreign investors in 2013/14, with Chinese and Pacific Asian buyers accounting for more than 30%. However, the number of foreign buyers drops to 50% in the more affordable £450-£1,000/sq ft section of the capital’s new-build housing market. And across all sales and resales in prime London it stands at 39%.”

70% of all new-build properties in the £1,000-£2,000/sq ft bracket were sold to foreign investors in 2013/14

“This pipeline of new stock comes at a point where price growth in the prime market is cooling, with most forecasts predicting minimal growth or even a decline. Nina Skero of the Centre for Economics Business Research, is predicting a 3.35% drop in London prices this year, which she says will be partly due to the knock-on effect of prime residential on the rest of the market.”

“It’s all about a moment in time,” Farmer argues. “What was perceived as good for Vauxhall and Battersea four or five years ago has now got to a point where it’s so much driven by speculation that it’s created a lack of affordability – and there’s always a risk that you’ll get that feeding frenzy spreading out across London.”

“But on top of the risks of speculation, Farmer argues there is a “perfect storm” looming for developers as construction prices spiral upwards, which could see schemes stall in the next year.”

St. George Wharf, Vauxhall

St. George Wharf, Vauxhall

“Peter Rees, former City planning chief and now professor of places and city planning at UCL Bartlett, is despondent about the wave of foreign capital buying London housing, but does not think there is a risk of a bubble or a slowdown in sales because of the almost infinite amount of demand.
“The amount of money trying to escape from Russia, the Far East and the Middle East is just so great and there are so few top-notch targets like London that unless we do something to stem the flow it won’t stop of its own accord,” says Rees.

We’re building the slums of the future

He argues that there is a need for more high-density low-rise buildings in place of the glitzy towers springing up along the South Bank. “We’re building a product that is unsuitable for our market and suitable only for investment. We’re building the slums of the future. Derelict land is better than what’s happening at Battersea because derelict land has potential. Those developments have no potential because they’re locked in for 100-year leases to multiple owners.”

“Back at the Earls Court protest, Liberal Democrat councillor Linda Wade, who has been fighting against the scheme, says developers are now playing havoc with the planning system and that the huge number of high-end schemes risk creating “theme-park London”.
“The problem is we’ve got to a point where development has got out of hand, where urban planning is being dictated by developers rather than by local need.”
Gary Yardley, investment director at Capital & Counties, disagrees: “Schemes such as the Earls Court Masterplan deliver much-needed investment which provides more homes for our growing population and supports London’s continued success as a global city. We have also signed up to the Mayor’s concordat to prioritise offering homes to Londoners first.”
Capital & Counties has already announced that 95% of the flats in Lillie Square at Earls Court have been sold off-plan, with prices hitting up to £1,885/sq ft. This may be excellent for the developer’s cash flow, but it will do little to dispel protestor fears that the new flats will stand apart from the local community and from London itself.”

Read the whole article here