Falconbrook Primary School
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The Falconbrook was a stream that rose in
Balham Balham () is an area in south London, England, mostly within the London Borough of Wandsworth with small parts within the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. The area has been settled since Saxon times and appears in the Domesday Book as B ...
and
Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre- Saxon times ...
, draining much of those parishes then the south and west of the larger district of
Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...
including Clapham Junction to enter the London reaches of the Thames. Before doing so it briefly formed the border of
Wandsworth Town Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within 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. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...
, reflected in the SW11/SW18 boundary today. The river was culverted in the 1860s and has become an important combined sewer. In 2007 heavy rain caused this to flood, to low but still property-damaging depth, at Falcon Road near
Clapham Junction station Clapham Junction railway station () is a major railway station and transport hub near St John's Hill in south-west Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is from and from ; it is on both the South West Main Line and Brighton Main L ...
.


Course

The Falconbrook, once a southwest London brook has been slightly replaced by
surface water Surface water is water located on top of land forming terrestrial (inland) waterbodies, and may also be referred to as ''blue water'', opposed to the seawater and waterbodies like the ocean. The vast majority of surface water is produced by prec ...
drains. Mainly, however, its course forms a gentle valley with an occasional colloquial name and hosts a mid-Victorian solution to the then extent of urbanisation. When London's later growth is considered this solution, a
combined sewer A combined sewer is a type of gravity sewer with a system of pipes, tunnels, pump stations etc. to transport sewage and urban runoff together to a sewage treatment plant or disposal site. This means that during rain events, the sewage gets dilute ...
, leads to the Thames-side Southern Low Level Sewer in the London sewerage system which is insufficient when it rains (it overflows into the tidal Thames). To make this (and others) sufficient and account for its rainwater intake the
Thames Tideway Tunnel The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a combined sewer under construction running mostly under Tideway, the tidal section (estuary) of the River Thames across Inner London to capture, store and convey almost all the raw sewage and rainwater that curren ...
is expected to be complete in 2025. The source of the Falconbrook was Streatham Hill, with an additional source to the west at Furzedown south of
Tooting Bec Common The Tooting Commons consist of two adjacent areas of common land lying between Balham, Streatham and Tooting, in south west London: Tooting Bec Common and Tooting Graveney Common. Since 1996, they have been wholly within the London Borough o ...
. From its source the Falconbrook flowed west through Balham, then turned north one residential block before
Wandsworth Common Wandsworth Common is a public common in Wandsworth, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, south London. It is and is maintained and regulated by Wandsworth Council. It is also a Ward of the London Borough of Wandsworth. The population of the ward ...
as it was joined by the Tooting Bec feeder and continues to carve a ravine which is formed by St John's Road and Northcote Road in
Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...
Rise. Springs feeding the first drain underneath the foundations of a row of shops (numbers 2–36 Streatham High Road, the
A23 road The A23 road is a major road in the United Kingdom between London and Brighton, East Sussex, England. It is managed by Transport for London for the section inside the Greater London boundary, Surrey County Council and West Sussex County Council ...
). During their construction, extra access space was built below the basement floors to accommodate the springs when in full spate. The brook flowed (and now sewer flows) along Drewstead Road, past Woodfield Avenue, passed through the north of Tooting Bec Common, north down Cavendish Road (passing
Weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
Road), west along the approximate line of Kenilford Road, along Oldridge Road, turned north by Holy Ghost School, west of Rusham and Montholme Road and along Northcote Road, 8-11m AOD.Map
created by
Ordnance Survey , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg , logo_width = 240px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , di ...
, courtesy of
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...
After St John's Road it flowed along Falcon Road,
Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...
just before its end turned west emptying in the tidal Thames west of Lombard Road and north of the London Heliport. This point is the western corner of Battersea, on the border with
Wandsworth Town Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within 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. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...
; the rest of the shared border runs along the top of the valley's western side.


