Walbrook
Encyclopedia
Walbrook is the name of a ward
, a street and a subterranean river in the City of London
.
played a key role in the Roman
settlement of Londinium, the city now known as London
. It is thought that the river was named because it ran through or under the London Wall
; another theory is the name comes from Weala broc meaning 'brook of the Welsh' . The stream started in what is now Finsbury
and flowed right through the centre of the walled city into the River Thames
, near where Cannon Street Railway Bridge
is now, splitting the settlement in two. It was probably used for fresh drinking water and also for carrying sewage
down to the Thames. During Roman times it was also used for transport with the head of navigation at Bucklersbury where the Romans built a port and temple to Mithras on the east bank. The temple
was found and later excavated during rebuilding work after World War II
. The Roman Governor's palace was also found on the east bank of the stream, near its entry into the Thames. It is said that, when Londinium (also known then as Caer Lundein) was captured by the invading Anglo-Saxons during the late 6th century, all the British (Celtic) inhabitants were forced to live on the east bank of the Walbrook while the Saxons would reside on the west. Perhaps a more likely reason for this is that the prevailing winds over London blow from the West. This naturally carries the soot, fumes and odours from the "Great Wen" eastwards and makes living in the East End somewhat less salubrious than living in the West End. People with the money to do so naturally enough chose to live historically in the cleaner West End. Actions such as the Clean Air Act 1956
and the general cleaning of industry has somewhat reduced this atmospheric effect; the differences in infrastructure, however, remain.
John Stow
, the historian of London, wrote about the Walbrook in 1598, saying that the watercourse, having several bridges, was afterwards vaulted over with brick and paved level with the streets and lanes where it passed and that houses had been built so that the stream was hidden as it is now.
The Walbrook's source was Moorfields, north of the City wall which it passed through just west of All Hallows-on-the-Wall
Church.
In the 1860s, excavations by General Augustus Pitt Rivers
uncovered a large number of human skulls, and almost no other bones, in the bed of the Walbrook. This has been seen as reminiscent of a passage from Geoffrey of Monmouth
's History of the Kings of Britain
(ca. 1136) in which a legion
of Roman soldiers who surrendered to Asclepiodotus after being besieged in London were decapitated by his allies the Venedoti
, and their heads thrown into a river called the Gallobroc. However, Geoffrey's History is notoriously unreliable, and some historians consider these skulls to be a result of the rebellion of Boudica
. As late as the early 19th century, part of the branch that runs from Islington was open and powered a lead mill.
During the 'Carnival Against Capitalism
' on June 18, 1999, a fire hydrant was let-off on Dowgate Hill by Reclaim the Streets
to symbolically represent the freeing of the Walbrook.
The Walbrook is one of many "lost" rivers of London
, the most famous of which is the River Fleet
. It enters the Thames at Dowgate
.
The Walbrook river now runs completely underground and the only evidence above ground that the stream is there is a street called Walbrook, which runs parallel to its course. On the street is a church called St Stephen Walbrook
, which originally stood on the west bank of the stream, but was rebuilt around 1439 on the east side. In 1666 the church burned down in the Great Fire of London
and Sir Christopher Wren
built a new church there in 1672 to replace it, which still stands. The historic London Stone
, which would have been a highly important religious symbol in Roman as well as pre-Roman London, is situated on Cannon Street
within the ward of Walbrook. The Bank of England
and Mansion House
, the official residence of the Lord Mayor, are both situated in Walbrook ward.
Walbrook is one of 25 ward
s in the City of London, each electing an Alderman
, to the Court of Aldermen
and Commoners (the City equivalent of a Councillor
) to the Court of Common Council of the City of London Corporation. Only electors who are Freemen of the City of London are eligible to stand.
Wards of the City of London
The City of London , in the United Kingdom, is constituted of 25 wards. The City is the historic core of the much wider metropolis of London, with an ancient and sui generis form of local government, which avoided the many reforms enacted to local government elsewhere in the country in the 19th and...
