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sincerely,
                      I’ll cherish thee dearly,
                   Sweet little witch of the Wandle.
    One observer of the rivers in the early twentieth century, Hilda Ormsby, remarked in
London on the Thames
(1924) that the Wandle “particularly seems to resent being buried alive.” It can be seen as a living thing, therefore, with its own character and its own energies. Yet there are some underground rivers that seem more alive, and more powerful, in their subterranean existence. We will go on a journey alongthe Fleet.

It has created its own mythology. A number of poems have been dedicated to it. It rises at two spots onHampstead Heath before flowing downtheFleet Road toCamden Town. Even its origin has been granted literary associations. Samuel Pickwick read a paper to the Pickwick Club, on 12 May 1827, entitled “Speculations on the Source of the Hampstead ponds, with some observations on the Theory of Tittlebats.” At a later and more melancholy date in his illustrious career Pickwick found himself incarcerated within theFleet Prison. So he came to know the river well.
    Its name derives from the Anglo-Saxon
fleotan
, meaning to float, or from the Saxon
flod
or flood. Technically it might be taken to describe a tidal inlet. It has been known as the River of Wells, also a very accurate description. Its two sources are united north of Camden Town, where in the early nineteenth century the river was more than 60 feet wide; an anchor was found in the riverbed here, suggesting that it was possible for boats to reach upriver into what were then the outskirts of London. It ran south pastOld St. Pancras Church towardsKing’s Cross. The parishioners of St. Pancras complained in the fifteenth century that their church stood “where foul ways is and great waters.” From that point forward the modern streets give a clear indication of its course.
    In vision we see the slopes of the hills and valleys all around us, as we walk alongKing’s Cross Bridge intoSt. Chad’s Place before turning right into King’s Cross Road; the adjacent roads here rise up on the left hand, in an area that was once the haunt of wells, springs and pleasure gardens. As we proceed along the valley ofPakenham Street andPhoenix Place andWarner Street, the roads now rise on the right-hand side and we seeEyre Street Hill andBack Hill. This was a place of green banks and gardens, and we can still walk upVine Hill andHerbal Hill. The river then turns southward intoFarringdon Lane andTurnmill Street, where once its current turned three mills. An advertisement for a house to let in that street, in the
Daily Courant
of 1741, mentions “a good stream and current that will turn a mill to grind hair powder or liquorish or other things.”
    The river goes south-west intoCowcross Street, and flows downSaffron Hill. This is the place where the bishops of Ely cultivated saffron in the fifteenth century and, at a later date, strawberries. The river then plunges into the great valley ofFarringdon Road andFarringdon Street andNew Bridge Street; it eventually decants into the Thames atBlackfriars. There were two islands or “eyots” in the lower part of its course, before it reached the larger river, testifying to a width of approximately 40 feet.
    Five bridges once spanned the lower part of the Fleet, three of them stone.Holborn Bridge rose whereHolborn Viaduct now stands; Holborn is a derivation from “old bourne” or old stream.Turnagain Lane, offFarringdon Street, was a cul-de-sac that led down to the bank of the river, hence its name. To its east rose a gravel hill, on which part of the City was built, and to its west lay a marshy fen that was not completely drained. The Fleet was the western boundary ofRoman London, and remained in use as a territorial line for 2,000 years. At the time of the Civil War it became the point where earthworks were erected to defend the City. It still marks the