lost waterways and buried channels

Former rivers, brooks, canals, and ponds whose routes survive as streets, parks, culverts, or archaeological traces.

By hello

25 posts

• River Fleet — The largest of London's lost rivers once ran openly from the high ground of Hampstead to the Thames at Blackfriars. Status: Mostly culverte…
• River Westbourne — A former Thames tributary now hidden below west London. It rose near Hampstead, fed the line of the Serpentine, then continued south under…
• Sloane Square Westbourne Crossing — One of the rare places where a London lost river announces itself plainly. At Sloane Square Underground station, the buried River Westbourn…
• River Walbrook — A buried stream that once ran south through the heart of the City of London to the Thames. In Roman times it helped define the city's inter…
• London Mithraeum — This Roman temple stands in the buried valley of the Walbrook. Its location makes visible how closely early London was tied to a small stre…
• Minetta Brook — A vanished Manhattan stream whose winding route still echoes in Greenwich Village street names and odd alignments. Status: Buried and absor…
• Collect Pond — This polygon marks the approximate site of Collect Pond, the great freshwater pond of early Manhattan. Status: Filled and built over in the…
• Senne Through Central Brussels — The Senne was the river on which Brussels developed, but its polluted central course was covered over and heavily re-engineered in the 19th…
• Bièvre in Paris — Paris once had a second river. The Bièvre entered the city from the south, powered workshops and tanneries, then was progressively channell…
• Garrison Creek — A once-prominent Toronto creek that ran in a deep ravine to Lake Ontario near Fort York. Status: Buried in an underground sewer by the late…
• Crawford Street Bridge — An unusual buried relic of Garrison Creek. The bridge that once crossed the creek valley still lies hidden beneath Crawford Street and late…
• Canal de la Viga — A former canal corridor that once connected central Mexico City with the lake and chinampa districts to the southeast. Status: Drained, sea…
• Van der Donck Park — A useful comparison point for lost-waterway mapping: this downtown Yonkers park sits where the Saw Mill River had long been buried under pa…
• River Tyburn — One of London's best-known lost rivers, the Tyburn rose in the Hampstead area and ran south through Marylebone and Mayfair before reaching…
• River Tyburn Conduit Plaque — A plaque at this corner recalls the conduit system once supplied by water from the Tyburn. It is also a good place to read the buried river…
• Counter's Creek — A largely subterranean west London stream, Counter's Creek flowed south from the Kensal Green area to the Thames at Chelsea Creek. The line…
• Taddle Creek — Taddle Creek was a Toronto stream that flowed from the Wychwood area through what is now the University of Toronto lands and south-east tow…
• Taddle Creek Historical Plaque — This plaque marks the route of Toronto's lost Taddle Creek near the University of Toronto. It highlights the importance of the buried strea…
• Tanner Creek Gulch — This feature traces the former lower Tanner Creek corridor through Portland's west side. The creek once ran openly through a deep gulch tow…
• Tanner Springs Park — Tanner Springs Park reinterprets the historic wetland landscape associated with Tanner Creek. The park's pond, planting, and boardwalks evo…