A guided route, based on a walk in 2002, following the route of London’s lost River Effra.
This is an attempt to follow the route of the Effa river as close as possible – the river itself was once comparable to the Fleet north of the Thames, although sources differ over the upper part of its course, and it seems to have had various branches in the Norwood area. One thing that walking the route does, however, is let the folds of the landscape speak for themselves: the best source is the river itself.
The Effra was already being used as a sewer by the 17th century, although the upper reaches were still clear in the second half of the 19th. Even today, a stretch is perhaps visible – as the following walk reveals.
The walk begins at one of the likely sources of the river: somewhere in Upper Norwood Recreation Ground. This was acquired by Croydon Council in 1890 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for about £6,500; two new roads, Eversley and Chevening, were constructed. The site offered a view of the Crystal Palace towers and included one of the head waters of the Effra, running north-west.
Walk along Chevening Road westward to Hermitage Road. According to legend Queen Elizabeth I came up the river in her barge to where Hermitage Road now stands – though it is extremely unlikely that the river was actually broad enough here, so near to the source.
The area north of Hermitage Road is known as Norwood New Town – apparently a bridge made of four planks used to run across the Effra stream somewhere here. Walk up Hermitage Road and on the left past Ryefield Road is a small cul-de-sac: walk down here and at the end is a drain in the road with water rushing loudly underneath. Could this be the lost call of the Effra?
The river ran through the grounds of what is now the Virgo Fidelis convent school – not open to the public, of course. But the river makes itself known just the other side. Walk up Hermitage Road and turn left: the dip of the river valley is very distinctive where Elder Road meets Central Hill. The brick wall of the convent was swept away on 17 July 1890 when the river and West Norwood flooded – damage is still visible in the convent wall.
Heading north up Elder Road, on the south side of the old relieving office (on the left hand side of the road) a stone tablet indicates the level that the flood reached in 1890.
On the right is Norwood Park: once upon a time there were thatched cottages here, whose inhabitants had to cross the stream by little wooden bridges to get to the road. There used to be iron gratings in the fields where small boys would drop paper boats. At the end of Windsor Grove, there used to be two large ponds known as ‘The Reservoir’. Meanwhile, to the west, in the 20th century the bed of a tributary could still be seen at the back of the tennis courts at the bottom of Cheviot Road, which is likely to have belonged to a tributary of the main river.
Walking further up Elder Road into Norwood High Street, East Place, on the right just before the railway line, is another flood site: on 14 June 1914 the former river overflowed from the brick sewer imprisoning it and the ground floors of many West Norwood houses flooded – it is even claimed that some people’s Sunday joints were washed out of their ovens. Animals were also trapped in the floods in East Place in the 1920s.
The river bends right here and heads through West Norwood Cemetery somewhere. In 1935 the sewer was enlarged to help avoid the repeated floodings, and deep shafts were sunk in Norwood High Street, Chestnut Road and Rosendale Road. Again the landscape in this area suggests at least a rough course for the river.
From Norwood the river is generally agreed to have followed Croxted Road up to Brockwell Park: turn right into Robson Road past the cemetery, up Rosendale Road, into Carson Road on the right and then across to Croxted Road to get a rough idea of where the river ran. Evidence from flooding cellars suggests that the course of the river may actually have been west of Rosendale Road rather than Croxted Road.
Before heading north, though, a detour: cross Croxted Road at the crossroads going past West Dulwich station, and turn north up Gallery Road. On the left is Belair Park, which contains an ornamental pond which some say is part of the Effra visible still. Some say it was a tributary of the main river. There was also a millpond in this area. A cast-iron chimney opposite Dulwich Picture Gallery is believed to vent the tributary here.
Here you can either retrace your steps to Croxted Road – if you believe Belair’s pond to be a tributary – or continue north and cut back across to Herne Hill via Burbage Road, named after Shakespeare’s actor contemporary. Another actor, Edward Alleyn, founded nearby Dulwich College.
Another tributary is said to supply Dulwich Park Lake, flowing down from the woods of Sydenham Hill, alongside Cox’s Walk and under Dulwich Common. A local resident reports that in wet weather this rises above the drains and flows along the road around Dulwich Park by Frank Dixon Way.
The 19th century painter and critic John Ruskin, who grew up in Herne Hill, said that his first sketch showing any artistic merit was at the foot of Herne Hill, showing a bridge over the Effra.
