Hidden River

Above is an image of the place where the buried River Fleet joins the Thames underneath Blackfriars Bridge. The Fleet still runs beneath London, springing from the ponds at Hampstead Heath and traveling through viaducts down to the Thames. This is every bit as cool as it sounds.

Understandably, a topic this interesting has a lot of great information online. Here is a map of the river route. London blogger london geezer wrote a comprehensive piece detailing history and the present day street life above the river. Sub Urban, a blog devoted to exploration of underground urban life has some fascinating accounts of the buried river.

The Wikipedia entry is comparatively dry, but does fill in a few blanks of historical import. But much more fun are the Flickr slideshows of the world above - the visuals give a nice sense of the space above. Featured: Clerkenwell (which includes Smithfield), Lower Fleet (including Holborne Viaduct and Blackfriars Bridge) The NE Section, The NW Section, St.P and KX (including King's Cross Station and the British Library)

Clearly I find this too exciting, so I'll post more on the Fleet, time permitting