, a street and a subterranean river in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
.
Underground river
The riverRiver
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
played a key role in the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
settlement of Londinium, the city now known as London
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...
. It is thought that the river was named because it ran through or under the London Wall
London Wall
London Wall was the defensive wall first built by the Romans around Londinium, their strategically important port town on the River Thames in what is now the United Kingdom, and subsequently maintained until the 18th century. It is now the name of a road in the City of London running along part of...
; another theory is the name comes from Weala broc meaning 'brook of the Welsh' . The stream started in what is now Finsbury
Finsbury
Finsbury is a district of central London, England. It lies immediately north of the City of London and Clerkenwell, west of Shoreditch, and south of Islington and City Road. It is in the south of the London Borough of Islington. The Finsbury Estate is in the western part of the district...
and flowed right through the centre of the walled city into 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,...
, near where Cannon Street Railway Bridge
Cannon Street Railway Bridge
Cannon Street Railway Bridge is a bridge in central London, crossing the River Thames. Downstream, the next bridge is London Bridge, and upstream Southwark Bridge. It carries trains over the river to Cannon Street station on the north bank...
is now, splitting the settlement in two. It was probably used for fresh drinking water and also for carrying sewage
Sewage
Sewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...
down to the Thames. During Roman times it was also used for transport with the head of navigation at Bucklersbury where the Romans built a port and temple to Mithras on the east bank. The temple
Temple of Mithras, London
The Temple of Mithras, Walbrook is a Roman temple whose ruins were discovered in Walbrook, a street in the City of London, during rebuilding work in 1954. It is perhaps the most famous of all twentieth-century Roman discoveries in the City of London....
was found and later excavated during rebuilding work after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The Roman Governor's palace was also found on the east bank of the stream, near its entry into the Thames. It is said that, when Londinium (also known then as Caer Lundein) was captured by the invading Anglo-Saxons during the late 6th century, all the British (Celtic) inhabitants were forced to live on the east bank of the Walbrook while the Saxons would reside on the west. Perhaps a more likely reason for this is that the prevailing winds over London blow from the West. This naturally carries the soot, fumes and odours from the "Great Wen" eastwards and makes living in the East End somewhat less salubrious than living in the West End. People with the money to do so naturally enough chose to live historically in the cleaner West End. Actions such as the Clean Air Act 1956
Clean Air Act 1956
The Clean Air Act 1956 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in response to London's Great Smog of 1952. It was in effect until 1964, and sponsored by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in England and the Department of Health for Scotland.The Act introduced a number of...
and the general cleaning of industry has somewhat reduced this atmospheric effect; the differences in infrastructure, however, remain.
John Stow
John Stow
John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...
, the historian of London, wrote about the Walbrook in 1598, saying that the watercourse, having several bridges, was afterwards vaulted over with brick and paved level with the streets and lanes where it passed and that houses had been built so that the stream was hidden as it is now.
The Walbrook's source was Moorfields, north of the City wall which it passed through just west of All Hallows-on-the-Wall
All Hallows-on-the-Wall
All Hallows-on-the-Wall is a Church of England church located in the City of London. It is situated adjacent to London Wall, the former city wall, at Broad Street.-History:...
Church.
Augustus Pitt Rivers
Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane-Fox Pitt Rivers was an English army officer, ethnologist, and archaeologist. He was noted for his innovations in archaeological methods, and in the museum display of archaeological and ethnological collections.-Life and career:Born Augustus Henry Lane-Fox at...
uncovered a large number of human skulls, and almost no other bones, in the bed of the Walbrook. This has been seen as reminiscent of a passage from Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
's History of the Kings of Britain
Historia Regum Britanniae
The Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written c. 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation...
(ca. 1136) in which a legion
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
of Roman soldiers who surrendered to Asclepiodotus after being besieged in London were decapitated by his allies the Venedoti
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...
