Credit: Sandor Szmutko, Shutterstock
Did you know that there are a number of long-lost London rivers and waterways that flow beneath the streets of the city? I won’t attempt to name them all right now, don’t worry. What I will do, however, is point you in the direction of one of them that isn’t actually ‘lost’ at all. And that, my friends, is the River Westbourne – a forgotten fragment of London’s past, which can actually be found, hidden in plain sight, over at Sloane Square station. Who’d have thought it?
The River Westbourne was a tributary of the River Thames. It initially started on Hampstead Heath, and flowed its way through the likes Hampstead, Kilburn, Paddington, Hyde Park, and Knightsbridge, before joining the Thames near Chelsea Bridge.
Credit: Apostolis Giontzis, Shutterstock
In 1730, a dam was built across the River Westbourne in order to create The Serpentine in Hyde Park. The Westbourne continued to supply water to The Serpentine for the following 100 (or so) years. But as the water of the river became more polluted, it got rerouted to a pipe – and The Serpentine hd to source its water from elsewhere.
The River Westbourne at Sloane Square station
When it came to constructing Sloane Square station in the 1860s, the River Westbourne presented itself as a bit of a challenge. But we Londoners have always loved a challenge, and – of course – a solution was found. A large iron pipe was suspended above the tracks and platform to act as a channel for the flowing water. The pipe was encased in a sturdy green culvert – and that exact same culvert is still perched in that exact same place today.
Richard Ash via Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
That’s right, folks. This secret river still runs through Sloane Square station to this very day. And I bet you’ve seen the green culvert in question, and never even given it a second thought. It’s a resilient old thing, that’s for sure. It even managed to survive the bomb blast that destroyed part of Sloane Square station during World War II. Pretty impressive, hey?
You can see the green culvert above the platforms at Sloane Square station on the District and Circle Lines.