The New River is an artificial waterway in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, opened in 1613 to supply

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 ...

with fresh drinking water taken from Chadwell and Amwell Springs near

Ware Ware may refer to: People * Ware (surname) * William of Ware (), English Franciscan theologian Places Canada * Fort Ware, British Columbia United Kingdom * Ware, Devon *Ware, Hertfordshire * Ware, Kent United States * Ware, Elmore County ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, and later the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of t ...

and other sources. Originally conceived by

Edmund Colthurst Edmund Colthurst (c. 1545 – 1616) was a wealthy English landowner who inherited the former monastic estates of Hinton Priory and Bath Abbey, Somerset, following the death of his father in 1559. He was the son of Matthew Colthurst and Anne Grim ...

and completed by

Hugh Myddelton Sir Hugh Myddelton (or Middleton), 1st Baronet (1560 – 10 December 1631) was a Welsh clothmaker, entrepreneur, mine-owner, goldsmith, banker and self-taught engineer. The spelling of his name is inconsistently reproduced, but Myddelton appear ...

, it was operated by the

New River Company The New River Company, formally The Governor and Company of the New River brought from Chadwell and Amwell to London, was a privately-owned water supply company in London, England, originally formed around 1609 and incorporated in 1619 by roy ...

for nearly 300 years until London's water supply was taken over by the

Metropolitan Water Board The Metropolitan Water Board was a municipal body formed in 1903 to manage the water supply in London, UK. The members of the board were nominated by the local authorities within its area of supply. In 1904 it took over the water supply functi ...

in 1904. Although it was at one time threatened with closure, a large section of the New River remains part of London's water supply infrastructure, more than 400 years after it was first constructed. It is now operated by

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 Wiltsh ...

. The New River originally followed the land contours but certain parts have been straightened over the centuries. There is a designated walking route along the canal called the New River Path. It is a 28-mile (45 km) long-distance footpath which follows the course of the New River as closely as possible from its source in Hertfordshire to its original end in Islington, London.

Route

It starts between

and

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

and today runs down to

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish. The ...

. Among the districts it flows through are (from north to south): New River at Enfield Town Park

Woodberry Wetlands entrance - Hackney, London, England

Great Amwell Great Amwell is a village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is southeast of Ware and about north of London. History On a hill above the church there are some traces of an Iron Ag ...

Hoddesdon Hoddesdon () is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, lying entirely within the London Metropolitan Area and Greater London Urban Area. The area is on the River Lea and the Lee Navigation along with the New River. Hoddesdon is ...

Broxbourne Broxbourne is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Hoddesdon, in the Broxbourne district, in Hertfordshire, England, north of London, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census.Broxbourne Town population 2011 I ...

Cheshunt Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, Hertfor ...

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

Palmers Green Palmers Green is a suburban area and electoral ward in North London, England, within the London Borough of Enfield. It is located within the N13 postcode district, around north of Charing Cross. It is home to the largest population of Greek Cy ...

Bowes Park Bowes Park () is situated on the borders of Wood Green, Palmers Green and Bounds Green in London, England. The postcodes for Bowes Park are N13 and N22. The border between the London boroughs of Enfield and Haringey goes through the area. Bow ...

Wood Green Wood Green is a suburban district in the borough of Haringey in London, England. Its postal district is N22, with parts in N8 or N15. The London Plan identifies it as one of the metropolitan centres in Greater London, and today it forms a maj ...

(passing close to

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

) *

Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner Lo ...

Harringay Harringay (pronounced ) is a district of north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is centred on the section of Green Lanes running between the New River, where it crosses Green Lanes by Finsbury Park, and Duckett' ...

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...

Its original termination, near

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redisco ...

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, became known as the

New River Head New River Head is a historic site located adjacent to Sadler's Wells Theatre on Rosebery Avenue and Amwell Street in the Clerkenwell area of London, England. Originally it was the London terminus of the New River, an artificial watercourse ope ...

where the water filled a large cistern - the Round Pond - next to the current location of

Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-sea ...

theatre — where water from the river was used to flood a large tank to stage an '' Aquatic Theatre'' at the beginning of the nineteenth century.Victorian Theatres in London
accessed 14 September 2009 In 1946, the water supply to New River Head was truncated at Stoke Newington with the New River ending at the East Reservoir. The reservoir is managed as the Woodberry Wetlands – a nature reserve and designated Site of Metropolitan Importance.

