River Fleet facts for kids

Entrance to the Fleet River, Samuel Scott, c. 1750.

The southern reaches of the Fleet, flowing beneath Holborn Bridge and Fleet Bridge, past Bridewell Palace, and into the Thames, as shown on the "Copperplate" map of London, surveyed between 1553 and 1559

The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers. Its headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath, each of which was dammed into a series of ponds—the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds—in the 18th century. At the southern edge of Hampstead Heath these descend underground as sewers and join in Camden Town. The waters flow 4 mi (6 km) from the ponds to the River Thames.

The river gives its name to Fleet Street, the eastern end of which is at what was the crossing over the river known as Fleet Bridge, and is now the site of Ludgate Circus.

Images for kids

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  The Fleet passing by St Pancras Old Church

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  The mouth of the River Fleet in 2002, appearing as a drainage outlet (obscured in shadow) in the embankment wall beneath Blackfriars Bridge

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  The Fleet Ditch in 1844

See also

In Spanish: Río Fleet para niños