Thread by @Feargal_Sharkey

So as some of you know I made a rather eccentric decision at the beginning of the year to walk every river in north London before Christmas, well that means the next 3 weekends are going to be busy. :)

Today is number 17! Hurray!

But before we begin children I wanted to draw your attention to a speech given by @OfwatChiefExec CEO of @ofwat at a water industry earlier this week. I suspect it’s the first time Ofwat or anyone else spoke directly to the industry about the impact they have on our rivers. (1/2)

So a big round of applause for @OfwatChiefExec setting an example that others might do well to copy. Brilliant job.

ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/upl…

Now I have to admit for the next 2 weekends I’m going to be coping copiously from @TheTilbury’s rather brilliant book. And can I add even if you have no interest in walking London’s hidden rivers you should buy a copy, it’s rather beautifully done.

So to business. This river has it birth on the top of Hampstead Heath and as David suggests in his book it’s going to be something of a musical journey bringing back some very precious memories for me personally.

It is of course the River Westbourne and just feet after leaving the Heath the river flows directly underneath a house once lived in by this man. Told you it is going to be a musician journey. :)

Now here’s a strange fact for you today and next weekend I’m going to walk 5 different rivers in London and I won’t get to see a single one of them. All buried, all covered over, not a visible sign above ground that they exist. There’s a thought.

And here’s another strange one. Tucked away in a little wood right on the edge of Hampstead Heath are these fantastic looking houses. Bet you’d never guess they were originally built as council house. Not anymore they’re not. Welcome to modern Britian.

So next house with a plaque? This one. Home to Alfred Harmsworth. And who the hell was he you might ask? Well before you look it up with his brothers he established the Daily Mail & the Daily Mirror. What a legacy, in oh so many ways.

And this one is for Mr D for this is the old Decca Records building in West Hampstead where on that fateful day in 1962 a little beat combo from Liverpool we’re rejected with the immortal words “We don’t like their sound and guitar groups are on their way out.” :)

And all for a good cause.

Mentioning the Beatles.

There’s a river underneath here somewhere.

A planning sauces story. Usual London thing, developer buys old pub, Carlton Tavern, knocks most of it down one Sunday morning. Council demand he rebuilds it brick by brick. Work clearly ongoing.

PS. @BarnetCouncil might want to pay attention.

More blue plaques this time at Paddington Recreation Ground although I have to say really rather busy around for a Saturday morning. Clearly much loved and much used.

Now who can tell me what this building is?

Yep, it’s the @BBC’s Maida Vale Studios home to at least 6 if not 7 The Undertones / John Peel sessions. Perhaps someone can remind me how many. :) (1/2)

What I do remember is the first John Peel session was not recorded here but at the Downtown Radio studios in Belfast. What we didn’t know at the time was that John had paid all of the studio costs out of his own pocket.

Legend. (2/2)

5 Clifton Villas, Maida Vale home to Mr William Shackell founder of the Amwell Magna Fishery @amwellmagna in 1841. I wonder what the Westbourne would have looked like in his day?

Double parking on the Grand Union Canal or am I about to make another comments regarding the cost of housing in London?

Give me 5 minutes and I’ll pop it into my backpack. :)

The tower of St Mary Magdalene church looking magnificent in the autumn sunshine.

While following the course of the river along Gloucester Terrace W2 I stumbled across this. The Undertones used to rent a house here. :) Shall we just say in the late 1970s the area around Praed Street / Paddington station was a source of some wonder to a young Irishman. :)

And this is now the Italian Gardens in Hyde Park originally a filter bed in an attempt to clean up the river before it entered The Serpentine which was created by damming the river. Didn’t work.

London really can look magnificent when it wants to.

He was a clever man that Henry Moore.

Well it would be rude not to. :)

Would appear that the waters of the Westbourne have been much in demand for sometime. Plaque on top of the Serpentine dam.

Feed me. FEED ME!

Feed me. FEED ME!

I do live these little back street pubs and Kinnerton Street has 2 of them, within feet of other. Unfortunately no time to stop and sample their delights. Noted for another day.

Mentioning culinary delights. It’s been a while. Hint, hint (to none in particular). :)

The last of our musical interludes. 4, Cadogan Lane, where Judy Garland slipped away from us for the final time.

The end is almost here, the Thames is almost in sight. Walking through the grounds of the Royal Chelsea Hospital.

But first a public service announcement, posted on the banks of the Thames, come on people, you know what to do.

And isn’t this just typical.

Suffocated within that building site, straight jacketed by steel pylons the river meets its silent end.

Buried by man from its birth at the very last moment; deprived of any possible honour or dignity. I give you the River Westbourne.