Again the precise channel of the river is under dispute, or at least there may have been tributaries meeting here, coming from Knights Hill in the south and along Half Moon Lane to the east, marking the edge of Joseph Bazalgette’s sewer network in south London. As with Belair, there is an ornamental pond (late Victorian) in Brockwell Park said to connect to the Effra, perhaps as yet another tributary. A woman at 32 Tulse Hill in 1891 described a stream that had flowed across the end of her garden, and said that the banks could still be seen in Leander Road.
Opinions and tributaries rejoin to the north of Brockwell Park: the name of Effra Parade gives a helpful clue – though for the walk it is probably more helpful to take the next road on the right, Barnwell Road, then head northward again up Rattray Road. At the top, turn left and join Effra Road going up into central Brixton – though an unexplained rise along the west side of Dulwich Road suggests that perhaps one ought rather to follow this and Brixton Water Lane, thence all the way up Effra Road.
Along Brixton Road, the course of the Effra is more certain, and wider. Its average size was said to have been 12 feet wide and 6 feet deep. Bridges gave access to the houses on Brixton Road, with the river flowing on the east side. A bomb fell at the corner of Angell Road and Brixton Road during the Blitz, uncovering the Effra sewer. It’s hard to imagine now, but a 1784 painting shows St Martin’s Farm with the river passing by – the site is where Loughborough Road now branches off. As well as Queen Elizabeth, Canute is said to have sailed up the river as far as Brixton – and King James I gave permission for the river to be opened up for navigation in this area.
At the top of Brixton Road, turn left and head across to the Oval, following its left-hand side. This is Kennington, once an area of marshland. Brixton Road originally crossed the river at Hazard’s Bridge, marked on a plan of Vauxhall manor from 1636. The Effra divided the manors of Kennington and Vauxhall.
This area was built over between 1837 and 1857. St Marks’s Kennington paid ¬£322 towards the costs. The raised banks of Oval cricket ground were built with earth excavated during the enclosing of the Effra, which nevertheless showed itself again and was apparently responsible for ‘a small inundation’ at the Oval in the 1950s. South London Waterworks (founded 1805) used water from Vauxhall Creek, the name of the river (or a tributary) along this stretch, though it soon accumulated rubbish; the Oval gasholder is on the site of one of the reservoirs.
Heading west, the river is believed to have had two entries into the Thames (shown on a 1795 map): one just south of Vauxhall Bridge, the other nearer to Nine Elms Lane. In 1340 the Abbot of Westminster had to repair Cox’s Bridge (Cokesbrugge) over the Effra near present day Vauxhall Cross (Kennington Lane/Wandsworth Road/South Lambeth Road). There was another bridge over the creek on Clapham Road (Merton Bridge – the responsibility of Merton Abbey). In 1504 another Abbot of Westminster paid rent for a wharf at Cox’s Bridge – in the 17th century maintenance of the bridge caused a dispute. The lower river was a sewer by the 17th century, labelled as such on the 1636 plan.
The Fort at Vauxhall erected to defend London during the Civil War was alongside the Effra – as shown in a drawing (though this is perhaps a forgery of the mid-19th century). A gardener ‘recently deceased’ in 1895 recalled the Effra at Lawn Lane ‘wide and deep enough to bear large barges’.
Lawn Lane is still there: follow the back streets south-west of the Oval, across to Parry Street, and brave the traffic across to Vauxhall Cross. Peer into the Thames here – and you can see a sewer outflow which may be the last remains of the Effra’s mouth.
