River Fleet
Encyclopedia
The River Fleet is the largest of London
's subterranean river
s. Its two headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath
; each is now dammed into a series of ponds made in the 18th century, the Hampstead Ponds
and the Highgate Ponds. At the south edge of Hampstead Heath these two streams flow underground as sewers which join in Camden Town
. From the ponds the water flows underground for 4 miles (6.4 km) to join the River Thames
.
derived its name.
The Fleet arises on Hampstead Heath
as two sources, which still flow on the surface as the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds. Then they go underground, join in Camden Town
and pass under Kentish Town
and King's Cross. King's Cross was originally named Battle Bridge, referring to an ancient bridge over The Fleet where Boudica
's army is said to have fought an important battle against the Romans. The river then flows down Farringdon Road
and Farringdon Street, and joins the Thames beneath Blackfriars Bridge
.
Its name comes from the Anglo-Saxon flēot "tidal inlet". In Anglo-Saxon times, the Fleet served as a dock
for shipping
.
In Roman
times, the Fleet was a major river, with its estuary possibly containing the oldest tidal mill in the world. In Anglo-Saxon times, the Fleet was still a substantial body of water, joining the Thames through a marshy tidal basin over 100 yards (91.4 m) wide at the mouth of the Fleet Valley. Many well
s were built along its banks, and some on springs (Bagnigge Well, Clerkenwell
) and St Bride's Well, were reputed to have healing qualities; in the 13th century the river was called River of Wells.
The small lane at the south-west end of New Bridge Street is called Watergate because it was the river entrance to the Bridewell Palace. By the 13th century, it was considered polluted, and the area characterized by poor-quality housing, and, later, prisons (Bridewell palace/prison, Newgate
, Fleet
and Ludgate
prisons were all built in that area). The flow of the river was reduced greatly by increasing industry. As London grew, the river became increasingly a sewer. In 1728 Alexander Pope
wrote in his Dunciad "To where Fleet-ditch with disemboguing streams / Rolls the large tribute of dead dogs to Thames/The king of dykes! than whom no sluice of mud/with deeper sable blots the silver flood".
Following the Great Fire of London
in 1666, Christopher Wren
proposed widening the river; however, this was rejected. Rather, the Fleet was converted into the New Canal, completed in 1680 under the supervision of Robert Hooke
. Newcastle Close and Old Seacoal Lane (now just short alleyways off Farringdon Street) recall the wharves that used to line this canal, especially used by the coastal coal trade from the North East of England.
Unpopular and unused, the upper canal was culverted over from 1737, between Holborn
to Ludgate Circus
, to form the 'Fleet Market
'. The lower part, the section from Ludgate Circus
to the Thames covered by 1769 for the opening of the new Blackfriars Bridge and was therefore named 'New Bridge Street'.
The development of the Regent's Canal
and urban growth covered the river in King's Cross and Camden
from 1812. The 'Fleet Market' was closed during the 1860s with the construction of Farringdon Road
and Farringdon Street as a highway to the north and the Metropolitan Railway
, while the final upper section of the river was covered when Hampstead was expanded in the 1870s.
The river gives its name to Fleet Street
which runs from Ludgate Circus to Temple Bar at The Strand
. During the 1970s, a planned London Underground tube
was to lie under the line of Fleet Street and was originally named 'Fleet Line'. However this part of the route was not constructed when Sir Horace Cutler
won a Conservative majority on the GLC and the line was terminated at Charing Cross and renamed as the Jubilee Line
to commemorate Queen
's Silver Jubilee
of 1977. There were some objections to the cost of renaming the line and protest leaflets appeared with the slogan "Would Jubileeve It?".
In one place the River Fleet is now 40 feet below street level.
in front of the Coach and Horses pub. The position of the river can still be seen in the surrounding streetscape with Ray Street and its continuation Warner Street lying in a valley
where the river once flowed. It can also be heard through a grid in the centre of Charterhouse Street
where it joins Farringdon Road (on the Smithfield
side of the junction). In wet weather, the murky Fleet can be seen gushing into the Thames at a right angle on a very low tide from the Thameswalk exit of Blackfriars station, immediately under the Blackfriars bridge. Look for a ladder that descends into the water. (The picture shows the right location but it can be seen much more clearly when standing over it.)
The Mayor of London
, Boris Johnson
, has proposed opening short sections of the Fleet and other rivers for ornamental purposes, although the Environment Agency
, which manages the project, is pessimistic that the Fleet can be among those uncovered.
The 19th-century River Fleet is part of one of the settings a story of the BBC series Doctor Who
entitled The Talons of Weng-Chiang
, starring Tom Baker
: in one episode the Doctor claims he once caught a large salmon
in the Fleet, which he shared with the Venerable Bede. It is also mentioned in the Eighth Doctor
audio adventure Dead London
.
