River Quaggy

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The River Quaggy (often the Quaggy River or simply Quaggy) is an urban river, 17 km in length, passing through the south-east London boroughs of Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham. Known as the Kyd Brook (Kidbrooke) in its upper reaches, it rises at Locksbottom, west of Orpington, with a secondary source on Bromley Common, then flows northwards through Chinbrook Meadows in Grove Park, through Lee to Lewisham where it joins the River Ravensbourne next to Lewisham station.

As part of the Ravensbourne catchment area the river is kept constantly under inspection by the Environment Agency, which issues flood warnings when applicable. The Quaggy has been channelised for much of its length but in 2002 the stretch of the river that passes through Chinbrook Meadows was extensively remodelled to give a natural, meandering appearance.

The name has existed for quite a long while; references to it can be found in numerous works of British fiction in the 19th and 20th centuries, for example in Edith Nesbit's The New Treasure Seekers.

The name probably originated from the words quagmire and quaggy; but it has now become a proper noun as opposed to an adjective or common noun.