Charity urges mayor to back plans for signage and maps to guide walkers around lost waterways
Hampstead Heath with the London skyline in the background. The ridge of Hampstead Heath contains the headwaters of four rivers â the Brent, the Westbourne, the Tyburn and the Fleet. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images
Hampstead Heath with the London skyline in the background. The ridge of Hampstead Heath contains the headwaters of four rivers â the Brent, the Westbourne, the Tyburn and the Fleet. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images
Tue 4 May 2021 01.00 EDT
There are clues to their existence in street names, in the winding of lanes and in the rushing sound of water deep in the capitalâs drains. For centuries London has been sculpted by its rivers. Today, though, while vestiges of some remain visible, most lie buried beneath pavements and submerged in the sewage system.
Isabelle Walker
A canal path
- Credit: The Ramblers
Walking charity The Ramblers have urged London’s next mayor to create six new walking routes across London.
The proposals included the Forgotten Rivers route, which reveals rivers around Hampstead Heath that have been obscured by years of development.
The Ramblers has published a manifesto and is calling for all London mayoral candidates to prioritise green spaces.
While full details of proposed routes have not been mapped, the charity plans to work with the next mayor to finalise them.
The Ramblers London Greenways map
- Credit: The Ramblers
The Forgotten Rivers route would follow the Silk Stream north of Hampstead Heath, linking with the London LOOP at High Barnet, exploring the greener outskirts of London, past St Pancras Old Church and alongside the Regents Canal and across the Capital Ring, through Brent Cross.