Lost London: Walking the River Walbrook Part 1: Outside the City
Of all the lost rivers of London, the Walbrook is perhaps the most lost. It once flowed in a valley between Ludgate Hill (to the west) and Cornhill (to the east), and formed the eastern boundary of the first Roman settlement at Londinium. When the Romans built their city wall, the river was carried through the northern wall by an aqueduct, which may be the root of its name (“wall brook”); an alternative suggestion is that the name is derived from the Celtic Weala Broc, meaning "brook of the foreigners" (meaning the native Britons, who were also referred to as the Welsh).
As time passed and Londinium became London, the growing city would eventually force the Walbrook underground; around the middle of the 15th Century, the remaining above ground stretches of the river were vaulted over. By some reckoning, during Roman times the Walbrook may have flowed up to 11 metres below the current street level. Traces of the river have now all but vanished, making following the course less about looking for signs of the river, but more of a tour of the long history of the city above it.
The source of the Walbrook is somewhat debated. It may once have been in Islington, though the stretch from there to Shoreditch was diverted by the Carthusian monks of the Charterhouse in 1430. The river that remained then drew its waters from somewhere around Shoreditch – several possible sites have been identified, though a strong contender (and start for this walk) is the site of the lost Holywell, a sacred spring that was once found in the grounds of the medieval Priory of St John the Baptist, its remains now under New Inn Square, off Bateman’s Row.
The closest above ground route one can then follow runs along New Inn Street, where a strange ‘London Baby’ face looks out from the gate to Curtain Road School.
The route then passes by the site of The Theatre, deserving of the definite article, being London’s first purpose built theatre, and home to performances by William Shakespeare’s company, the Chamberlain’s Men.
The walker then joins Curtain Road, finding the Old Blue Last pub, which once claimed, probably inaccurately, to have been the first pub where porter was sold. Following the main road in a south-western direction, the walker is now walking roughly where the western bank of the Walbrook would have once been, though now there is a largely unremarkable collection of buildings, punctuated by a run-down Brutalist car park.
Further along, a brief diversion down Worship Street reveals a short row of flats in the Arts and Crafts style, built in 1863 as a project to combing living space, working space, and shops for artisans. The drinking fountain at one end was unlikely to have been connected to the subterranean Walbrook, though any water it might produce these days would probably be of the same quality.
Back to Curtain Road, and looking ahead, it is very obvious from the shift in architecture and the distinctive bollards that the edge of the City of London has been reached – a convenient point to pause this narrative.