- Barton, Nicholas – The Lost Rivers of London (1962,1992)
- Coulter, John – Norwood Past (1996)
- Foord, Alfred Stanley – Springs, Streams and Spas of London (1910)
- Trench, Richard & Hillman, Ellis – London under London (1984,1993)
- Wilson, J B – The Story of Norwood (1973,1990)
Njia ya kuongoza, kulingana na kutembea katika 2002, kufuatia njia ya London ya kupoteza Mto Effra. Hii ni jaribio la kufuata njia ya mto Effa karibu iwezekanavyo - mto wenyewe wakati mmoja ulikuwa sawa na Fleet kaskazini mwa Thames, ingawa vyanzo vinatofautiana juu ya sehemu ya juu ya mwendo wake, na inaonekana kuwa na matawi mbalimbali katika eneo la Norwood. Hata hivyo, jambo moja linalofanywa na kutembea kwenye njia hiyo ni kuruhusu mipangilio ya mandhari ijiseme yenyewe: chanzo bora ni mto wenyewe. Mto Efra ulikuwa umetumiwa kama mfereji wa maji ya chini ya ardhi tangu karne ya 17, ingawa sehemu ya juu ya mto huo ilikuwa bado wazi katika nusu ya pili ya karne ya 19. Hata leo, huenda sehemu fulani ya barabara hiyo ikaonekana <unk> kama inavyoonyeshwa na matembezi yafuatayo. Matembezi huanza kwenye mojawapo ya vyanzo vinavyowezekana vya mto huo: mahali fulani katika Eneo la Burudani la Upper Norwood. Mji wa Croydon ulinunuliwa na Halmashauri ya Croydon mnamo 1890 kutoka kwa Kamishna wa Kanisa kwa karibu £ 6,500; barabara mbili mpya, Eversley na Chevening, zilijengwa. Eneo hilo lilionyesha minara ya Crystal Palace na lilikuwa na mojawapo ya vijito vya Mto Effra, uliokuwa ukielekea kaskazini-magharibi. Tembea kando ya Barabara ya Chevening kuelekea magharibi hadi Barabara ya Hermitage. Kulingana na hadithi, Malkia Elizabeth wa Kwanza alipanda mto kwa mashua yake hadi mahali ambapo barabara ya Hermitage sasa iko - ingawa ni vigumu sana kwamba mto huo ulikuwa mpana vya kutosha hapa, karibu sana na chanzo. Eneo la kaskazini mwa Barabara ya Hermitage linajulikana kama Norwood New Town <unk> inaonekana daraja lililotengenezwa kwa mbao nne lilitumiwa kuvuka kijito cha Effra mahali fulani hapa. Kutembea juu ya Hermitage Road na kushoto baada ya Ryefield Road ni ndogo cul-de-sac: kutembea chini hapa na mwisho ni mfereji katika barabara na maji rushing kwa sauti chini. Je, hii inaweza kuwa wito uliopotea wa Effra? Mto huo ulipita katika eneo ambalo sasa ni shule ya makao ya watawa ya Virgo Fidelis - ambayo si wazi kwa umma, bila shaka. Lakini mto huo hujitambulisha upande ule mwingine tu. Tembea juu ya Barabara ya Hermitage na ugeuke kushoto: mteremko wa bonde la mto ni wa kipekee sana ambapo Barabara ya Elder hukutana na Central Hill. Mto Norwood ulivamia eneo la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la Norwood mnamo Julai 17, 1890 na kuharibu sehemu ya kanisa la Norwood. "Kwenye barabara ya Elder Road, upande wa kusini wa ofisi ya zamani ya misaada (kushoto) kuna bamba la mawe linaloonyesha kiwango cha mafuriko ya mwaka 1890.""" Huko kulia kuna Norwood Park, ambapo wakati mmoja kulikuwa na nyumba za mitaa zilizofunikwa kwa nyasi, na wakazi wake walipaswa kuvuka kijito hicho kwa kutumia madaraja madogo ya mbao ili kufika barabarani. Kulikuwa na mitaro ya chuma katika mashamba ambapo wavulana wadogo walitupa mashua za karatasi. Mwishoni mwa Windsor Grove, kulikuwa na vidimbwi viwili vikubwa vinavyojulikana kama <unk>The Reservoir<unk>. Wakati huo huo, upande wa magharibi, katika karne ya ishirini, kitanda cha kijito bado kingeweza kuonekana nyuma ya viwanja vya tenisi chini ya barabara ya Cheviot, ambayo inawezekana