Walking the route of the lost Westbourne River

Source of the River Westbourne, Hampstead

On Saturday (which thankfully was dry, warm and sunny) I set out from Hampstead tube station with a group from Walk London With Us to follow the route of the lost river Westbourne. The length varied depending on who you spoke to. I was told earlier this year that it was eight miles, but on the day others offered up nine and a half and thirteen. I think the last is pushing it and I feel it's around the original eight, maybe eight and half. I can tell you that it was a long way and that my legs, by the end of the walk, were aching like crazy.

I should have written this blog on Sunday because now I feel I've forgotten everything we were told. I should have been like one lady on the walk and made notes. She in fact drew the route onto a map as well. Now there's organisation for you.

Now I should tell you that at no time did we see the river because it has been built over and diverted into sewers. However, we did get the chance to hear the river from a manhole cover (yeah, that does look strange - a whole bunch of people with ears bent towards a metal cover). Even so, we could observe where the river flowed by the curve of roads and by road names and names of bridges.

We walked up to Whitestone Pond which in the past was a horses watering hole and then headed off to dip to the source of the Westbourne River. Other tributaries flowed in here too, and although dry now, after a few days of rain the area gets boggy.

The walk from there was all downhill, which at least made walking easier. Hampstead is huge and it seemed a while before we moved further (but I am rather taken with Hampstead). We went through Kilburn, Maida Vale, Bayswater, Paddington, Hyde Park (Serpentine Lake) and we ended up outside the Chelsea Pensioners' Royal Hospital. The river flows out into the Thames, but to see it we'd have to lean right over the wall or view it from the other bank.

On Route we stopped at Westbourne Green for a picnic lunch. Here some of our group left us and another group joined for the second half. We had two guides on this walk who shared the duties of informing us of the Westbourne story as well as other information on route. These included the Maida Vale Studios (once belonging to Decca Records) where the Beatles were turned down (it now belongs to the Royal Opera House as their rehearsal space), and round the corner....Studios where the Beatles did their second photo session and the singer Roger Whittaker recorded. We had to take some diversions off the river due to railway lines and buildings. I loved the mews cottages (quite a variety) and did you know the name Knightsbridge comes from the Knights Bridge where (as one story goes) two knights fought and died? The river went over the Westbourne River.

We were all tied at the end but it had been lovely day with lots of laughs and good company, and of course we were so lucky with the weather. Click here for more information about the River (with actual views of it in places we didn't get to!). This article implies that the source of the river is Whitestone Pond but we were told this is not so but from the dip close by (see my photo). However, most sources claim this to be so, like this excellent article with map.