The River Wandle is a right-bank
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 ...
of 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 ...
in south
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 ...
, England. With a total length of about , the river passes through the
London boroughs
The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at t ...
of
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
,
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 ...
,
Merton and
Wandsworth
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
The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...
, where it reaches the Thames. A short headwater – the
Caterham
Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...
Bourne – is partially in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, the historic county of the river's catchment. Tributaries of the Wandle include
The Wrythe
The Wrythe is a district of Carshalton, South London, located in the London Borough of Sutton. The area is located 9.3 miles South of Charing Cross and is surrounded by the adjacent areas of Hackbridge and Croydon to the east, Morden and Mitcham ...
and
Norbury Brook
Norbury Brook is a tributary of the River Wandle, that rises near Lower Addiscombe Road and flows north-west through Selhurst, Thornton Heath and Norbury to join the Wandle at south Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon.
A short stretch of this is vis ...
.
The name ''Wandle'' is thought to derive from a
back-formation
In etymology, back-formation is the process or result of creating a new word via inflection, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed affixes from a lexical item, in a way that expands the number of lexemes associated with the c ...
of
Wandsworth
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
The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...
(
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
"Wendlesworth" meaning "Wendle's Settlement”).
The
Wandle Trail
The Wandle Trail is a walking and cycling trail that follows the River Wandle from Croydon to Wandsworth in south-west London
Background
The Wandle Trail was established by the Wandle Group in association with the Wandle Industrial Museum in ...
follows the course of the river from Croydon to Wandsworth.
History and boundaries
![Bridge over the Wandle, Beddington Park - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Bridge_over_the_Wandle%2C_Beddington_Park_-_geograph.org.uk_-_799277.jpg)
In the
pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
before the carving of the
Mole Gap, water lapped the north of the area between the North Downs and Greensand Hills known as the
Vale of Holmesdale
Holmesdale, also known as the Vale of Holmesdale, is a valley in South-East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of ...
taking the Caterham or Coulsdon Bourne routes, to form the much less deep
Merstham
Merstham is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 25 miles south of Charing Cross and 2 miles south of the Greater London border. Part of the North Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town. Mers ...
Gap, a
wind gap
A wind gap (or air gap) is a gap through which a waterway once flowed that is now dry as a result of stream capture. A water gap is a similar feature, but one in which a waterway still flows. Water gaps and wind gaps often provide routes which ...
. In more recent times,
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
on the local central, small section of the long
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
percolates through the chalk and reappears as springs in central Croydon, Beddington, and Carshalton. The occasional stream, known as the Bourne, which runs through the
Caterham
Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...
valley (and
Smitham
Smitham is the small lumps of ore which free miners scavenged because they were exempt from payment of lot and cope duties. This practice was brought to an end in 1760 when the Duke of Devonshire challenged the practice in chancery on the basi ...
Bottom in
Coulsdon
Coulsdon (, traditionally pronounced ) is a town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon, in the ceremonial county of Greater London since 1965. Prior to this it was part of the historic county of Surrey.
History
The l ...
) is a source of the River Wandle but only surfaces after heavy rainfall.
A series of ditches and culverts carries the water from
Purley to
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
.
For many centuries the River Wandle rose from a spring by Brighton Road to enter and flow through the Haling neighbourhood in the south of Croydon. It ran along Southbridge Road and upon reaching Old Town it reached a maximal across and began to divide into smaller channels. The grounds of the
Old Palace and Scarbrook Hill had springs engineered with ponds, streams and canals where fish swam, especially trout. Over the years it became renowned for its fish, and is mentioned in works such as
William Camden
William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Annal ...
's ''Britannia'' (1586) and
Izaak Walton's ''
The Compleat Angler
''The Compleat Angler'' (the spelling is sometimes modernised to ''The Complete Angler'', though this spelling also occurs in first editions) is a book by Izaak Walton. It was first published in 1653 by Richard Marriot in London.
Walton continu ...
'' (1653).
[Ackroyd, P. (2012). ''London Under''. London: Vintage Books. ] Lord Nelson
Vice-admiral (Royal Navy), Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British people, British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strate ...
would fish in its waters, leading his mistress,
Lady Hamilton
Dame Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon; 26 April 176515 January 1815), generally known as Lady Hamilton, was an English maid, model, dancer and actress. She began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy me ...
, to rename the Wandle, as it flowed through her garden, the "
River Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...
", in Nelson's memory.
However, as Croydon's population grew and use of the
water closet
A flush toilet (also known as a flushing toilet, water closet (WC) – see also toilet names) is a toilet that disposes of human waste (principally urine and feces) by using the force of water to ''flush'' it through a drainpipe to another loca ...
increased, the Old Town streams became little more than open sewers and were filled in or culverted from 1840 after outbreaks of
typhoid
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
and
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
.
