Following the route of the Walbrook, one of London's lost rivers episode artwork

EPISODE · May 3, 2025 · 24 MIN

Following the route of the Walbrook, one of London's lost rivers

from Fabulous Folklore with Icy · host Icy Sedgwick

A sense of mystery gathers around London's lost rivers, with their names whispered like forgotten deities from an ancient cult. Fleet, Tyburn, Walbrook, Effra, Westbourne, Neckinger. In some cases, they aren't so much lost, as buried. Sometimes, they break ground, appearing where you least expect them. Take the grey duct that carries the Westbourne above the District and Circle line at Sloane Square as an example. Yet the Walbrook seems truly lost. As Tom Bolton says, it "is the most mysterious, elusive and comprehensively buried of London's lost rivers".  While I was in London at the beginning of April, I decided to trace the route of the Walbrook using London's Lost Rivers: A Walker's Guide by Tom Bolton. Well, as best as you can, given the entire river is underground. Given the lore surrounding these lost rivers, I decided to share my expedition here as a form of folklore-meets-psychogeography. Let's see what we can learn both from the river, and the history of the London that overlays its route in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/walbrook-lost-river/ Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ULwWgoYIjh8 Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

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Following the route of the Walbrook, one of London's lost rivers

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This episode is 24 minutes long.

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This episode was published on May 3, 2025.

What is this episode about?

A sense of mystery gathers around London's lost rivers, with their names whispered like forgotten deities from an ancient cult. Fleet, Tyburn, Walbrook, Effra, Westbourne, Neckinger. In some cases, they aren't so much lost, as buried. Sometimes,...

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