London’s Lost Rivers Volumes One and Two
By Tom Bolton
Photography by SF Said
Vol 1:
Foreword by Chris Fowler
PB, 280pp ,illustrated, £11.99
ISBN 978 1907222030
Vol 2:
Foreword by Tom Holland
PB, 304pp, illustrated, £11.99.
ISBN 978 1907222856
“Urban topography and history come vividly alive. There is no better way of exploring a city. And there is no better guide to it than Tom Bolton. No guide book to London has given me greater enjoyment'” Tom Holland
“Tom Bolton carves out his own channel with some proper hardcore research and a wealth of detail, all beautifully written up into walking routes. He’ll have you looking for dips in the road, listening at drain covers and analysing street names in search of buried water.” Londonist
‘a terrific mix of history, topography and practicality… astonishingly diligent… highly recommended’ The Great Wen
London’s Lost Rivers Volumes One and Two take the reader on a series of walks along the routes of 19 lost rivers, combining directions for walkers with richly detailed anecdotes outlining the history of each river’s route, origins and decline.
Tom Bolton reveals a secret network that spreads across the city, from picturesque Hampstead in the North to the hidden suburbs of South London, and runs beneath some of London’s most iconic and historic sites.
These walks trace the routes of buried rivers, tracking the impression they have left on the landscape and cityscape of London. Walks include the little-known Cock and Pye Ditch that shaped Covent Garden, Tottenham’s Moselle River (not to be confused with the French version), the East End’s unsavoury-sounding Black Ditch, and the mysterious channels of the Stamford Brook which hold West London in a tangled embrace.
Accompanied by SF Said’s haunting and evocative Polaroid photographs, this guidebook tracks routes that are recorded on no map, stripping back the layers to reveal London’s veins and arteries.
About the Author
Tom Bolton is a researcher, walker and photographer who has lived and worked in London since 1996. He also writes online about theatre and music. His second book, Vanished City: London’s Lost Neighbourhoods, and the first volume of London’s Lost Rivers, are available now from Strange Attractor Press.