Construction

The design and construction of the New River is often attributed solely to Sir

. In 1602,

first proposed the idea of digging an artificial waterway to supply London from Chadwell and Amwell springs near

in Hertforshire, and obtained a charter from King

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

in 1604 to carry it out. After surveying the route and digging the first stretch, Colthurst encountered financial difficulties and it fell to Myddelton to complete the work between 1609 and its official opening on 29 September 1613. The project was also rescued by the King personally, whose house and lands at

Theobalds Park Theobalds House (also known as Theobalds Palace) in the parish of Cheshunt in the English county of Hertfordshire, was a significant stately home and (later) royal palace of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Set in extensive parkland, it was a ...

were crossed by the river. James took half of the shares in 1612 for a half of the profits. The expense and engineering challenges of the project—it relied on gravity to allow the water to flow, carefully following the contours of the terrain from Ware into London, and dropping around just five inches per mile (8 cm/km)—were not Myddelton's only worries. He also faced considerable opposition from landowners who feared that the New River would reduce the value of their farmland (they argued that floods or overflowing might create quagmires that could trap livestock); others were concerned at the possible disruption to road transport networks between Hertfordshire and the capital. The project nearly foundered when a few landowners flatly refused to agree to allow the river across their land. When it was originally constructed, long sections, for example around

Forty Hall Forty Hall is a manor house of the 1620s in Forty Hill in Enfield, London, Enfield, north London. The house, a Grade I listed building, is today used as a museum by the London Borough of Enfield. Within the grounds is the site of the former Tud ...

and in

, wound around the heads of small tributary valleys of the Lea. Other sections of the river, including the one in

, were carried across valleys in wooden

aqueducts Aqueduct may refer to: Structures *Aqueduct (bridge), a bridge to convey water over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley *Navigable aqueduct, or water bridge, a structure to carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railw ...

lined with lead and supported by strong timbers and brick piers. In at least one section, locals referred to the river as the ''boarded river''. Improvements in canal construction in the eighteenth century led to these sections being replaced by clay-banked canals. In 1620, the New River Company found that the springs were not sufficient to supply their customers, and dug a half-mile extension to feed the New River from the

to supplement the water from the springs. On 9 January 1622 King James rode from

Theobalds Theobalds House (also known as Theobalds Palace) in the parish of Cheshunt in the English county of Hertfordshire, was a significant stately home and (later) royal palace of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Set in extensive parkland, it was a r ...

after dinner to see the ice on the New River and fell in head first so that his companions could only see his boots. He was rescued by Sir Richard Young and returned to a warm bed at Theobalds.

Later alterations

Originally the New River's course was above ground throughout, but in the second half of the 19th century some sections were put underground, enabling the course to be straightened. A winding original section of the channel that used to run through the town centre of

has been cut off from the main flow, but is still maintained as an important local civic amenity called the New River Loop. The New River was returned to its original course along the Enfield Loop for a period between 1940 and 1952 after a bomb hit the pipes run to divert it. Another large loop originally ran around the Devonshire Hill area in north Wood Green and southern Enfield. This loop was cut off when the Wood Green tunnel, which starts at

, was completed in 1852. The loop existed for some decades, but was completely filled in and lost by the early 1900s. Now entirely covered by residential development dating mostly back to the 1930s, its former course is visible on numerous maps drawn in the 1800s and early 1900s. In March 1946, the last filter beds at

were decommissioned to make way for the

's new offices, and the section of the New River south of Stoke Newington was abandoned. In 1950, the pipes used to carry the water in this section were excavated, and some were reused elsewhere in the water supply network. The New River Aqueduct (51°40'58.6"N 0°03'16.0"W) was built in 1985 to carry the New River, then running on an embankment, over the

London Orbital Motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...

(M25) which was then being constructed. The aqueduct carries the river in two parallel concrete boxes each 90 m long, 4.25 m wide and 2 m deep. The double box design allowed the temporary diversion of the river during construction and also enables maintenance to be undertaken on either side without stopping the flow.