The river then flowed through Pitlake and on through two marshy fields – Froggs Mead and Stubbs Mead – drained to form
Wandle Park in 1890. Local springs were used to form a boating lake in the park, but frequent drying up problems led to the lake being filled in and the river was
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 ...
ed in 1967. In 2012, the Wandle was restored to the surface in Wandle Park. From there, the river continues underground, through where the gas works used to stand, under the
Purley Way
Purley Way is a section of the A23 trunk road in the London Borough of Croydon, in the areas of Purley, Waddon and Broad Green, and has given its name to the out-of-town shopping area alongside it with a catchment area covering most of South ...
road past
Waddon Ponds
Waddon Ponds is an ornamental urban park / inland water in the western part of the London Borough of Croydon, by whom it is managed. It is bordered to the north by Mill Lane, and on the other three sides by Waddon Court Road, Court Drive and ...
and appears on the surface at the road Richmond Green, where a small
green buffer to its south acts as the green after the footpath at the end of Mill Lane in
Waddon
Waddon () is a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Croydon, at the western end of the town of Croydon. The area borders the London Borough of Sutton.
History
It is not known when the manor of Croydon was granted to the See of Canterbury, b ...
, Croydon.
For part of its length, the Wandle forms the boundary between the London Boroughs of
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
and
Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...
and, further downstream bounds
Merton and
Wandsworth
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
The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...
. Shortly before reaching the Thames the navigable Bell Lane Creek splits from the river, rejoining close to the confluence.
Localities adjoining the river and its mentioned main tributaries include: Croydon, Waddon,
Beddington
Beddington is a suburban settlement in the London Borough of Sutton on the boundary with the London Borough of Croydon. Beddington is formed from a village of the same name which until early the 20th century still included land which became t ...
,
Wallington,
Carshalton
Carshalton () is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalton ...
,
The Wrythe
The Wrythe is a district of Carshalton, South London, located in the London Borough of Sutton. The area is located 9.3 miles South of Charing Cross and is surrounded by the adjacent areas of Hackbridge and Croydon to the east, Morden and Mitcham ...
,
Hackbridge
Hackbridge is a suburb in the London Borough of Sutton, south-west London, just over two miles north-east of the town of Sutton itself. It is 8.8 miles (15 km) south-west of Charing Cross.
Toponymy
The district takes its name from Hack Br ...
,
Mitcham
Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ha ...
, Ravensbury,
St Helier
St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...
,
Morden
Morden is a district and town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton to the south and Worcester Pa ...
,
Merton Abbey,
Colliers Wood
Colliers Wood is an area in south west London, England, in the London Borough of Merton. It is a mostly residential area, but has a busy high street around Colliers Wood tube station on London Underground's Northern line. The high street is part ...
,
South Wimbledon
South Wimbledon is an area of Wimbledon in south-west London in the London Borough of Merton, England.
History Toponymy
It is marked on an Ordnance Survey map of 1876 as New Wimbledon and on a 1907 map as South Wimbledon. The name is derived fr ...
,
Summerstown, and
Wandsworth
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
The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...
.
Honeywood Museum, in Carshalton Village, includes displays and an interactive map about the River Wandle and its influence on the life of the area.
Headwaters
Intermittently visible watercourses
Rain falling on part of the
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 ...
mainly filters through a thin topsoil into chalk and emerges on the
spring line and in gentle ravines carved by
water erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
. At the top of the catchment the Wandle has four main headwaters historically noted as
winterbournes — streams which only flow when the
water table
The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated.
T ...
is high.
[
Two such streams, culverted, combine in Central Croydon beneath Bourne Street to form the Wandle which emerges immediately north-west in Wandle Park. The Wandle is piped part-way-through neighbouring New South Quarter to flow under Purley Way (formerly Waddon Marsh Lane) and part of its retail park. From its central gathering the flow is westwards (or WSW) until merging with the Wrythe. On its route the early Wandle surfaces to receive springs at a long lake ''Waddon Ponds'' beside Mill Lane, Croydon.
The Coulsdon Bourne and linked Caterham Bourne south of Croydon town centre ran in wet seasons. They have been culverted since before 1900. When the water table is medium or high these waters meet at Purley, run in a culvert the length of the Brighton Road, South Croydon, and merge into the surface water drains and culverts in the town centre (which become much of the above stream).
]
The River Wrythe
The River Wrythe rises in the Carshalton Ponds, at about AOD, and flows north-eastwards for a distance of just over before joining the River Wandle at Wilderness Island
Wilderness Island is the 2.7 hectare island between the Wandle and Wrythe in Carshalton in the London Borough of Sutton. It is designated a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, is owned by Sutton ...
