The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and MarriagesAshton, John
History
The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages
Ashton, John
Fleet Prison (London, England); Fleet, River (England)
[Illustration: SHEPHERD'S WELL, HAMPSTEAD.]
On the southern side of the ridge rise the Tybourne, and the
Westbourne. The former had its rise in a spring called Shepherd's Well,
in Shepherd's Fields, Hampstead, which formed part of the district now
known as Belsize Park and FitzJohn's Avenue, which is the finest road
of private houses in London. Shepherd's Well is depicted in Hone's
"Table Book," pp. 381, 2, and shows it as it was over fifty years
since. Alas! it is a thing of the past; a railway tunnel drained the
spring, and a mansion, now known as The Conduit Lodge, occupies its
site. It meandered by Belsize House, through St. John's Wood, running
into Regent's Park, where St. Dunstan's now is, and, close to the
Ornamental Water, it was joined by a little rivulet which sprang from
where now, is the Zoological Gardens. It went across Marylebone Road,
and, as nearly as possible, Marylebone Lane shows its course; then
down South Molton Street, passing Brook Street, and Conduit Street,
by Mayfair, to Clarges Street, across Oxford Street and into a pond
in the Green Park called the Ducking Pond, which was possibly used as
a place of punishment for scolds, or may have been an ornamental pond
for water-fowl. Thence it ran in front of Buckingham Palace, where it
divided, which was the cause of its name. Twy, or Teo (double), and
Bourne, Brook--one stream running into the Thames west of Millbank,
doing duty by the way in turning the Abbey Mill (whence the name),
and the other debouching east of Westminster Bridge, thus forming
the Island of Thorns, or Thorney Isle, on which Edward the Confessor
founded his abbey, and the City of Westminster.
The Westbourne took its rise in a small pond near "Telegraph Hill,"
at Hampstead; two or three brooklets joined it, and it ran its course
across the Finchley Road, to the bottom of Alexandra Road, Kilburn,
where it was met by another stream, which had its source at Frognal,
Hampstead. It then became the West bourne, as being the most westerly
of all the rivers near London, taking the Wallbrook, the Fleet, and the
Tybourne.
Its course may be traced down Kilburn Park Road, and Shirland Road.
Crossing the Harrow Road where now is Westbourne Park Station,
_Eastbourne_ and _Westbourne_ Terraces mark the respective banks, and,
after crossing the Uxbridge Road, it runs into the Serpentine at the
Engine House. Feeding that sheet of water, it comes out again at the
Albert Gate end, runs by Lowndes Square, Cadogan Place, &c., and,
finally, falls into the river at Chelsea Hospital.
[Footnote 9: _Journal to Stella_, October 17, 1710--"This day
came out _The Tatler_, made up wholly of my Shower, and a
preface to it. They say it is the best thing I ever writ, and
I think so too."]
[Footnote 10: "Memorials of London and London Life in the
Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Centuries," by H. J.
Riley, 1868, p. 214.]
[Footnote 11: The street sweepers.]
[Footnote 12: Dung boats.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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