THE UNLOST RIVERS OF LONDON Latchmere Stream Kingston → Ham (1¼ miles)
[Latchmere Stream → Sudbrook → Thames]
This barely counts as an unlost river, given all but 50m has been buried, but let's attempt to follow it all the same. Its source was close to Kingston station, not by the shops but across Richmond Road a short distance up Canbury Park Road, initially more a set of drainage ditches than a proper spring. You can't see anything rivery hereabouts, not even any telltale contours, but the stream's early course is patently obvious from any street map - it followed the long thin slice of former fields between Acre Road and Elm Road.
Elm Road is lined by a gorgeous sequence of late Victorian detached cottages, most individually named, which would once have faced the brook and now face a recreation ground at best. But new residents didn't like living near a smelly stream so it was culverted early, allowing development of a splendid suburb to proceed undisturbed.
Local notes: The local bus is the occasional K5. The Wych Elm pub plays a very strong hanging basket game, even in October. The Cross Road Fish Bar is a true old school chippie, still offering jumbo saveloys, pickled eggs and buttered rolls. The local supermarket is Kingston's Co-op. Elm Road Rec's AGM is next Wednesday. St Agatha's RC church is Italianate and Grade II listed. In case I haven't over-emphasised this enough, what a lovely off-piste neighbourhood this is.
The river then turned due north through the grounds of what are now two schools. It formed the eastern boundary of a trio of fields that are now Latchmere Rec, a green quadrilateral well looked after by its Friends. The pond in the corner is not original, neither is it full because it's currently experiencing water retention issues due to a compromised liner. Also the cafe closed in July, sorry, and you just missed last night's Bat Walk demonstrating how to use a bat detector.
Further downstream were long ponds where the allotments now are, just off Latchmere Lane because what else would you call a lane that runs parallel to the Latchmere Stream. The boundary between the boroughs of Kingston and Richmond follows the buried stream here, just for 250m but it's nice to be remembered.
Ahead is Ham Common, this eastern half now thick mixed oak woodland as a consequence of grazing ceasing. The Latchmere Stream was culverted early here to make way for Parkgate House, a Georgian mansion so smart and secluded that the ruler of Abu Dhabi bought it in the 1980s. They couldn't tame it completely, however, thus a group of local volunteers still form a toad patrol each spring to help migrating amphibians cross Church Road to reach their spawning grounds.
Sit on Roger & Hilda's bench, your back against two carved toads, and you may spot the stream emerging below and flowing free towards Richmond Park. Needless to say you'll see nothing at present, neither just before the park wall nor just after, just an overgrown reedy channel. Also like I said the Latchmere Stream only manages 50m in the open air before, in this case, merging into the Sudbrook and losing its name. If you want to follow a proper unlost river, better to have followed that instead.
