The River Heathwall, more often known as the Heathwall Sewer, Heathwall Ditch or Heathwall Mill Pond was a set of field drainage ditches and a large mill pond 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 ...

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 had two outlets into the tidal Thames and its inland section roughly followed Wandsworth Road. Its eastern outlet was at

Nine Elms Nine Elms is an area of south-west London, England, within the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies on the River Thames, with Battersea to the west, South Lambeth to the south and Vauxhall to the east. The area was formerly mainly industrial bu ...

. The

Greenwoods Greenwoods was a chain of menswear stores with headquarters in Bradford, England. History The company was founded by (Sir) Willie Greenwood in 1860 as a hatter's shop in Bradford. At its peak in the 1990s there were around 200 branches of t ...

' map of 1827 confirms the mill pond served a

tide mill A tide mill is a water mill driven by tidal rise and fall. A dam with a sluice is created across a suitable tidal inlet, or a section of river estuary is made into a reservoir. As the tide comes in, it enters the mill pond through a one-way gate ...

, harnessing of the locally great

tidal energy Tidal power or tidal energy is harnessed by converting energy from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity using various methods. Although not yet widely used, tidal energy has the potential for future electricity generation. Ti ...

. The generic prototype may have such a mill in the nascent

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, in

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...

. The river was covered in 1866, as was the nearby

Falconbrook The Falconbrook was a stream that rose in Balham and Tooting, draining much of those parishes then the south and west of the larger district of Battersea including Clapham Junction to enter the Tideway, London reaches of the Thames. Before doing ...

. Pumping stations were added for the drainage of northern Battersea and to allow for widespread development. ''Heathwall Pumping Station'' is now part of 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 ...

References

{{Coord, 51.483, -0.136, display=title London Borough of Wandsworth Tide mills

Further reading

References