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Castle before following theNew Kent Road; it turns north-east into Prioress Street and Abbey Street, the site ofBermondsey Abbey. The monks built a bridge across it here. It then runs northward to the Thames.St. Saviour’s Dock marks the point where it issued into the greater river, whereNeckinger Wharf once stood. It is said that pirates were hanged here; the rope that killed them was known as “the devil’s neck cloth” or “neckinger.”
    Its channels, in the lower reaches, formed one of the most notorious London districts. Jacob’s Island was immortalised by Dickens as the home of Bill Sikes in
Oliver Twist
, and was dubbed in the
Morning Chronicle
as the “Venice of Drains” and the “Capital of Cholera.” It was a place of filth, rot and garbage.Jacob Street is the only memorial of that tainted past.The Neckinger hasin any case always been a symptom of urban squalor. It was used by tanners and hatters in the course of their work so that it was said to resemble the colour of strong green tea.Charles Kingsley visited the neighbourhood of the river in 1849 and exclaimed to his wife, “Oh God! What I saw! People having no water to drink—hundreds of them—but the water of the common sewer which stagnates …”
    Underground water has often been associated with disease; it is perceived to be insidious or threatening, and therefore becomes the cause of ague and pestilence. Just as it may undermine the foundations of houses along its course, so it may break down the health of those who live by or near it. In earlier years the most common ailments were typhoid fever and cholera, but the dwellers by underground streams are now more likely to contract bronchitis or rheumatism. A survey from the last century concluded that those who live beside waterways, whether open or buried, were more likely to suffer from asthma and hay fever.
    There is another interesting phenomenon associated with the lost rivers of London. In his survey entitled
The Geography of London’s Ghosts
(1960), G. W. Lambert concluded that approximately three-quarters of the city’s paranormal activity takes place near buried waters. Some may conclude that the spiritual properties of the rivers have been confirmed; the ritual activity at theWalbrook, for example, may thereby be justified. The more sceptical will believe that the flowing of buried waters merely creates strange effects of sound.
    Smaller underground streams can be found in the area of South London, among themthe Peck andthe Earl’s Sluice that join forces before entering the Thames atDeptford. To the west liethe Falcon andthe Wandle. The Falcon has two origins,Balham andTooting, before they unite atClapham; the underground stream enters the Thames atBattersea.
    T he river Wandle is better known, and for much of its length it runs above the ground. It rises inCroydon and in its journey of 9 miles to the Thames it passes throughLambeth andWandsworth; it helps to form the boundary between Croydon and Lambeth as well as that betweenMerton and Wandsworth. Wandsworth means the village by the Wandle.
    It was well known for its fish. In 1586William Camden described it as “the cleare rivulet Wandle, so full of the best trouts.” In
The Compleat Angler
(1653) Izaak Walton also complimented it on its trout. Lord Nelson used to fish in its waters, where they entered Lady Hamilton’s garden at Merton; she renamed it “the Nile” in his honour. It is still the haunt of fishermen; there is an organisation called the “Wandle piscators.”John Ruskinrecalled how “the sand danced and minnows darted above the Springs of Wandel.” It is even commemorated in charming verse:

    The Wandle
, by J.B. Watson, c. 1819 (illustration credit Ill.9)
                   Sweet little witch ofthe Wandle!
                      Come to my bosom and fondle.
                        I love thee