Beverley Brook – My London+

The Highlights of Barnes (aka tombs and memorials)

Barnes Pond

This blog post is hot off the press as I only walked it this morning. The day was bright but cold. Enough to freeze my fingers. The walk, from the AA book Walking London, begins at Barnes Station and ends at Barnes Bridge Station. The duration of the walk is about five and half miles.

The first stopping point was Marc Bolan‘s memorial off Queen’s Ride. I’d wanted to visit for years, as being a bit of a T Rex fan back in the 70’s. I remember it was quite a shock when he died in a car crash on this road. So this was a bit of a pilgrimage for me.

The memorial is bigger than I imagined. Many fan pictures are left here. Obviously this is still well used. I would think there would be a gathering on important days, like his birthday or the anniversay of his death. I was pleased to finally see it.

The instructions for the first part of this walk were not that helpful, but to be fair it wasn’t an easy route across the common with things like ‘look for the low growing trees, and the lone bush.’ We did find Barnes old cemetery, but more with the help of the roads crossing the common. We didn’t necessarily go the way that was indicated, only because it was confusing from the description. Once at the cemetery the walk became easier to follow.

Barnes Cemetery

I had been through part of the cemetery some years ago on a walk following the route of Beverley Brook, but this was a different part. There is something about old graveyards that I like. Far from feeling eerie (as mentioned in the book), I find it peaceful.

A grave of note is Alexander Joseph Finberg, an author and artist. I could not find a photgraph of him online, or much detail about him, though there are plenty of sites with some detail.

Here is a map of the Beverly Brook walk which croses Barnes Common and the cemetery before flowing into the River Thames.

And here is Beverley Brook.

And another map!

Barnes Pond

We stopped by the pond and had a hot drink and cake at Barnes Theatre. A chance to refuel and get warm before the last part of the walk. We set off again and took a look at Milbourne House once owned by Henry Fielding, author of Tom Jones. This is the oldest building in Barnes, some of which dates from the 1400’s. We then headed down to the Thames Path.

Low tide at Barnes

Barnes Bridge

Along The Terrace opposite the River Thames we came across two more houses with blue plaques (which for some reason were not mentioned in the guide book). The first is the house of Gustav Holst, composer. He was the first classical composer whose work I ever really heard and liked. I was about ten at the time. The piece I heard was Jupiter from The Planets. Later I bought the LP. He has hall named after him at Morley College in Lambeth (I’ve been inside it). He either taught or played there.

Gustav Holts house

The next house, a little further down the road, was once where Dame Ninette De Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet, lived. (see below)

Now for something quite extraordinary, and worth this walk alone. In the churchyard of St Mary Magdalen is the tomb of Sir Richard Burton. No, not the actor, but the Victorian explorer and linguist. The stone tomb is a replica of a Bedouin tent and is adorned with Islamic crescents and moons. And, as if that isn’t enough, if you go round the back of the tomb there is a ladder up which you can view from the top, through the window, the coffins of Burton and his wife. This is something not to be missed.

The tomb stands 12ft square by 18ft high.

The ladder. Go on, I know you want to look. Come with me!

The two coffins

The coffins are surrounded by artifacts such as lamps and helmets.

Other graves in the churchyard

The final stop was St Mary the Virgin church, which luckily was open. It has a lovely stone arch and on the first staturday of the month you can go up the bell tower.

The archway

The church of St Mary the Virgin, Barnes

Inside the church

Stained glass window

Over the main doors

If you are into fish dining, Rick Stein has a restuarant close to the river.

And finally something for you to go ‘Ahh’ about. Three baby Egyptian ducks on the steps by the River Thames.

This was one of the strangest walks I’ve ever done, but great fun. Yes, we nearly got lost at the start of the walk, but we made it and was well worth going out on a cold, cold day.

There is nothing to do but walk

With lockdown extended to who knows when, there is not a lot one can do now except shop for essential food, and maybe grab a takeaway drink. The government in England has just announced that schools will not re-open for at least two weeks and learning will go online.

The weather has turned bitterly cold and I’m not keen to be outside when it is as cold as this. Nevertheless, one morning I did layer up and drag myself out of the house before 8am to take photos of the frost and sunrise in two local parks. I took short walks on both Christmas Eve and Boxing Day as well. Here are a few photos for you to enjoy.

A mystery walk

Sometimes a walk takes you to unexpected places. This was one of those walks. I set off with only a vague idea of the direction I was going, but not the destination.

I began by retracing some of the steps I’d taken a few weeks beforehand, when searching for the source of Beverley Brook, crossing the field I call the horse field around Motspur Park way. On getting to the end, instead of turning right towards Worcester Park, I turned left to see where it took me. This turned out to be a lovely mystery walk. The footpath is well laid in tarmac. The only cars to come through were going to an Equestrian Centre, but I only encountered two cars the whole time. The path is tree lined and I found two other pathways – one leading to Arthur Road (Motspur Park) and the other to Trafalgar Road (I think it was), labelled as Sutton, though I believe it is actually Cheam.

Along the tree lined path there are blackberries growing. It seemed a popular walk on the late Sunday afternoon I was there, but became quieter the further I went. As I walked along it began to border a cemetery, and when I reached the end of the path, there was an entrance into the cemetery, known as the Merton and Sutton Joint Cemetery. I do find cemeteries and graveyards quite fascinating, so I had a quick wander before heading off again. Not sure now of quite where I was I continued down the winding road. To my left there appeared to be a green overgrown space which I felt must be accessed from somewhere. Then I found a stream. It ran underneath the road and out on the other side. I took photos and wondered if this was another part of Beverley Brook.