. The river gives its name to the neighbourhood of The Wrythe
The Wrythe is a district of Carshalton, South London, located in the London Borough of Sutton. The area is located 9.3 miles South of Charing Cross and is surrounded by the adjacent areas of Hackbridge and Croydon to the east, Morden and Mitcham ...
in Carshalton.
The Norbury Brook
The Norbury Brook is in its western section for parochial boundaries called the Graveney River. Aggregated streams combine under Grant Road, Addiscombe. Straightened, it roughly bounds Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
and Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...
Boroughs forming the ancient boundary of Croydon and Norwood (once the large woodland in Norbury
Norbury is an area of south London. It shares the postcode London SW16 with neighbouring Streatham. Norbury is south of Charing Cross.
Etymology
The name Norbury derives from ''North Burh'', (North Borough). Some local histories note that ...
parish). Its long, culverted mouth with the Wandle is in Tooting Graveney
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 ...
– it meets the Wandle fronting the Haydons Road part of Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
in the Borough of Merton.
Use
The river has been well-used since Roman times; in the 17th century Huguenots
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss politica ...
were attracted by the cloth and textile mills which lined the banks of the river. It was heavily industrialised in the 18th and 19th centuries (the industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
), and was declared one of the most polluted rivers in England. The main industries then were tobacco and textiles. The river was used to power 68 water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...
s, of which only a few survive, such as at Merton Abbey Mills
__NOTOC__
Merton Abbey Mills is a former textile factory in the parish of Merton in London, England near the site of the medieval Merton Priory, now the home of a variety of businesses, mostly retailers.
The River Wandle flowing north towards W ...
for paper, print and tapestries.
The Liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
print works and Merton Board Mills before early 20th century demolition dominated the riverscape (replaced by a two-retailer clothes and food megastore in Merton). Local concentration of heavy industry resulted in multiple leat
A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond. Other ...
s being cut
Cut may refer to:
Common uses
* The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely-directed force
** A type of wound
** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past
** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment
** Cut (ea ...
during the 18th century; a remnant of the old courses, the Pickle, is two ditches, one runs beneath Liberty Avenue. The former leat has become the main river next to Merton Abbey Mills craft village.
Clean-ups of the Wandle have improved the water quality dramatically, leading to a return of the river's brown trout
The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...
. This improvement in water quality has also seen other fish thrive with stocks of chub, roach
Roach may refer to:
Animals
* Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea
* Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae
** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes
* California roach ...
and dace
A dace is a small fish that can be one of many different species. The unmodified name is usually a reference to the common dace (''Leuciscus leuciscus''). This, like most fish called "daces", belongs to the family Cyprinidae, mostly in subfamily ...
all flourishing once again with the most popular angling spots being in Hackbridge
Hackbridge is a suburb in the London Borough of Sutton, south-west London, just over two miles north-east of the town of Sutton itself. It is 8.8 miles (15 km) south-west of Charing Cross.
Toponymy
The district takes its name from Hack Br ...
and Colliers Wood
Colliers Wood is an area in south west London, England, in the London Borough of Merton. It is a mostly residential area, but has a busy high street around Colliers Wood tube station on London Underground's Northern line. The high street is part ...
.
Local nature reserves
A stretch of the river between Trewint Street and Plough Lane in Merton has been designated as the Lower Wandle Local Nature Reserve (LNR). It is lined by mature trees and patches of grassland. South of the Lower Wandle, an area of wetland between the River Wandle and the Wandle trail is the Wandle Meadow Nature Park LNR. Another LNR adjacent to the Wandle is the Wandle Valley Wetland in Carshalton.
In 2017, a new nature reserve was created in Bell Lane Creek in the Wandle Delta, by removing a half-tide weir that had been installed in the 1980s at the junction of the Wandle and the River Thames. This had been built as the first part of a project to create a marina, however it had ceased to work some years previously. Restoring it would allow the tide to clear out silt and restore a natural tidal river. In addition, a section of the Thames river wall was lowered as part of the Wandsworth Riverside Quarter residential development, to allow reeds and vegetation to develop and provide a more natural sloping embankment. As part of the project layers of contaminated sediment were dredged from the site, to restore a gravel bed and restore a wildlife habitat measuring roughly a hectare in size.
Incidents
21st century hazardous discharges
In 2007, Sodium hypochlorite
Sodium hypochlorite (commonly known in a dilute solution as bleach) is an Inorganic chemistry, inorganic chemical compound with the chemical formula, formula NaOCl (or NaClO), comprising a sodium cation () and a hypochlorite anion (or ). It may ...
was accidentally flushed into the Wandle from 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 ...
