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Topic: Re:Re:Lost Rivers of Chiswick
Posted by: Colin Potter
Date/Time: 05/04/26 16:28:00

I finally got round to going to the library to have a look at the project, a fantastic piece of work. I photographed some of the pages, I haven’t read it all yet, but I have looked at the maps. It does appear to be based upon what can be seen on maps, so there are no speculative routes for the streams south of the High Road.

First thing I noticed was that Hammersmith Creek is marked as the Eastern branch of the Stamford Brook, the Mill Hill Brook as the Western branch and the Warple doesn’t appear at all. The Lidar map does show four steams/rivers from Acton, so it is there somewhere.

So, there is no Stamford Brook, but I wouldn’t disagree that between The River Brent and Counters Creek is the Stamford Brook Valley with four tributaries and one outflow to the Thames.



I did like that they questioned the etymology of Chiswick. I know it is often referred to as the Cheese market/farm. I have a few problems with that interpretation. There is no record of a Cheese market and while there may have been a dairy farm it’s unlikely there was a specialist farm in that era. Also -wick meaning market/farm is unique to Chiswick in many places it has changed to –wich and normally refers to a port or harbour.

They interpreted Chis to mean gravel, I found an old spelling of farm in “The Environs of London: Vol 2, County of Middlesex” and checked it with an old English translator and got the meaning poor/not very good.

Given that Chiswick began by the river and grew outward, I think “gravel port” or “not very good landing place” is a more likely etymology of the name.


Entire Thread
TopicDate PostedPosted By
TGT water and cracks17/01/23 00:59:00 Julian Pavey
   Re:TGT water and cracks17/01/23 09:50:00 Mark Evans
      Re:Re:TGT water and cracks19/01/23 17:02:00 Julian Pavey
   Re:TGT water and cracks19/01/23 19:53:00 Vivienne Cox
      Re:Re:TGT water and cracks20/01/23 10:47:00 Alastair Banton
   Re:TGT water and cracks20/01/23 10:23:00 Tadeusz Krzeminski
      Re:Re:TGT water and cracks20/01/23 12:11:00 Julian Pavey
         Re:Re:Re:TGT water and cracks20/01/23 16:53:00 Peter Evans
            Re:Re:Re:Re:TGT water and cracks20/01/23 17:04:00 Tadeusz Krzeminski
               Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:TGT water and cracks20/01/23 19:19:00 Peter Evans
                  Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:TGT water and cracks23/01/23 11:34:00 Tadeusz Krzeminski
                     Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:TGT water and cracks23/01/23 11:51:00 Jim Lawes
                     Lost Rivers of Chiswick25/01/23 17:41:00 Colin Potter
                        Re:Lost Rivers of Chiswick25/01/23 21:36:00 Lucy Chambers
                           Re:Re:Lost Rivers of Chiswick05/04/26 16:28:00 Colin Potter
                        Reply25/01/23 22:38:00 John Hall
                           Re:Reply26/01/23 09:06:00 Mark Evans
                              Re:Re:Reply26/01/23 11:20:00 Julian Pavey
                              Re:Re:Reply26/01/23 11:24:00 Tadeusz Krzeminski
                                 Re:Re:Re:Reply26/01/23 12:15:00 Julian Pavey
                                    Re:Re:Re:Re:Reply26/01/23 12:24:00 Tadeusz Krzeminski
                                       Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Reply26/01/23 12:31:00 Julian Pavey
                                    Reply26/01/23 12:29:00 Julian Pavey
   Re:TGT water and cracks05/04/26 16:44:00 Elizabeth
      Re:Re:TGT water and cracks05/04/26 17:22:00 Julian Pavey

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