Names and etymology

The earliest recorded name for the brook was the Hyde Burn or Hydebourne, appearing as Hydaburn or Hidaburn in ''
Cartularium Saxonicum ''Cartularium Saxonicum'' is a three volume collection of Anglo-Saxon charters published from 1885 to 1893 by Walter de Gray Birch (1842-1924), then working in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Library. The most recent edition was rele ...
'' defining grants of land in Battersea made in 693 and 695. This name may be related to ''Hyde Farm'' adjacent to Toooting Bec Common in Clapham, lying north and east of the brook, and the name thought to relate to the " Hide of land in Balham..." (a direct translation) in a grant of land made to
Bec Abbey Bec Abbey, formally the Abbey of Our Lady of Bec (french: Abbaye Notre-Dame du Bec), is a Benedictine monastic foundation in the Eure ''département'', in the Bec valley midway between the cities of Rouen and Bernay. It is located in Le Bec Hello ...
towards the end of the 11thcentury. citing: From the mid-15thcentury through to the 19thcentury, the river was known as the York Brook or York Sewer, the name derived from ''York House'', property of the Archbishops of York, which stood at the confluence with the Thames. The feeder stream from Tooting Bec Common was similarly sometimes recorded as the York Ditch. The Manor of Battersea was owned from about 1627 to 1763 by the St John baronets, of
Lydiard Tregoze Lydiard Tregoze is a small village and civil parish on the western edge of Swindon in the county of Wiltshire, in the south-west of England. It has in the past been spelt as Liddiard Tregooze and in many other ways. The parish includes the small ...
, who latterly became the Bolingbroke Viscounts. The
supporter In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. Early forms of supporters are found in medieval seals. However, unlike the coro ...
s of the armorial bearings of the St John family were ''a falcon wings displayed Or'', or, more plainly, a pair of golden falcons displaying their wings. The Falcon brook and similarly named features in the locality - Falcon Park, Falcon Road, "The Falcons" housing estate, the Falcon pub, and the Falconbrook Primary school. - have names derived from this display of
heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...
. At the time of the culverting of the river, both Falconbrook and York Sewer names were in concurrent use.


Soil

Falconbrook's catchment basin, unlike longer tributaries such as the Lea and Wandle is entirely based on impermeable to semi-impermeable
London Clay The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...
. It starts north of areas with remaining
Lambeth Group The Lambeth Group is a stratigraphic group, a set of geological rock strata in the London and Hampshire Basins of southern England. It comprises a complex of vertically and laterally varying gravels, sands, silts and clays deposited between 56-55 ...
and
North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and ...
topsoil.


Flooding

Ponding of the "Falcon Brook" has been recorded as early as 1745. An entirely London Clay catchment basin and flatter lower course through Battersea was, before urbanization, a major factor contributing to the stream's overflow. Some separate surface water and sewerage systems are in place and are sufficient to drain many parks, roofs and roads in an attempt to intercept the sewerage system before polluting the
Tideway The Tideway is a part of the River Thames in England which is subject to tides. This stretch of water is downstream from Teddington Lock. The Tideway comprises the upper Thames Estuary including the Pool of London. Tidal activity Depending on ...
. A further interceptor pipe the
Thames Tideway Scheme The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a combined sewer under construction running mostly under the tidal section (estuary) of the River Thames across Inner London to capture, store and convey almost all the raw sewage and rainwater that currently ove ...
is expected to be completed by 2025 to avoid overflow.
Thames Water Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is a large private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in most of Greater London, Luton, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, north Wiltshir ...
carried out work at the end of 2006 to resolve the flooding of the Falconbrook sewer in the north of Balham, involving a series of road closures. In July 2007, in response to heavy rainfall due to its vale's hard surfaces including roofing relying on it so heavily as a
combined sewer A combined sewer is a type of gravity sewer with a system of pipes, tunnels, pump stations etc. to transport sewage and urban runoff together to a sewage treatment plant or disposal site. This means that during rain events, the sewage gets dilute ...
, the Falconbrook sewer overflowed on more than one pavement and road, including Falcon Road by Clapham Junction, during those floods. Since then, five flood events in the local Critical Drainage Area (7/21) have occurred.


See also

*
Tributaries of the River Thames This article lists the tributaries of the River Thames from the sea to the source, in England. There are also secondary lists of backwaters of the river itself and the waterways branching off. Note: the River Medway shares the saline lower Tha ...
* List of rivers in England


References

{{authority control Subterranean rivers of London Former rivers