The unknown brook which turned out to be Beverley Brook after all.

I continued on until I came to another cemetery – The North Surrey (confusingly also known as Morden Cememtery), also an ecological space. Through the gates it looked impressive and well laid out, so I went to investigate. And it was impressive with wild areas, the mix of old and new graves, a beautiful garden of remembrance and circled enclosures with seating around a tree. The buildings were also impressive. Situated at the end of the driveway, they are the first things you see as you enter. And there is a beautiful memorial pond with fountain. It has been made to look like branches of a tree and each ‘leaf’ has the name of someone who has died. With plenty of space and benches to sit on there was the temptation to just sit and relax in this place. However, I aware of the time, so reluctantly said goodbye.

Heading left out of the gates I walked to the end of the road as I could see there was a pub on the other side of the roundabout. I could just make out that the pub had ‘Brook’ in the name. I thought I might be able to solve the mystery of the stream I had crossed (which, incidentally, runs through the North Surrey Cemetery). The name on the pub said The Morden Brook. I’d never heard of a Morden Brook, but I know there are many long forgotten brooks and streams that run through places. I decided I was look it up on my return home.

I began the journey home retracing my steps, with one exception – I took the path to Arthur Road. I’d heard the name of this road and thought I knew where it came out (I was right). The path was beautiful, shady and it ran between the cemetery and the horse field before running along side the park. I took a slightly different route home, crossing the level crossing near Motspur Park station and cutting off down other roads.

Once home I looked up the pub name and feel rather chuffed that I had been right about the stream. It is in fact part of Beverley Brook before it heads off to Beverley Fields, RIchmond Park, Barnes Common, Putney and into the Thames. The pub, The Morden Brook, was originally The Beverley and built in the 1900’s. Read about it here. I love it when things come together.

Searching for the source of Beverley Brook

Last week I went on a local walk, bearing in mind that I would have to allow myself enough energy to walk back., us still being in Lockdown. My aim was to find the source of Beverley Brook. Two or three years ago I walked this brook in the other direction (it took two walks) from New Malden where you can see the book adjacent to Dreams and Currys on Burlington Road (the entrance to the car park, left, hidden behind a corrugated fence) and then it runs under the road, along the backs of houses in Beverley Road. It passes behind an industrial estate before crossing the A3 where it skirts Wimbledon Common before running through the edge of Richmond Park, across Barnes Common (where there is a nice old graveyard) and finally out into the River Thames at Putney. A leaflet for this walk can be found at https://www.merton.gov.uk/assets/Documents/beverly-brook-walk.pdf

The walk in the other direction is not so well documented. Articles quote Cuddington Park in Worcester Park as being the source, but I have not found a map of the walk, save Paul Talling’s website where he lists some places where Beverley Brook can be seen, and he offers some photos. So, armed with a photo of the relevant parts from an A-Z map (primitive, but that’s me), I set off.

Motspur Park & West Barnes Lane meet here

This lesser-known river was called Beferithi in 693, getting its name from where Beavers lived (they live there no more). My first sighting of the brook was over a small bridge where two roads meet – Motspur Park and West Barnes Lane. Here I followed it found as it passes along Fulham Football FC Training Ground. I followed it into a no-through road where we had to part company as it ran behind houses. There was a lot of road walking then before I eventually came out on Malden Road and cut the big sweeping corner off by stepping through the edge of Malden Manor Park before joining the main road until I reached Worcester Park Station. Here Paul Talling said Beverley Brook came out. I found it (with some excitement) just around the corner in Green Lane. There was far more to be seen than I thought there might be.

I turned back and crossed Central Road and headed up Lynwood Drive and into Sandringham Road where I found Cuddington Park. It’s a lovely park, but I had to walk the whole length of it to find the source, a rather disappointing sludge coming from a pipe. Yet I was excited. I then managed to follow the brook down back through the park using a small footpath behind the trees until it ran underground again.

I retraced my footsteps back to Central Road but this time I decided to walk back via Green Lane to see how much there was of Beverley Brook that way. It turned out to be quite a lot as it ran along the side of the road until its end. There were some giveaways too by the names of roads – Beverley and Brookside. By the local primary school, Beverley Brook disappeared down the side, and here I got lost! I tried going one way, which was in the right direction of the brook, but the road seemed to be going in a circle. I had to double back to where I last saw the river and headed in another direction. I had no idea where I was going, but I seemed to be entering a field. There were a few people about so I asked someone where it led. The lady told me to Sir Joseph’s Hood Park. That was just what I wanted!

Walking through the field with horses on both sides, the wide open space was lovely. The fields were full of wild flowers and the imposing gas works (so majestic) were on my left. There was to be no more sightings of Beverley Brook which ran along by the gas works (where I couldn’t walk). The map shows the brook running alongside of the park, but though I entered a path that took me into trees I was unable to find it. Nevertheless, I was happy to have found so much evidence of the brook and finally to complete the whole accessible route from source to Thames.

My last sight of Beverley Brook by the Primary School

Rather interesting stone circle,
Sir Joseph Hood Park

Note: Paul Talling’s book London’s Lost Rivers, is an excellent source of information with maps and photos of the many rivers running through London. Sadly, some can only be heard through drains these days as they have been built over, but some, like Beverely Brook, rise up in certain places, and evidence can still be found in road names and other signs. Paul’s website is https://www.londonslostrivers.com/ He runs walking tours of lost rivers and has a Facebook page. The information on his website was most helpful in guiding me to the right places on this walk.