ilikuwa ni ya kijito cha mto kuu. "Kutembea zaidi juu ya barabara ya Elder hadi Norwood High Street, East Place, upande wa kulia kabla ya reli, ni eneo jingine la mafuriko: Juni 14, 1914, mto wa zamani ulijaa maji kutoka kwa mfereji wa matofali, na ghorofa za chini za nyumba nyingi za West Norwood zilijaa maji. ""Hata inadaiwa kwamba viungo vya Jumapili vya watu fulani vilisafishwa kutoka kwa oveni zao." Wanyama wengi waliuawa na mafuriko katika eneo la East Place, Marekani, mwaka wa 1920. Mto bends haki hapa na viongozi kupitia Magharibi Norwood Cemetery mahali fulani. Mwaka 1935 mfereji huo ulipanuliwa ili kuepuka mafuriko ya mara kwa mara, na mashimo ya kina kirefu yalifungwa katika barabara za Norwood High Street, Chestnut Road na Rosendale Road. Kwa mara nyingine tena mandhari katika eneo hili inaonyesha angalau mwendo mgumu kwa mto. Kutoka Norwood, mto huo ulikubaliwa kwa ujumla kuwa umefuata Croxted Road hadi Brockwell Park: wia kulia kwenye Robson Road, baada ya makaburi, juu ya Rosendale Road, kwenye Carson Road kulia na kisha kuvuka hadi Croxted Road kupata wazo la karibu la mahali mto ulipo. Uthibitisho kutoka kwa vyumba vya chini ya ardhi vilivyofurika unaonyesha kwamba huenda mto huo ulikuwa magharibi mwa Barabara ya Rosendale badala ya Barabara ya Croxted. Kabla ya kuelekea kaskazini, ingawa, njia ya kugeuka: kuvuka Croxted Road katika makutano ya kwenda zamani Magharibi Dulwich kituo cha, na kugeuka kaskazini juu Gallery Road. Upande wa kushoto ni Belair Park, ambayo ina ziwa la mapambo ambalo wengine wanasema ni sehemu ya Effra inayoonekana bado. Wengine husema kwamba ilikuwa kijito cha mto mkuu. Pia kulikuwa na dimbwi la kusaga katika eneo hili. Inaaminika kwamba chemchemi ya chuma kilichotengenezwa kinyume na Jumba la Sanaa la Dulwich huondoa maji ya kijito hapa. Hapa unaweza ama kufuatilia hatua yako kwa Croxted Road <unk> kama unaamini Belair <unk>s dimbwi kuwa kijito <unk> au kuendelea kaskazini na kukata nyuma katika Herne Hill kupitia Burbage Road, jina baada ya Shakespeare <unk>s mwigizaji kisasa. Mwigizaji mwingine, Edward Alleyn, alianzisha Chuo cha Dulwich kilichokuwa karibu. Mto mwingine unasema kusambaza Dulwich Park Ziwa, mtiririko chini kutoka misitu ya Sydenham Hill, kando Cox's Walk na chini ya Dulwich Common. Mji huo unaonyesha kuwa wakati wa mvua, maji hayo huinuka na kutiririka kwenye barabara inayozunguka Dulwich Park kwenye barabara ya Frank Dixon Way. Mchoraji na mchambuzi wa karne ya 19 John Ruskin, ambaye alilelewa katika Herne Hill, alisema kwamba mchoro wake wa kwanza kuonyesha sifa yoyote ya kisanii ulikuwa chini ya Herne Hill, kuonyesha daraja juu ya Effra. Mto huo unajulikana kwa jina la Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto wa Mto. Kama ilivyo na Belair, kuna dimbwi la mapambo (mwisho wa Victoria) katika Brockwell Park alisema kuunganisha na Effra, labda kama bado kijito kingine. Mwanamke mmoja katika Tulse Hill, 32 mwaka 1891 alielezea kijito ambacho kilikuwa kimetiririka kwenye mwisho wa bustani yake, na alisema kwamba benki bado inaweza kuonekana katika Leander Road. Maoni na vijito kuungana tena kaskazini ya Brockwell Park: jina la Effra Parade inatoa clue muhimu <unk> ingawa kwa ajili ya kutembea ni pengine zaidi ya kusaidia kuchukua barabara ijayo juu ya haki, Barnwell Road, kisha kichwa kaskazini tena juu Rattray Road. Juu, kugeuka kushoto na kujiunga Effra Road kwenda juu katika kituo cha Brixton <unk> ingawa ongezeko