River Quaggy

Quaggy
Kyd Brook, Chin Brook
River
Country England
County Greater London
London Boroughs Bromley,
Lewisham,
Greenwich
Places Locksbottom, Farnborough, Keston, Petts Wood, Chislehurst, Bickley, Grove Park, Chinbrook, Mottingham, Horn Park, Middle Park, Eltham, Blackheath Park, Lee Green, Hither Green, Lewisham
Source
 - location Locksbottom, Farnborough, London Borough of Bromley
 - elevation 122 m (400 ft)
Mouth
 - location River Ravensbourne, Lewisham station, Lewisham, London Borough of Lewisham
 - elevation 9 m (30 ft)
Length 17 km (11 mi)

The River Quaggy (often the Quaggy River or simply Quaggy) is a river, 17 km in length, passing through the south-east London boroughs of Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham; in its lower reaches it is an urban river, in its upper reaches further from London it is more natural and known as the Kyd Brook. The river rises from two sources near Farnborough Hospital at Locksbottom and is a tributary of the River Ravensbourne which it flows into near Lewisham station in Lewisham.[1]

A long stretch of Kyd Brook is visible in Hawkwood, an area of open farmland and countryside upstream of Chislehurst and is owned and managed by the National Trust, but open to the public free of charge. From there the river flows northwards through Sundridge Park Golf Course then on across Chinbrook Meadows between Chinbrook and Grove Park, then through the outer parts of Mottingham, Middle Park, Horn Park, and Eltham. The river then enters Sutcliffe Park and starts to flow west through southern Kidbrooke, and Blackheath then finally through Lee and its park Manor House Gardens into Hither Green then Lewisham where it joins the River Ravensbourne next to Lewisham station. In Sutcliffe Park, the river used to run under the road and covered culvert through the park. This was remodelled several years ago to reintroduce a flood area to protect areas further down stream. Also this created a marshy area for wildlife to return. It is now an oasis full of wildlife in the middle of two major roads.

As part of the Ravensbourne catchment area, the river is kept constantly under inspection by the Environment Agency which issues flood warnings[2] when applicable.

River engineering

In the 1960s the River Quaggy within Chinbrook Meadows, Sutcliffe Park, and other parks was channelized into long straight concrete culverts to alleviate flooding. In Chinbrook Meadows the channelized river was closed off behind tall hedges and iron fences, this cut the park in two with the larger part to the east of the river. In the early 2000s however the concrete channel with its fences and hedges was demolished and river was remodelled to give a natural, meandering appearance with a small flood plain; this was to encourage wild plants and animals back to the area and to be more pleasant and attractive for the public. There are several wooden foot bridges over the river, that replaced the concrete ones with iron fences. The regeneration was completed on 1 October 2002 and cost a reported £1.1million.[3][4] Since the restoration Chinbrook Meadows has won the Green Flag Award two years in a row.[5] Shortly after the regeneration was completed the Quaggy was given a similar regeneration further downstream within Sutcliffe Park, a mile and a half to the north.[6][7]

Name

The name has existed for quite a long while; references to it can be found in numerous works of British fiction in the 19th and 20th centuries, for example in Edith Nesbit's The New Treasure Seekers. The name probably originated from the words quagmire and quaggy; but it has now become a proper noun as opposed to an adjective or common noun.

Other names

The river has been known by other names. Today Kyd Brook usually refers to the river in its upper reaches in Chislehurst and Farnborough. The place Kidbrooke took its name from the river but is on its lower reaches, but there are two tributaries here called Middle Kid Brook and Lower Kid Brook. The place Chinbrook is derived from "Chin Brook" which was another alternative name for the Quaggy River in that area at the turn of the twentieth century.[8][9]

Tributaries

The River Quaggy itself is a tributary of the River Ravensbourne which in turn flows into the River Thames. The Quaggy also has several small and named tributaries of its own. From source to mouth they are:[1][10]

..... Quaggy.Another fairly substantial tributary and also so named, runs west,southwest from its source at Shooters Hill amalgamating with the main body in Kidbrooke.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to River Quaggy.

References

Coordinates: 51°27′20″N 0°00′12″W / 51.45556°N 0.00333°W / 51.45556; -0.00333

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.