The Christopher Fowler
crime thriller The Water Room uses the River Fleet as a major setting.
In Neil Gaiman's television serial and novel Neverwhere
, the Great Beast of London is said to be a bull that ran into the Fleet while it was still partially open to the air, and vanished underground into the depths of London Below, growing huge and fat off the sewage.
In The Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips the Fleet is a major part of the story as one of the characters works to build filters to rid the river of the long despised sewage.
In the detective novel "Thrones, Dominations
", set in 1936 London, Lord Peter Wimsey
and Police Superintendent Charles Parker
descend into the Fleet and nearby subterranean rivers, in search of the body of a murder victim - and barely escape drowning when a sudden heavy rain causes a flood underground.
In Dickens
' Oliver Twist
, Fagin
's lair is on Saffron Hill
, adjacent to the Fleet (and in some adaptations
, reached by a footbridge across it, which collapses under the weight of pursuers).
The River Fleet is also mentioned in the novel "Rivers of London
" by Ben Aaronovitch
.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's subterranean river
Subterranean rivers of London
The subterranean or underground rivers of London are the tributaries of the River Thames and River Lea that were built over during the growth of the metropolis of London...
s. Its two headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath is a large, ancient London park, covering . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London clay...
; each is now dammed into a series of ponds made in the 18th century, the Hampstead Ponds
Hampstead Ponds
The Hampstead Ponds or Highgate Ponds are three large freshwater swimming ponds — two designated single sex, and one for mixed bathing — fed by the headwater springs of the River Fleet — in Hampstead Heath, North London, England....
and the Highgate Ponds. At the south edge of Hampstead Heath these two streams flow underground as sewers which join in Camden Town
Camden Town
-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
. From the ponds the water flows underground for 4 miles (6.4 km) to join the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
.
History
The higher reaches of this flow were known as the Holbourne (or Oldbourne), whence HolbornHolborn
Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...
derived its name.
The Fleet arises on Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath is a large, ancient London park, covering . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London clay...
as two sources, which still flow on the surface as the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds. Then they go underground, join in Camden Town
Camden Town
-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
and pass under Kentish Town
Kentish Town
Kentish Town is an area of north west London, England in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The most widely accepted explanation of the name of Kentish Town is that it derived from 'Ken-ditch' meaning the 'bed of a waterway'...
and King's Cross. King's Cross was originally named Battle Bridge, referring to an ancient bridge over The Fleet where Boudica
Boudica
Boudica , also known as Boadicea and known in Welsh as "Buddug" was queen of the British Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire....
's army is said to have fought an important battle against the Romans. The river then flows down Farringdon Road
Farringdon Road
Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, Central London. Its construction, which took almost 20 years between the 1840s and the 1860s, is considered one of the greatest urban engineering achievements of the nineteenth century...
and Farringdon Street, and joins the Thames beneath Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is near the Inns of Court and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station...
.
Its name comes from the Anglo-Saxon flēot "tidal inlet". In Anglo-Saxon times, the Fleet served as a dock
Dock (maritime)
A dock is a human-made structure or group of structures involved in the handling of boats or ships, usually on or close to a shore.However, the exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language...
for shipping
Shipping
Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...
.
In Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
times, the Fleet was a major river, with its estuary possibly containing the oldest tidal mill in the world. In Anglo-Saxon times, the Fleet was still a substantial body of water, joining the Thames through a marshy tidal basin over 100 yards (91.4 m) wide at the mouth of the Fleet Valley. Many well
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
s were built along its banks, and some on springs (Bagnigge Well, Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
) and St Bride's Well, were reputed to have healing qualities; in the 13th century the river was called River of Wells.
The small lane at the south-west end of New Bridge Street is called Watergate because it was the river entrance to the Bridewell Palace. By the 13th century, it was considered polluted, and the area characterized by poor-quality housing, and, later, prisons (Bridewell palace/prison, Newgate
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...
, Fleet
Fleet Prison
Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the Fleet River in London. The prison was built in 1197 and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846.- History :...
and Ludgate
Ludgate
Ludgate was the westernmost gate in London Wall. The name survives in Ludgate Hill, an eastward continuation of Fleet Street, and Ludgate Circus.-Etymology:...
prisons were all built in that area). The flow of the river was reduced greatly by increasing industry. As London grew, the river became increasingly a sewer. In 1728 Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
wrote in his Dunciad "To where Fleet-ditch with disemboguing streams / Rolls the large tribute of dead dogs to Thames/The king of dykes! than whom no sluice of mud/with deeper sable blots the silver flood".