unexplained kando ya upande wa magharibi wa Dulwich Road inaonyesha kwamba labda moja inapaswa badala ya kufuata hii na Brixton Water Lane, kutoka hapo njia yote juu Effra Road. Kwenye Barabara ya Brixton, njia ya Mto Effra ni thabiti zaidi, na pana zaidi. Ukubwa wake wa wastani ulisemwa kuwa futi 12 kwa upana na futi 6 kwa kina. Madaraja yalifanya iwezekane kufika kwenye nyumba zilizokuwa kwenye Barabara ya Brixton, huku mto ukitiririka upande wa mashariki. Bomu lilipigwa kwenye kona ya Barabara ya Angell na Barabara ya Brixton wakati wa Blitz, likifunua mfereji wa Effra. "Hii ni picha ya ""St. Martin's Farm"" iliyochorwa mwaka 1784 na mto unaopita karibu na eneo ambalo sasa linaitwa Loughborough Road." Mfalme Canute na Malkia Elizabeth walipanda mto huo hadi Brixton, na Mfalme James I akatoa ruhusa ya kuufungua mto huo kwa ajili ya usafiri. Juu ya Brixton Road, geuka kushoto na kichwa katika Oval, kufuatia upande wake wa kushoto. Hii ni Kennington, ambayo wakati mmoja ilikuwa eneo la mabwawa. Barabara ya Brixton awali ilivuka mto katika Daraja la Hazard, iliyoonyeshwa kwenye mpango wa nyumba ya Vauxhall kutoka 1636. Familia ya Effra iligawanya mashamba ya Kennington na Vauxhall. Eneo hili lilijengwa kati ya 1837 na 1857. Mark St. Kennington alilipa £ 322 kwa ajili ya gharama. Matofali yaliyoinuka ya uwanja wa kriketi ya Oval yalijengwa kwa udongo uliochimbwa wakati wa kufungwa kwa Effra, ambayo hata hivyo ilijionyesha tena na inaonekana kuwa na jukumu la'mafuriko madogo' katika Oval katika miaka ya 1950. Kampuni ya maji ya London Kusini (iliyoanzishwa mwaka 1805) ilitumia maji kutoka Vauxhall Creek, jina la mto (au kijito) kando ya sehemu hii, ingawa hivi karibuni ilikusanya taka; Oval Gasholder iko kwenye tovuti ya moja ya mabwawa. Mto huo ulipokuwa ukielekea magharibi, ulidhaniwa kuwa na njia mbili za kuingia Thames (kuonyeshwa kwenye ramani ya 1795): moja kusini tu ya Daraja la Vauxhall, nyingine karibu na Nine Elms Lane. Mwaka 1340 Abbot wa Westminster alilazimika kurekebisha daraja la Cox's Bridge (Cokesbrugge) juu ya Effra karibu na msalaba wa leo wa Vauxhall (Kennington Lane, Wandsworth Road, South Lambeth Road). Kulikuwa na daraja jingine juu ya kijito juu ya Clapham Road (Merton Bridge <unk> wajibu wa Merton Abbey). Mwaka 1504 Abbot mwingine wa Westminster alilipa kodi ya bandari ya Cox's Bridge, na katika karne ya 17 matengenezo ya daraja hilo yalisababisha mzozo. Mto huo ulikuwa mfereji wa maji ya chini kufikia karne ya 17, na uliorodheshwa kama huo kwenye ramani ya mwaka 1636. Ngome ya Vauxhall, iliyojengwa ili kulinda London wakati wa Vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe, ilikuwa karibu na Effra, kama inavyoonyeshwa kwenye mchoro (ingawa hii labda ni bandia ya katikati ya karne ya 19). Mkulima'mwenye kufariki hivi karibuni' mwaka wa 1895 alikumbuka Effra katika Lawn Lane 'pana na kina cha kutosha kubeba barges kubwa'. Lawn Lane bado ipo: fuata barabara za nyuma kusini magharibi mwa Oval, kuvuka hadi Parry Street, na uvumilie trafiki kuvuka hadi Vauxhall Cross. Angalia ndani ya Mto Thames hapa <unk> na unaweza kuona mtiririko wa mifereji ya maji ambayo inaweza kuwa mabaki ya mwisho ya mdomo wa Effra. "Barton, Nicholas, ""The Lost Rivers of London"" (1992); John, Coulter, ""The Norwood Past"" (1966); Alfred Stanley, ""Springs, Streams and Spas of London"" (1910); Trench, Richard & Hillman, ""London Under London"" (1984); na Wilson, ""The Story of Norwood"" (1963)."