, and their heads thrown into a river called the Gallobroc. However, Geoffrey's History is notoriously unreliable, and some historians consider these skulls to be a result of the rebellion of 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....
. As late as the early 19th century, part of the branch that runs from Islington was open and powered a lead mill.
During the 'Carnival Against Capitalism
Carnival Against Capitalism
The Global Carnival Against Capital took place on Friday, 18th June, 1999. It was an international day of protest timed to coincide with the 25th G8 Summit in Cologne, Germany. The carnival was inspired by the 1980s Stop the City protests and the Global Street Party, which happened at the same time...
' on June 18, 1999, a fire hydrant was let-off on Dowgate Hill by Reclaim the Streets
Reclaim the Streets
Reclaim The Streets is a collective with a shared ideal of community ownership of public spaces. Participants characterize the collective as a resistance movement opposed to the dominance of corporate forces in globalization, and to the car as the dominant mode of transport.-Protests:Reclaim The...
to symbolically represent the freeing of the Walbrook.
The Walbrook is one of many "lost" rivers of London
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...
, the most famous of which is the River Fleet
River Fleet
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers. 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...
. It enters the Thames at Dowgate
Dowgate
Dowgate is a small ward of the City of London. The ward is bounded by Swan Lane, the River Thames, Cousin Lane and Cannon Street. Dowgate is where the Walbrook watercourse entered the Thames....
.
Ward of Walbrook
St Stephen Walbrook
St Stephen, Walbrook is a small church in the City of London, part of the Church of England's Diocese of London. It is located in Walbrook, next to the Mansion House, and near to Bank and Monument Underground stations.-History:In the second century A.D...
, which originally stood on the west bank of the stream, but was rebuilt around 1439 on the east side. In 1666 the church burned down in 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...
and Sir 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...
built a new church there in 1672 to replace it, which still stands. The historic London Stone
London Stone
The London Stone is a historic stone that is now set within a Portland stone surround and iron grille on Cannon Street, in the City of London.-Features:...
, which would have been a highly important religious symbol in Roman as well as pre-Roman London, is situated on Cannon Street
Cannon Street
Cannon Street is a road in the south of the City of London. It runs roughly parallel with the River Thames, and about 250 metres north of it. It is the site of the ancient London Stone.-Etymology:...
within the ward of Walbrook. The Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
and Mansion House
Mansion House, London
Mansion House is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of the City of London in London, England. It is used for some of the City of London's official functions, including an annual dinner, hosted by the Lord Mayor, at which the Chancellor of the Exchequer customarily gives a speech – his...
, the official residence of the Lord Mayor, are both situated in Walbrook ward.
Walbrook is one of 25 ward
Wards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
s in the City of London, each electing an Alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
, to the Court of Aldermen
Court of Aldermen
The Court of Aldermen is an elected body forming part of the City of London Corporation. The Court of Aldermen is made up of the twenty five Aldermen of the City of London, presided over by the Lord Mayor...
and Commoners (the City equivalent of a Councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
) to the Court of Common Council of the City of London Corporation. Only electors who are Freemen of the City of London are eligible to stand.
See also
- Roman sites in the United KingdomRoman sites in the United KingdomThere are many Roman sites in the United Kingdom that are open to the public. There are many sites that do not require special access, including Roman roads, and sites that have not been uncovered.-England:*Ambleside Roman Fort , Cumbria...
- 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
- City of London Corporation Map of Walbrook ward (2003 —)
- Walbrook Ward The Official Ward Website
- walbrookriver.org Indepth information regarding the river and hydrological issues in London
- An indepth resource for the history, issues and future proposals of how to deal with Londons Walbrook River and water issues in the city
- Map showing the location of the street named Walbrook
- Map showing the location of remains the temple of Mithras
- Map of Early Modern London: Walbrook Ward - Historical Map and Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's London (Scholarly)