's Beddington sewage works. The chemical was being used to clean its tertiary treatment screens. Its use is permitted if captured ("re-circulated") for further treatment. The discharge killed over 2,000 fish of various species. The sewerage undertaker failed to notify 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 ...
– its site manager thought it was minor. The company apologised; it offered to meet local angling clubs and the Wandle Trust to discuss restocking and long-term support for the Trust's work. The regulator fined the provider £125,000 and legal costs. In 2009 it was the greatest penalty for a one-day unlawful discharge into controlled waters. In 2010 a High Court judge found the fine was under the statutory rules governing pollution penalties "manifestly" excessive, reducing it to £50,000, noting Thames Water had donated £500,000 to clean up the river.
Makeup
The predominant geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
of the south part is chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
interspersed with flint and narrow alluvial gravel beds in the south. 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 ...
overlaid with patches of gravel topped by deeper humus
In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...
forms the north; the top soil, tempered by the chalk beneath is less acidic where still seasonally turned in the south.
The river has since the 18th century been largely terraformed with tributary artificial channels (becoming surface water drains) and runoff ditches. It has its relatively few underground (culverted) stretches; these are in Croydon.
Water quality
The Environment Agency measures the water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s, angiosperm
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
s and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.
Namesakes
;Current
*The Wandle River
The Wandle River is a river of the north Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It flows generally south from the slopes of Mount Lyford to reach the Mason River northeast of Waiau. The Mount Lyford Alpine Resort lies close to the ...
in South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
, New Zealand.
*The SS ''Wandle'', four successive steamships. Three were built for the local Wandsworth, Wimbledon and Epsom District Gas Company.
;Former
In the 1980s Wandle designated one of the London bus
Buses have been used as a mode of public transport in London since 1829, when George Shillibeer started operating a horse-drawn ''omnibus'' service from Paddington to the City of London. In the decades since their introduction, the red London b ...
districts. Its logo was a water wheel above the London Transport roundel.
Landmarks
;Current
*A signposted link to the Thames Path
The Thames Path is a National Trail following the River Thames from its source near Kemble, Gloucestershire, Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Woolwich foot tunnel, south east London. It is about long. A path was first proposed in 1948 but it onl ...
exists in the north including its riverside at Wandsworth Park
Wandsworth Park is a Grade II listed public urban park on the banks of the River Thames in the London Borough of Wandsworth, situated between Putney and Wandsworth town centres.
Geography
The park covers and is on the embanked southern ba ...
*Bridges, one with an information plaque, cross the river at Wandsworth
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
The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...
High Street and its central park, dotted with high rise housing.
*Plough Lane
Plough Lane – named The Cherry Red Records Stadium for sponsorship reasons – is a football stadium in Wimbledon, south-west London, which has been the home of AFC Wimbledon since 3 November 2020. A groundshare with rugby league side London ...
football stadium since 2020
;Former
*Plough Lane
Plough Lane – named The Cherry Red Records Stadium for sponsorship reasons – is a football stadium in Wimbledon, south-west London, which has been the home of AFC Wimbledon since 3 November 2020. A groundshare with rugby league side London ...
football stadium to 1998
*Wimbledon Stadium
Wimbledon Stadium, also known as Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, was a greyhound racing track located in Wimbledon in southwest London, England.
It also hosted stock car and other small circuit motor racing events, and until 2005 hosted motorc ...
– greyhound racing track to 2017
*Site of the Ram Brewery – to 2006
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
This is a list of rivers of England, organised geographically and taken anti-clockwise around the English coast where the various rivers discharge into the surrounding seas, from the Solway Firth on the Scottish border to the Welsh Dee on the Wel ...
* Wandle Trail
The Wandle Trail is a walking and cycling trail that follows the River Wandle from Croydon to Wandsworth in south-west London
Background
The Wandle Trail was established by the Wandle Group in association with the Wandle Industrial Museum in ...
* Wandle Meadow Nature Park
Wandle Meadow Nature Park is a 4.15 hectare local nature reserve and Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade 1, in Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton. It is owned and managed by Merton Council.
A map of 1847 shows the s ...
Further reading
* "River Wandle Companion and Wandle Trail Guide" by Bob Steel, with Derek Coleman. Culverhouse Books 2012, 248pp fully illustrated. Paperback and hardback. and . See http://www.wandlebook.co.uk
* The Wandle Group edited by Doug Cluett and John Phillips ''The Wandle Guide'' Sutton Leisure Services 1997
Notes and references
External links
The Wandle Trust
River Wandle
on UK Rivers Guidebook
The Wandle Piscators fishing club
Nature Conservation Plan for the Lower Wandle Local Nature Reserve, Merton Council, 2001
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Wandle, River
Wandle, River
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Common land in London
Local nature reserves in Greater London
1Wandle
Tributaries of the River Thames