Place    To 1765

River Fleet

Categories: Gardens / Agriculture

Dead End Street has a useful map showing the route of the old Fleet River and its tributaries, long ago buried in storm drains / large sewer pipes. The river used to flood, even into the 1930s.

It is said that you can still hear it gurgling past through a grating in Farringdon Road near the Guardian's old offices. And Diamond Geezer has tracked the entire course. In periods of heavy rain the river gives out into the Thames at Blackfriars Bridge. This image shows that site, from the Thames, c.1750.

2016: You want to see the River Fleet? Londonist have the post for you.

2019: The Islington Tribune reported that the River Fleet flows beneath the basement of an extension at the Sekforde pub and it is now being used to generate heating and also to cool the beer. Would we all had a river in the basement!

2025: There is a series of Camden plaques for the river, of which we have found 3 so far.  Are there more?  This series was inspired by the Effra plaques which were also designed by Atelier Works.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
River Fleet

Commemorated ati

Fleet River floods - Goldington Crescent

{Around the outer ring:} The hidden River Fleet flows nearby. Goldington Cre...

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Fleet River floods - Purchese Street

{Around the edge:} The hidden River Fleet flows nearby. {In the centre:} Eas...

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Fleet River tributary - Mount Pleasant

The plaque's prominent reference to Queen Square is confusing. The map at Dea...

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Somers Town Mural

This mural was commissioned by the GLC in 1980 and moved to this site by St P...

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Tipperary pub

Maps showing the route of the River Fleet do not show it passing through this...

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Other Subjects

Harold Nicolson

Harold Nicolson

Diplomat and politician. Born as Harold George Nicolson at the British legation, Tehran in what was then Persia. Joined the diplomatic service in 1909 and served in various posts. Entered parliamen...

Person, Gardens / Agriculture, Literature, Politics & Administration, Germany, Iran/Persia, Spain, Turkey

1 memorial
Sir John Sinclair

Sir John Sinclair

Founder and president of the first Board of Agriculture. Born Scotland into family of the Earls of Caithness. 1780 entered the House of Commons. Promoted a scientific and statistical approach to ag...

Person, Gardens / Agriculture, Politics & Administration, Science, Scotland

1 memorial
Gardening colleagues of Kevin Davis

Gardening colleagues of Kevin Davis

Gardening colleagues of Kevin Davis.

Group, Gardens / Agriculture

1 memorial
New River Loop - restoration

New River Loop - restoration

London Gardens Trust says "In 1890 the portion of the New River around Enfield village was piped underground, thereby making this stretch redundant. It was saved from being filled in by a public ca...

Event, Gardens / Agriculture

1 memorial
Major Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, CBE, TD

Major Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, CBE, TD

Financier and horticulturalist. He was born on 2 January 1916 in Westminster the second of the four children of Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1882-1942) and Marie Louise Eugénie de Rothschild née B...

Person, Armed Forces, Commerce, Gardens / Agriculture, Politics & Administration

1 memorial

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Lady Diana Beauclerk

Lady Diana Beauclerk

Lady Diana Spencer was born in 1735, the eldest child of the third Duke of Marlborough. She was expected to follow a traditional path through life: educated in the fashion considered suitable for a...

Person, Art, Other

2 memorials
Chiswick Parochial Charities

Chiswick Parochial Charities

Comprising The Almshouse Charity (managing an almshouse in Chiswick) and The Lying-In Charity (offering an annual grant to benefit pregnant women in the London Borough of Hounslow).

Group, Philanthropy

1 memorial
3 - Johnson’s Court – Dr Johnson’s Dictionary

3 - Johnson’s Court – Dr Johnson’s Dictionary

EC4, Fleet Street

There are 8 Courts running off the north side of this section of Fleet Street and on the ground at the entrance to each Court is a plaque...

2 subjects commemorated
American Society of Civil Engineers

American Society of Civil Engineers

Founded to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Based in Reston, Virginia, it is probably the oldest national engineering society in the United States.

Group, Engineering

1 memorial
Urban Hall

Urban Hall

Prime Warden of the Fishmonger Company in 1716, 1717.  Lived in  Broad Street.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial