London Canals

The Kilburn River

Many underground explorers assert that the River Westbourne sewer/storm relief drain system is one of the best in the UK. It connects to the Tyburn, the Kings Scholar's, the 'Egg,' the Middle sewer and many others. Its split-level junctions and intersections are a source of awe amongst urban explorers.

The Westbourne River has been known as the Cye Bourne/Kelebourne/Kilburn River/Kilburn Brook/Coldbourne/Bayswater Rivulet. There is some dispute as to what it was originally called. It is thought it was just called the Bourne, and as it was west of the Tyburn river, it became the Westbourne. In Notes and Queries (Dec 28th 1901) it is suggested that the waterway may have been named after a village called Westeburne. The village was said to have existed in the 13th Century, but this has never been established in fact.

"Like Tybourne and Mary-le-Bourne, so Kilbourne also took its name from the little "bourne," or brook, of which we have already spoken as rising on the southern slope of the Hampstead uplands. It found its way from the slope of West End, Hampstead, towards Bayswater, and thence passing under the Uxbridge Road, fed the Serpentine in Hyde Park. The brook, however, has long since disappeared from view, having been arched over, and made to do duty as a sewer." (From British History Online)

The Kilburn River is also known as the Westbourne River, and is now more popularly known as the Ranelagh Sewer. The name Ranelagh comes from James II's Paymaster General, the Earl of Ranelagh, who was well known for his appropriating of public funds for personal use during the second half of the 17th Century. He bought some land near Chelsea Hospital in 1690, which included the course of the River Westbourne. This land was turned into Ranelagh Gardens, and they became a popular attraction. The great Ranelagh Rotunda existed between 1741 and 1805. One of the Rotunda's most famous performers was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The popularity of the Ranelagh Gardens soon ensured that the Westbourne River became known also as the Ranelagh Stream. When the watercourse became polluted, it was known as the Ranelagh Sewer, and gradually diverted underground. The entire waterway is colliquially known as the Ranelagh Sewer nowadays even though there are several branches of this quite complex sewer network.

Kilburn High Road is the northernmost extremity of the Ranelagh Sewer. On the underground journey between here and Whitestone, it is still the known as the Westbourne.

The route of the Westbourne River

The Westbourne begins at Whitestone Pond north of Hampstead, and winds through Finchley Road, South Hampstead, Kilburn, Maida Vale, Little Venice, Paddington, Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, Sloane Square and into the Thames at Chelsea

The sewer clearly crosses under the railway lines from West End Lane to Springfield Lane

The Westbourne/Ranelagh Sewer can be found in Springfield Lane - behind the Old Bell at Kilburn

Sewer cover at bottom left in Springfield Lane with the Old Bell in the background

The Old Bell at Kilburn. On the opposite side of the road is the plaque telling us that Kilburn Bridge was at this location.

Kilburn High Road by the station and the Old Bell, showing the plaque in the pavement

The plaque commoreating the first ever bridge to be built across the Westbourne

This plaque is in the wrong place! Its sited on the West Coast Main Line bridge, but nowhere near the old river crossing. The map extract shown from Greenwoods 1824 map of London shows the site of Kilburn bridge. I have marked the West Coast main line from Euston in red. The alignment of the railway is NOT a mistake! Yes the railway from Euston heads for the Midlands and the North, but on leaving the London terminus, the tracks head in a south west direction for several miles before finally turning northwards. The simple reason for the railway out of Euston taking such a round-about route is because the railway's builders wanted to avoid the higher ground to the north.

Greenwoods map of 1824 showing Kilburn Bridge

The Kilburn River at this point becomes also known as the Bayswater Rivulet or the Ranelagh Sewer. It was still an open watercourse so to be called a 'sewer' clearly describes that the waterway was not a healthy one! Maps of Kilburn Park from the 1870's show the course of the river as being culverted under Kilburn Park Road as far as its junction with Carlton Road (now Carlton Vale) before venturing across open fields where Cambridge and Stuart Roads now lie. This area is known as the South Kilburn Estate. The river's course ran as far as Shirland Road at the Chippenham junction. All the roads on the west side of Shirland Road have a considerable gradient and the old river ran where this gradient levles out to meet Shirland Road. Basically the river ran southeastwards along the west side of Shirland Road.

The present watercourse (Westbourne/Ranelagh Sewer) runs underground along its entire route. Traces of the sewer can be found behind the Old Bell at Kilburn, in what is Springfield Lane, just to the south of Kilburn High Road station. This area is sited in what is the old river valley, but one wouldnt know it because the land is now much higher than it was before. This is due to the dumping of excavated spoil from the adjacent railway cutting.

St Augustine's school is clearly sited within the Westbourne River's thalweg

Thalweg (as explained in the section on the Fleet river) a valley created by its river.

The site of Kilburn bridge is near where Kilburn Park Road and Maida Vale meet. There is a slight dip which reflects the course of the old river. Kilburn Park Road runs along the old river alignment, and St Augustine's school clearly sits in the old river valley on the north side of Kilburn Park. The school opened in 1884 on vacant land that was clearly the remnant of the old Westbourne River. Beyond St Augustine's school there is no trace of the Kilburn or Westbourne river until the southern extremity of Shirland Road.

Paddington Recreation ground showing vents for the sewer in the foreground. A number of these can be traced across the park

Main entrance to BBC Maida Vale studios

Victorian ventilation pipe and man hole cover over the Westbourne/Ranelagh sewer at the junction of Shirland Road and Sutherland Avenue

As an underground sewer, the watercourse travels from Kilburn Park Road underneath Carlton Vale and Paddington recreation ground. Vent covers for the sewer can be seen in the recreation ground. The course runs diagonally underneath Morshead, Delaware Roads and the BBC Maida Vale Studios. It reaches Shirland Road, where a man hole and a old Victorian ventilation pipe can be seen at the junction with Sutherland Avenue, before running south along Shirland Road, and right into Formosa Street where it passes through the Kilburn Aqueduct.

The next traces of the old Westbourne valley come soon after the Sutherland Road junction. The rear algnment of buildings behind the Amadeus Centre reveals the old river's boundary. This becomes more obvious as the Amberley Estate is reached. It is clear tha the estate sits in the old depression that was once the River Westbourne. If one takes the footbridge from Shirland Road into the centre of the estate, this cross Clearwell Drive. Clearly this is sited in the old river's course - the footbridge can easily be imagined as crossing a living river rather than this depressing, sunken, roadway.

This gap along the rear of buildings on the west side of Shirland Road clearly indicate the former alignment of the Westbourne

This bridge is in the right spot and should span the Westbourne, but instead its over Clearwell Drive in the Amberley Estate. Shirland Road runs along the left side.

The other side of the flats at Amberley Estate along the south end of Shirland Road clearly sit in a depression that once formed the Westbourne valley

This is a view from Formosa Street looking down Clearwell Drive. This sunken way appears to have been built on the former approximate course of the Westbourne. It corresponds with another depression further up Shirland Road and also tallies with the course of the river as shown on ordnance maps from 1874.

After Clearwell Drive the route enters Formosa Street. This short street truncates at the canal embankment and the only way across is via Lord Hills footbridge. In old days the Westbourne River meandered across the fields towards Paddington. When the canal was built in the late 18th Century, the course of the river was straightened and the very broad Kilburn Aqueduct was built to carry the canal over the river and its valley. The embankment upon which the canal stands is without a doubt the most substantial such work in London itself. Concerns about flooding have ensured that emergency stop gates have been installed at various locations (as well at other locations where embankments exist along the canal towards Bulls bridge) to prevent flooding should a breach occur.

Clearwell Drive looking south along Formosa Street to the canal embankment. The red lines indicate the river's approximate route, with the north portal of Kilburn Aqueduct indicated by the red oval marker. Its difficult to determine the features of the 19th Century with the area being built up, so these are just an approximation!

Next: The Kilburn Aqueduct / The Westbourne/Raneleagh Sewer to the Thames

Around Little Venice: The famous part of London where three waterways meet / Canute's 'Canal': The mythological waterway that wasnt / Croydon Canal: London's shortest-lived waterway, closing completely by 1837 / Cumberland Arm: A branch off the Regents Canal to Euston / Fleet River & Canal: The former Thames - Kings Cross waterway / Grand Surrey: The canal with an ambition to reach Portsmouth! / Grosvenor Canal: The Grosvenor linked Victoria to the Thames / Kensington Canal: The canal that became a railway and an underground route / London's Canal Tunnels: There are three canal tunnels in London / Paddington Arm: The Grand Junction/Grand Union from Bulls Bridge to London / Pudding Mill River: Requiem for London's lost waterway / Regents Canal: This runs between Little Venice, Camden Town & Limehouse / Romford Canal: The penultimate, yet unfinished, canal to be built in London / Ruislip Feeder: The former waterway that fed the canal / Westbourne River: The old waterway from Kilburn to the Thames / Woolwich's secret waterway: The Royal Arsenal Canal

Attractions near the London canals: Abbey Road / Bayswater /Edgware Road / Crockers Folly / Marylebone Goods / Nash Villas / Spitfire Works / St Pancras