Following the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
in 1666, Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
proposed widening the river; however, this was rejected. Rather, the Fleet was converted into the New Canal, completed in 1680 under the supervision of Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
. Newcastle Close and Old Seacoal Lane (now just short alleyways off Farringdon Street) recall the wharves that used to line this canal, especially used by the coastal coal trade from the North East of England.
Unpopular and unused, the upper canal was culverted over from 1737, between Holborn
Holborn
Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...
to Ludgate Circus
Ludgate Circus
Ludgate Circus is a location in the City of London at the intersection of Farringdon Street / New Bridge Street with Fleet Street/Ludgate Hill....
, to form the 'Fleet Market
Fleet Market
The Fleet Market was a market erected in 1736 on the newly culverted River Fleet. The market was located approximately where the modern Farringdon Street stands today, to the west of the Smithfield livestock market....
'. The lower part, the section from Ludgate Circus
Ludgate Circus
Ludgate Circus is a location in the City of London at the intersection of Farringdon Street / New Bridge Street with Fleet Street/Ludgate Hill....
to the Thames covered by 1769 for the opening of the new Blackfriars Bridge and was therefore named 'New Bridge Street'.
The development of the Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal, just north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in east London....
and urban growth covered the river in King's Cross and Camden
Camden Town
-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
from 1812. The 'Fleet Market' was closed during the 1860s with the construction of Farringdon Road
Farringdon Road
Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, Central London. Its construction, which took almost 20 years between the 1840s and the 1860s, is considered one of the greatest urban engineering achievements of the nineteenth century...
and Farringdon Street as a highway to the north and the Metropolitan Railway
Metropolitan Line
The Metropolitan line is part of the London Underground. It is coloured in Transport for London's Corporate Magenta on the Tube map and in other branding. It was the first underground railway in the world, opening as the Metropolitan Railway on 10 January 1863...
, while the final upper section of the river was covered when Hampstead was expanded in the 1870s.
The river gives its name to Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
which runs from Ludgate Circus to Temple Bar at The Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
. During the 1970s, a planned London Underground tube
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
was to lie under the line of Fleet Street and was originally named 'Fleet Line'. However this part of the route was not constructed when Sir Horace Cutler
Horace Cutler
Sir Horace Walter Cutler OBE was a British politician and Leader of the Greater London Council from 1977 to 1981. He was noted for his showmanship and flair for publicity, although sceptical of the merits of the authority he was in charge of.-Origin:Cutler was born in Stoke Newington, London into...
won a Conservative majority on the GLC and the line was terminated at Charing Cross and renamed as the Jubilee Line
Jubilee Line
The Jubilee line is a line on the London Underground , in the United Kingdom. It was built in two major sections—initially to Charing Cross, in central London, and later extended, in 1999, to Stratford, in east London. The later stations are larger and have special safety features, both aspects...
to commemorate Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
's Silver Jubilee
Silver Jubilee
A Silver Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, ruling anniversary or anything that has completed a 25 year mark...
of 1977. There were some objections to the cost of renaming the line and protest leaflets appeared with the slogan "Would Jubileeve It?".
In one place the River Fleet is now 40 feet below street level.
Today
The Fleet can be heard through a grating in Ray Street, ClerkenwellClerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
in front of the Coach and Horses pub. The position of the river can still be seen in the surrounding streetscape with Ray Street and its continuation Warner Street lying in a valley
Valley
In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
where the river once flowed. It can also be heard through a grid in the centre of Charterhouse Street
Charterhouse Street
Charterhouse Street is a street in Smithfield, on the northern boundary of the City of London, forming the boundary with both the London Borough of Camden and the London Borough of Islington...
where it joins Farringdon Road (on the Smithfield
Smithfield, London
Smithfield is an area of the City of London, in the ward of Farringdon Without. It is located in the north-west part of the City, and is mostly known for its centuries-old meat market, today the last surviving historical wholesale market in Central London...
side of the junction). In wet weather, the murky Fleet can be seen gushing into the Thames at a right angle on a very low tide from the Thameswalk exit of Blackfriars station, immediately under the Blackfriars bridge. Look for a ladder that descends into the water. (The picture shows the right location but it can be seen much more clearly when standing over it.)
The Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
, Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
, has proposed opening short sections of the Fleet and other rivers for ornamental purposes, although the Environment Agency
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
, which manages the project, is pessimistic that the Fleet can be among those uncovered.
In fiction
Ben Jonson's poem On the Famous Voyage (discussed in Andrew McRae's article, cited below) provides a mock-epic account of a journey along the excrement-lined ditch during the early seventeenth century.The 19th-century River Fleet is part of one of the settings a story of the BBC series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
entitled The Talons of Weng-Chiang
The Talons of Weng-Chiang
The Talons of Weng-Chiang is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 26 February to 2 April 1977.-Synopsis:...
