| Wandle | |
| River | |
|
River Wandle in Morden Hall Park
|
|
| Country | England |
|---|---|
| Counties | Greater London |
| Districts / Boroughs | Croydon, Sutton, Lambeth, Merton, Wandsworth |
| Tributaries | |
| - right | River Graveney |
| Towns | Merton, Morden, Earlsfield, Wandsworth |
| Source | |
| - location | Waddon Ponds, Carshalton Ponds |
| - elevation | 35 m (115 ft) |
| Mouth | River Thames |
| - location | Wandsworth |
| Length | 14 km (9 mi) |
| Discharge | for Connollys Mill |
| - average | 1.70 m3/s (60 cu ft/s) |
| - max | 39.3 m3/s (1,388 cu ft/s) 16 September 1968 |
| - min | 0.22 m3/s (8 cu ft/s) 29 January 1963 |
| Discharge elsewhere (average) | |
| - Beddington Park | 0.18 m3/s (6 cu ft/s) |
The River Wandle is a river in south-east England. The names of the river and of Wandsworth are thought to have derived from the Old English "Wendlesworth" meaning "Wendle's Settlement". The river runs through southwest London and is about 9 miles (14 km) long. It passes through the London Boroughs of Croydon, Sutton, Merton, and Wandsworth to join the River Thames on the Tideway at Wandsworth.
Rain falls on the North Downs, filters through the chalk and emerges on the spring line at the Wandle's two main sources, both at about 115 ft (38 yd, 35 m) above sea level. These are a pond in Waddon Ponds beside Mill Lane, Croydon; and a secondary source at Carshalton Ponds. Other sources include the Norbury Brook/River Graveney tributary which rises near the Lower Addiscombe Road in Croydon and flows through the London Boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth and Merton. Further up the catchment the river is culverted. Two seasonal streams, the Coulsdon Bourne and the Caterham Bourne, run in wet winters.
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In prehistoric times, the river probably flowed from the Surrey Weald northward across the North Downs through the Merstham Gap. In more recent times, rainwater falling on the Down 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 and Smitham Bottom (Coulsdon) valleys is a source of the River Wandle but only surfaces after heavy rainfall. A series of ditches and culverts channels the water from Purley to Croydon.
For many centuries the River Wandle rose from a spring near the present Swan and Sugarloaf public house on Brighton Road, flowing through the Haling area. It then ran northwards along Southbridge Road and by the time it reached Old Town it was 20 feet wide and began to divide into smaller channels. The grounds of the Old Palace and Scarbrook Hill had several springs, ponds, streams and canals where fish swam, especially trout. However, as Croydon's population grew, the Old Town streams became little better than open sewers and were filled in or culverted from 1840 after outbreaks of typhoid and cholera.
The river then flowed through Pitlake (meaning 'stream in a hollow') and on through two marshy fields - Froggs Mead and Stubbs Mead, which became 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. The Wandle now continues underground, through where the gas works used to stand, under the Purley Way road and into Waddon Ponds.
A tributary starts in Thornton Heath as the Norbury Brook, becomes the River Graveney and joins the Wandle near Summerstown. For part of its length it forms the boundary between the London Boroughs of Croydon and Lambeth and, further downstream, the border between Merton and Wandsworth - from 1900 to 1963 the official boundary between Surrey and London.
'Village' names in the Wandle basin include: Croydon, Waddon, Beddington, Wallington, Carshalton, Hackbridge, Mitcham, Ravensbury, St Helier, Morden, Wimbledon, Merton Abbey, Colliers Wood, Summerstown, and Wandsworth.
The river has been well-used since Roman times and was heavily industrialised in the 17th and 18th century (the industrial revolution), at one point being one of the most polluted rivers in England. The main industries of the period were tobacco and textiles.
The Liberty print works and Merton Board Mills once dominated the riverscape in what is now the London Borough of Merton. The concentration of heavy industry in this area resulted in the stretch of the river running between Windsor Avenue and Colliers Wood High Street being diverted during the 18th century. The original course of the river still runs underground beneath Liberty Avenue, surfacing at Runnymede as the Pickle Ditch and rejoining the modern river outside Sainsbury's. Few local residents realise that the stretch of the river running past Merton Abbey Mills craft village and in front of Sainsbury's is actually man-made.
Subsequent cleanups of the river have led to a dramatic improvement in water quality leading to a return of the river's once famous Brown Trout. This improvement in water quality has also seen other fish thrive with stocks of Chub, Roach and Perch all flourishing once again with the most popular angling spots situated on the river at Colliers Wood.
On 17 September 2007, a chemical was accidentally flushed into the Wandle from Thames Water's Beddington sewage works. This resulted in over 2,000 fish of various species being killed. The company assumed responsibility for the mistake, and said they were "mortified" by the incident. The company failed to notify the Environment Agency of the discharge, as the site manager thought it was minor.
Sodium hypochlorite was being used to clean its tertiary treatment screens, but instead of being circulated back through the treatment works, it was accidentally discharged into the river. The company immediately offered to meet local angling clubs and the Wandle Trust to discuss restocking and long term support for the work of the Trust.[1]
The company was fined £125,000 for the incident on 26 January 2009, with costs of £21,335.[2] This is thought to be the greatest ever penalty for a single offence of polluting controlled waters. However in February 2010, on appeal, the fine was found to be "manifestly excessive" and was reduced to £50,000.[3]
The predominant geology of the area is chalk and London clay.
The river is heavily managed with artificial channels, runoff ditches and subterranean stretches.
The Wandle River in South Island, New Zealand is named after the River Wandle.
There have been at least four steamships named SS Wandle, three of which were built for the local Wandsworth, Wimbledon and Epsom District Gas Company.
The Wandle appears in Michael de Larrabeiti's Borrible books published in the 1970s and 1980s.
Both the (now defunct) Plough Lane Stadium and the Wimbledon Stadium are on the banks of the Wandle.
| Next confluence upstream | River Thames | Next confluence downstream |
| Beverley Brook (south) | River Wandle | Counter's Creek (north) |