History Shorts: snippets of local history

The hidden rivers of London, such as the Fleet, the Tyburn and the Walbrook, are pretty famous, but they aren't examples of a rare phenomenon - as my fascination with the Farset in Belfast and the Stert in Abingdon can testify. We have been burying and managing waterways in numerous places for as long as we have needed to live in places.  Read on for an illuminating article by David N Lerner, Emeritus Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Sheffield. The article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article , published in December 2019. Two small rivers meet in the ‘Cathedral’ under Bradford city centre. Martyn Sutcliffe , Author provided David N Lerner , University of Sheffield Ever noticed how few rivers you can see in most city centres? It’s easy enough to spot the big, usually tamed, main river such as the Thames in London, the Seine in Paris, the Aire in Leeds or the Don in Sheffield. But you

Is this a surprising change of use for a Victorian building? An insight into how Oxford once managed its water supplies... View this post on Instagram The South Oxford community centre in Lake Street, #Oxford was originally built in 1856 as a pumping station for the city waterworks. Water was pumped from the neighbouring Hinksey reservoir, itself only formed in 1850 as a result of gravel extraction for an extension of the railway from Oxford to Banbury. The waterworks were in operation until 1934. Its cooling lake is now the boating lake in Hinksey park and filter beds were converted to swimming pools. #history #urbanhistory #Victorian #architecture A post shared by bishib70 (@landscapeandhistory) on Oct 14, 2019 at 12:48pm PDT Lake Street front: See the OS 25 inch map of the area from 1898.

Continuing my effort to track the course of Belfast's river Farset, I've been looking at the PRONI historical maps viewer to see some of the old OS maps coverage of the city and environs. Frustratingly, it's not possible to embed the maps or share screengrabs without breach of OSNI copyright. Some interesting snippets:  Use of what appears to be the Farset's course as a parish boundary is striking. Also the array of industry from brickworks to distilleries. On the OSNI Historical First Edition (1832-1846) is the notation "Stream goes under ground" near the quarries on Squire's Hill.  There are an array of streams in the area, some of which must come together to form the Farset. An ice house is marked on the location of modern day housing on Bombay Street. Is it related to the nearby Clonard House? By the third edition (1900-1907), the housing has been constructed. Victoria Street and Queen's Square are constructed by the time of the seco

The Farset is the now mostly underground river that is said to give Belfast its name*. There has been talk of 'daylighting' the river in places, ie uncovering it from its culverted fate to flow openly again. This could boost nature and air quality and also potentially alleviate flood risk. Belfast's underground rivers have been linked to some of the flooding experienced by the city. Most articles about the Farset focus on the stretch from High Street to the Lagan. While it's not universally known that a river of some importance in the city's development once flowed here, I'm betting a fair few High Street shoppers know of its existence underfoot. But on the Google Map below I've expanded outwards to try to map some of the Farset's known locations along its whole course, while guessing at a few more. " The lost river that gave Belfast its name " is an interesting 2013 article from the Belfast Telegraph  which has provided the basis for many