, starring Tom Baker
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
: in one episode the Doctor claims he once caught a large salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
in the Fleet, which he shared with the Venerable Bede. It is also mentioned in the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
audio adventure Dead London
Dead London
Dead London is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions.-Cast:*The Doctor — Paul McGann*Lucie Miller — Sheridan Smith...
.
The Christopher Fowler
Christopher Fowler
Christopher Fowler is an English thriller writer. In addition to his numerous horror, satire and crime novels, he has also written a Sherlock Holmes audio drama for BBC 7 entitled The Lady Downstairs...
crime thriller The Water Room uses the River Fleet as a major setting.
In Neil Gaiman's television serial and novel Neverwhere
Neverwhere
Neverwhere is an urban fantasy television series by Neil Gaiman that first aired in 1996 on BBC Two. The series is set in "London Below", a magical realm coexisting with the more familiar London, referred to as "London Above". It was devised by Neil Gaiman and Lenny Henry, and directed by Dewi...
, the Great Beast of London is said to be a bull that ran into the Fleet while it was still partially open to the air, and vanished underground into the depths of London Below, growing huge and fat off the sewage.
In The Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips the Fleet is a major part of the story as one of the characters works to build filters to rid the river of the long despised sewage.
In the detective novel "Thrones, Dominations
Thrones, Dominations
Thrones, Dominations is a Lord Peter Wimsey murder mystery novel that Dorothy L. Sayers began writing but abandoned, and which remained as fragments and notes at her death. It was completed by Jill Paton Walsh and published in 1998...
", set in 1936 London, Lord Peter Wimsey
Lord Peter Wimsey
Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is a bon vivant amateur sleuth in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, in which he solves mysteries; usually, but not always, murders...
and Police Superintendent Charles Parker
Charles Parker
Charles Parker or Charlie Parker may refer to:*Charlie Parker, jazz musician*Charlie Parker , NDP MLA for Pictou West in Nova Scotia, Canada*Charlie Parker *Charlie Parker , English footballer...
descend into the Fleet and nearby subterranean rivers, in search of the body of a murder victim - and barely escape drowning when a sudden heavy rain causes a flood underground.
In Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to...
, Fagin
Fagin
Fagin is a fictional character who appears as an antagonist of the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, referred to in the preface of the novel as a "receiver of stolen goods", but referred to more frequently within the actual story as the "merry old gentleman" or simply the "Jew".-Character:Born...
's lair is on Saffron Hill
Saffron Hill
Saffron Hill is the name of a street in the south eastern corner of the London Borough of Camden, between Farringdon Road and Hatton Garden. The name of the street derives from the fact that it was at one time part of an estate on which saffron grew....
, adjacent to the Fleet (and in some adaptations
Oliver Twist (disambiguation)
Oliver Twist is a novel by Charles Dickens.Oliver Twist may also refer to:*Oliver Twist , the protagonist of Dickens' novel-Film and Television:...
, reached by a footbridge across it, which collapses under the weight of pursuers).
The River Fleet is also mentioned in the novel "Rivers of London
Rivers of London (novel)
Rivers of London is the first novel in the series of the same name by English author Ben Aaronovitch. The novel was released on 10th January 2011 through Gollancz and was well received by critics, earning a Galaxy National Book Awards nomination for Aaronovitch in the New Writer of the Year...
" by Ben Aaronovitch
Ben Aaronovitch
Ben Denis Aaronovitch is a London-born British writer who has worked on television series including Doctor Who, Casualty, Jupiter Moon and Dark Knight...
.
See also
- Tributaries of the River ThamesTributaries of the River ThamesThis article lists the tributaries of the River Thames, in England. It also includes significant backwaters and waterways which also have confluences with the main stream of the River Thames.Most of the tributaries are natural, but a few were man-made...
- Subterranean rivers of LondonSubterranean rivers of LondonThe subterranean or underground rivers of London are the tributaries of the River Thames and River Lea that were built over during the growth of the metropolis of London...
- List of rivers in England
External links
- McRae, Andrew. ""On the Famous Voyage": Ben Jonson and Civic Space." Early Modern Literary Studies Special Issue 3 (September, 1998): 8.1-31 http://purl.oclc.org/emls/04-2/mcraonth.htm
- Sub-Urban.com — River Fleet
- Photos From The Buried River Fleet
- Reviewing the Fleet
- Chesca Potter, "The River of Wells"
- A psychogeographical film of the River Fleet
- Map showing Ray Street Bridge
- The Fleet - London's Underground River, recent photos & history