Beverley Brook is a minor English river long in south-west

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It rises in

Worcester Park Worcester Park is a suburban town in South London, South West London, England. It lies in the Boroughs of London, London boroughs of London Borough of Sutton, Sutton and Royal Borough of Kingston, Kingston, and partly in the Surrey borough of Ep ...

and joins the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

to the north of

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

Embankment at

Barn Elms Barn Elms is an open space in Barnes in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, located on the northerly loop of the River Thames between Barnes and Fulham. The WWT London Wetland Centre (105 acres of what were once reservoirs) lie ...

Course

Beverley Brook rises at the top of a hill in a shady area at Cuddington Recreation Ground in

then flows north in a

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...

under the A2043 road, emerging in waste land next to Worcester Park Station. It then flows northeast through

Motspur Park Motspur Park, also known locally as West Barnes, is a residential suburb in south-west London, in the New Malden district. It straddles the boroughs of Kingston upon Thames and Merton. Motspur Park owes its identity to the railway station of ...

New Malden New Malden is an area in South West London, England. It is located mainly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston, Norbiton, Raynes ...

Wimbledon Common Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 460 ...

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, C ...

, forms the brief boundary of

East Sheen East Sheen, also known as Sheen, is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its long high street has shops, offices, restaurants, cafés, pubs and suburban supermarkets and is also the economic hub for Mort ...

and

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

near Priest's Bridge, flows through the south of

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People * Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom *Barnes, London, England **Barnes railway station ** Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes Railway Bri ...

(bounding the Barnes playing fields to the north and

Putney Common Putney Lower Common is an open Park, parkland space in the London Borough of Wandsworth between the town centres of Putney and Barnes, London, Barnes. It is part of Wimbledon and Putney Commons, lying 1.5 miles from the rest of the common area. ...

to the south) and joins the

above

Embankment between

, Barnes and Leader's Gardens, Putney. Its basin has a catchment area of .

Uses

Beverley Brook between Barnes Green and Barnes Common (01)

Beverley Brook creates a water feature used by deer, smaller animals and water grasses and some

water lilies ''Water Lilies'' (or ''Nymphéas'', ) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artisti ...

in Richmond Park (where it is followed by the Tamsin Trail and Beverley Walk). Then for the next upstream of Richmond Park, the Beverley Brook forms the historic South West London boundary, now the boundary between the

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a borough in Southwest London, England. The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton ...

and the

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is a borough in southwest London. The main town is Kingston upon Thames and it includes Surbiton, Chessington, Malden Rushett, New Malden and Tolworth. It is the oldest of the four royal boroughs in Eng ...

. For the first south of Richmond Park, the six lane A3 trunk road from London to Portsmouth runs always within of the stream, crossing it three times. Although there is no point where the stream itself can be seen when driving along the road, the bridge

parapets A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Wher ...

are visible and, for , where the road runs along the edge of

, the trees flanking the stream can be glimpsed across playing fields, with the lightly managed "natural" woodland of the common rising beyond. Except for the playing fields, the whole of the common, including Beverley Brook, is both a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI) and a

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

(SAC). Towards the south (upstream) end of the common,

Fishpond Wood and Beverley Meads Fishpond Wood and Beverley Meads is a 5.8 hectare local nature reserve adjacent to Wimbledon Common in the London Borough of Merton. It is owned and managed by Merton Council. History In the Middle Ages Beverley Meads was owned by Merton Abbey, ...

nature reserve lies a few metres east of the stream. South of Wimbledon Common, the stretch of the A3 running near the stream is named ''Beverley Way'' after it.Open Street Map
/ref>

Etymology

The name is derived from the former presence in the river of the

European beaver The Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber'') or European beaver is a beaver species that was once widespread in Eurasia, but was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur and castoreum. At the turn of the 20th century, only about 1,200 beavers surviv ...

(''Castor fiber''), a species extinct in Britain since the sixteenth century. The

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

word for beaver was '' bever'', the word for meadow was '' ley'' (or ''lei'' or various other spellings, still rarely used today as ''lea'') and ''

brook A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...

'' meant stream, as it does today. Beverley Brook was thus the Beaver-Meadow Stream.

Tributaries

Beverley Brook's longest

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

Pyl Brook Pyl Brook is a small stream in southwest London. It is a tributary of Beverley Brook, which is a tributary of the River Thames. Pyl Brook has two sources. The 5.3 kilometre main brook rises in Sutton Common in Sutton and flows through the London ...

, long, which is a Local Nature Reserve. It flows from

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

through

Lower Morden Lower Morden is an area within the district of Morden in south west corner of the London Borough of Merton, to the west of Morden Park and south of Raynes Park. History Until it was absorbed by the suburban expansion of the 1930s, the hamlet (pl ...

to join it at Beverley Park in

. Both brooks are on the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

's watchlist of rivers susceptible to flooding.

Environmental improvements

For much of the twentieth century Beverley Brook was joined by poorly treated sewage from a sewage works in Green Lane, Worcester Park. Since some pipe redirection enabling the removing of the works and the introduction of improved treatment methods in 1998, the range of wildlife species in the river has steadily increased. At

, Beverley Brook has banks reinforced with wooden "toe-boarding", which prevents use by water voles, and there is scope for further such improvements.

In fiction

Beverley Brook is a regular character in the

Ben Aaronovitch Ben Dylan Aaronovitch (born 22 February 1964) is an English author and screenwriter. He is the author of the ''Peter Grant (book series), Rivers of London'' series of novels. He also wrote two ''Doctor Who'' serials in the late 1980s and spin-of ...

series of urban fantasy

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eith ...

novels ''

Rivers of London Rivers of London may refer to * Blue Ribbon Network, a policy element of the London Plan relating to the navigable waterways of London * ''Rivers of London'' (novel), a 2011 urban fantasy novel by Ben Aaronovitch :* Peter Grant (book series) - t ...

''. She describes her kind thus: "'

Orisa Orishas (singular: orisha) are spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. Th ...

', said Beverley. 'We're Orisa. Not spirits, not local geniuses – Orisa'."

References

External links

Beverley Brook Catchment

Royal Parks press release on the improving water quality of the river
1 January 2004
The Beverley Brook waymarked walk

Beverley Brook Walk map

{{Authority control Geography of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Geography of the London Borough of Merton Geography of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Geography of the London Borough of Sutton Geography of the London Borough of Wandsworth Putney Richmond Park Rivers of London 1BeverleyBrook