<
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230514-a-new-life-for-londons-lost-rivers>
'Though most visitors to London think only of the River Thames, the city is a
myriad of waterways. Old maps show a skein of rivers and brooks that provided
"blue corridors" traversing the city for centuries, providing both sources of
food and recreation. But as London boomed, these waterways faded from
consciousness – encased by walls, turned into polluted backwaters or simply
covered over to run unseen beneath busy streets.
But these "secret" rivers are imprinted on London's geography. Marylebone
started life as St Mary by the bourne (an old name for a watercourse, in this
case the Tyburn); while Bayswater, Knightsbridge, Westbourne and Holborn are
all named by waterways that ran through them. Deptford was the site of a deep
ford over the Ravensbourne, while Wandsworth is named after the River Wandle.
East Ham and West Ham get their names from an old word for an area between
rivers (hamm) – in their case, the Lea and the Roding. And while Britain's
leading newspapers have left Fleet Street, the River Fleet still runs beneath.
"London should really be one massive wetland – a salt marsh on an estuary,"
said Will Oliver, a development manager at Thames21, a charity helping guide
40-plus river restorations. Thanks to the organisation's efforts alongside
other groups, buried rivers have returned to the light, while others are being
rewilded in ways that will improve the lives and environment of millions of
people, as well as provide a key boost for nature.'
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-trachoma-benin-mali-deforestation-brazil-seine-paris/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
