Drapers Gardens and Finsbury Circus in the early 21st century revealed a cemetery in which graves had been scoured by the River Walbrook, and it was suggested that skulls might come from this. Catchment and course The Walbrook had many small tributaries and the course of the various branches are ill-mapped and ill-understood, particularly in the upper reaches above London's Wall. Each new excavation in the area brings a refined understanding. The routes of the various branches may have changed over time, further complicating the limited understanding of the river’s history. These changes in course may have been due to natural changes and human intervention. Modern maps of London in the Roman period show the Walbrook as having many tributaries. Roman London - a New Map and Guide shows six branches. Most of these branches are to the West of the main eastern stream. Sources The river appears to have had a main eastern branch which ran from Hoxton, in the parish of Shoreditch, and one or more others flowing from Finsbury to the west. The picture is unclear, but both of these branches may have had ultimate sources as far north as Islington. The main branch of the stream, entering the city along the line of Blomfield Street, was known as Deepditch. This main stream, and one or more of the western tributaries appear to have met in Moorfields, north of the City Wall. The river flowed south down what is now Blomfield Street, to the east of Finsbury Circus. Just to the north of wall, the main branch (Deepditch) formed the boundary of the city wards of Coleman Street to the west, and Bishopsgate Without to the east. It then entered the walled area of the City just west of All Hallows-on-the-Wall Church. Within London's Wall The brook flowed southward through the centre of the walled city, bringing a supply of fresh water whilst carrying waste away to the River Thames, at Dowgate; it effectively divided the settlement in two. Stow in the 16th century suggested there was a branch, called the Langbourne (see Langbourne Ward) to the east, rising at St Katherine Coleman and running SW along Fenchurch Street (making this area 'fenny'), along Lombard Street, into Sherbourne Lane and presumably into the Walbrook. Later scholars have been doubtful. Ralph Merrifield reported a stream flowing SW through the area that would later be the Roman Forum, which