London’s lost river where dead bodies would be swept away underground

London’s most well-known river is, in fact, the Thames however what chances are you’ll not know, is that there have been as soon as many smaller rivers, streams and tributaries to it which have since disappeared.

One such was the River Effra in South London which ran below West Norwood Cemetery. The 40-acre cemetery was inbuilt 1837 and at present has 42,000 graves.

Subsidence might trigger buried our bodies to be swept away into Vauxhall and all the way in which to the Thames.

This might occur with graves dug too near the underground river regardless of them showing to be undisturbed on prime.

This understandably triggered shock and misery to individuals within the space and to the households of the lifeless, with those that had been conscious of the phenomenon not wanting their family members to be buried too near the course of the River Effra.

Gravestones at West Norwood Cemetery

The River Effra has an extended historical past, enjoying a serious function within the Danish Conquest of England round 1016 when King Cnut The Nice sailed up the river so far as Brixton.

Later, there are rumours that Queen Elizabeth I sailed up the river in a barge to go to a well-known Elizabethan actor at his manor in Dulwich.

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The River Effra has additionally been a supply of inventive inspiration, as Nineteenth-century painter John Ruskin mentioned that his first ‘good’ sketch was on the foot of Herne Hill, depicting a bridged over the river.

The river had an element to play in constructing the Oval cricket floor, because the raised banks had been constructed with earth discovered once they closed off the River Effra.

The river additionally flooded the cricket floor within the Nineteen Fifties.

0 Croydon at night

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