Everything about Walbrook totally explained
Walbrook is the name of a ward, a street and a subterranean river in the
City of London.
Underground river
The
river played a key role in the
Roman settlement of
Londinium, the city now known as
London. It is thought that the river acquired its name from the fact that it ran through or under the
London Wall. The stream started in what is now
Finsbury and flowed right through the centre of the walled city into the
River Thames, near to where
Cannon Street Railway Bridge is now located, splitting the settlement in two. It was probably used for fresh drinking water and also for carrying
sewage down to the Thames. During roman times it was also used for transport with the dead of navigation at Bucklersbur where the Romans built a port and temple to
Mithras on the east bank This has been seen as reminiscent of a passage from
Geoffrey of Monmouth's
History of the Kings of Britain (ca. 1136) in which a
legion of Roman soldiers who surrendered to
Asclepiodotus after being besieged in London were decapitated by his allies the
Venedoti, and their heads thrown into a river called the
Gallobroc. However, Geoffrey's
History is notoriously unreliable, and some historians consider these skulls to be a result of the rebellion of
Boudica.
As late as the early 19th century part of the branch that runs from Islington was open and powered a lead mill.
During the '
Carnival Against Capitalism' on
June 18 1999, a fire hydrant was let-off on Dowgate Hill by
Reclaim the Streets to symbolically represent the freeing of the Walbrook.
The Walbrook is one of many
"lost" rivers of London, the most famous of which is the
River Fleet.
Ward of Walbrook
The Walbrook river now runs completely underground and the only evidence above ground that the stream is there's a street called Walbrook, which runs parallel to its course. On the street is a church called
St Stephen Walbrook, which originally stood on the west bank of the stream, but was rebuilt around 1439 on the east side. In 1666 the church burned down in the
Great Fire of London and
Sir Christopher Wren built a new church there in 1672 to replace it, which still stands. The historic
London Stone, which would have been a highly important religious symbol in Roman as well as pre-Roman London, is also minutes from Walbrook, as is the present-day
Bank of England.
Walbrook is one of 25
wards in the City of London, each electing an
Alderman, to the
Court of Aldermen and
Commoners (the City equivalent of a
Councillor) to the
Court of Common Council of the
City of London Corporation. Only electors who are
Freemen of the City of London are eligible to stand.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Walbrook'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://walbrook.totallyexplained.com">Walbrook Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