Present day

The New River is still in use today, transferring around 220 million litres of water per day — 8% of London's total use. Near Turkey Brook in Enfield, water is taken from the New River via the Northern Transfer Tunnel, which feeds

King George V Reservoir The King George V Reservoir, also known as King George's Reservoir, is located in the London Borough of Enfield and is part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain that supplies London with drinking water. The storage reservoir is bordered by Sewardstone ...

at the top of the

Lee Valley Reservoir Chain The Lee Valley Reservoir Chain is located in the Lee Valley, and comprises 13 reservoirs that supply drinking water to London. The Reservoir Chain is a major geographic constraint; together with the Thames it is one of the two significant topogr ...

. Further south, adjacent to Alexandra Park, water is taken from the New River for treatment at Hornsey Water Treatment Works. The New River now terminates at the East Reservoir in

, into which its flow is entirely diverted. Water from Stoke Newington is transferred to the lower end of the Lee Valley reservoirs via the Amhurst Main, which has a capacity of 90 million litres per day, for treatment at the

Coppermills Water Treatment Works The Coppermills Water Treatment Works is a large water treatment works in the Lea Valley in east London. Completed in 1969 by the Metropolitan Water Board, it is now owned and operated by Thames Water. In 2009, Coppermills was connected to the Th ...

. During times of low water flow, the New River can be supplemented with water pumped from a series of boreholes along its route, with this water being treated at Hornsey or Coppermills. When a surplus of water is available, treated water from Coppermills is injected back into the

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...

for storage as part of the North London Artificial Recharge Scheme.

Dame Alice Owen's School bombing

On 15 October 1940, approximately 150 people were sheltering in the

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

Dame Alice Owen's School Dame Alice Owen's School (also known as Dame Alice Owen's or Owen's; referred to by the acronym DAOS) is an 11–18 mixed, partially selective secondary school and sixth form with academy status in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. It i ...

, then situated on

Goswell Road Goswell Road, in Central London, is an end part of the A1. The southern part ends with one block, on the east side, in City of London; the rest is in the London Borough of Islington, the north end being Angel. It crosses Old Street/Clerkenwell ...

. A large

parachute mine A parachute mine is a naval mine dropped from an aircraft by parachute. They were mostly used in the Second World War by the Luftwaffe and initially by the Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command. Frequently, they were dropped on land targets. Histo ...

hit the building directly, causing the structure to collapse and blocking access to the basement. The

blast wave In fluid dynamics, a blast wave is the increased pressure and flow resulting from the deposition of a large amount of energy in a small, very localised volume. The flow field can be approximated as a lead shock wave, followed by a self-similar sub ...

from the bomb caused the pipeline carrying the New River to rupture, flooding the shelter and killing the majority of the people taking cover. A memorial to the victims of the bombing stands in Owen's Fields at the northern end of Goswell Road.

Drownings and accidents

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his ''Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book ''Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–18 ...

wrote an essay about a friend he calls G. D. (probably the blind poet George Dyer) who walked into the New River by accident but was rescued. From "Amicus Redivivus" in ''

Essays of Elia ''Essays of Elia'' is a collection of essays written by Charles Lamb; it was first published in book form in 1823, with a second volume, ''Last Essays of Elia'', issued in 1833 by the publisher Edward Moxon. The essays in the collection first be ...

'': Rochemont Barbauld, minister of the nearby

Newington Green Unitarian Church Newington Green Unitarian Church (NGUC) in north London is one of England's oldest Unitarian churches. It has had strong ties to political radicalism for over 300 years, and is London's oldest Nonconformist place of worship still in use. It wa ...

and husband of

Anna Laetitia Barbauld Anna Laetitia Barbauld (, by herself possibly , as in French, Aikin; 20 June 1743 – 9 March 1825) was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and author of children's literature. A " woman of letters" who published in mu ...

, went violently insane, attacked his wife, and committed suicide by drowning himself in the New River in 1811.

References

External links

The Reservoirs Nature Society (TeRNS)

New River Action Group (NRAG)

New River walking route
{{authority control Rivers of London Rivers of Hertfordshire London water infrastructure Geography of the London Borough of Enfield Geography of the London Borough of Hackney Geography of the London Borough of Haringey Geography of the London Borough of Islington Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Enfield Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Hackney Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Haringey Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Islington Aqueducts in England Thames Water 1613 establishments in England Canals opened in 1613 CNew