London's Lost Rivers - Book and Walking Tours by Paul Talling
  • Home
  • London's Lost Rivers
    • River Peck
    • River Effra
    • River Moselle
    • The Black Ditch
    • Bollo Brook
    • The Cock & Pye Ditch
    • Counter's Creek
    • Earl's Sluice
    • Falcon Brook
    • Carbuncle Ditch
    • River Fleet
    • River Neckinger
    • Parr's Ditch
    • Hackney Brook
    • Pudding Mill River
    • Rotherhithe Mill Streams
    • Stamford Brook
    • River Tyburn
    • Tyburn Brook
    • River Walbrook
    • Muswell Stream
    • River Westbourne
  • London's Lost Canals
    • City Canal
    • Croydon Canal
    • Cumberland Arm
    • Grand Surrey Canal
    • Grosvenor Canal
    • Kensington Canal
    • Romford Canal
    • Royal Arsenal Canal
    • The Royal Gunpowder Mills Canals
  • Author's Guided Walks
    • River Fleet Walk
    • River Westbourne Walk
    • River Tyburn Walk
    • Lost Rivers of Hampstead Walk
    • River Moselle (aka Moselle Brook) walk
    • Battersea's Lost Rivers
    • Lost Docks of Wapping Walk
    • Grand Surrey Canal Walk
    • Woolwich - Dockyard & Royal Arsenal Canal Walk
    • Isle of Dogs Canal and Millwall Docks Walk
    • Derelict Limehouse & Poplar Walk
    • Derelict Silvertown walk
    • River Peck/Earl's Sluice
    • Bow Creek
    • River Neckinger walk
    • Croydon Canal Walk
    • Hammersmith Walk
    • East Finchley to Gospel Oak
    • Whitechapel and Bethnal Green walk
    • Minories to Poplar
    • Bridges of London
  • London's Lesser Known Rivers
    • Beverley Brook
    • Bow Backs Rivers
    • River Brent
    • River Ching
    • River Crane
    • River Cray
    • River Darent
    • Dead River
    • Dollis Brook
    • Duke of Northumberland's River
    • River Ember
    • Hogsmill River
    • River Lea
    • River Mole
    • The New River
    • River Pool
    • River Ravensbourne
    • River Roding
    • The Silk Stream
    • River Wandle
    • Yeading Brook
  • Buy The Book Here
    • Sample Chapter
    • Reviews
  • Contact/Mailing List
  • Advertising on London's Lost Rivers
  • Privacy Policy/Cookies
  • London's Lost Music Venues
  • Home
  • London's Lost Rivers
    • River Peck
    • River Effra
    • River Moselle
    • The Black Ditch
    • Bollo Brook
    • The Cock & Pye Ditch
    • Counter's Creek
    • Earl's Sluice
    • Falcon Brook
    • Carbuncle Ditch
    • River Fleet
    • River Neckinger
    • Parr's Ditch
    • Hackney Brook
    • Pudding Mill River
    • Rotherhithe Mill Streams
    • Stamford Brook
    • River Tyburn
    • Tyburn Brook
    • River Walbrook
    • Muswell Stream
    • River Westbourne
  • London's Lost Canals
    • City Canal
    • Croydon Canal
    • Cumberland Arm
    • Grand Surrey Canal
    • Grosvenor Canal
    • Kensington Canal
    • Romford Canal
    • Royal Arsenal Canal
    • The Royal Gunpowder Mills Canals
  • Author's Guided Walks
    • River Fleet Walk
    • River Westbourne Walk
    • River Tyburn Walk
    • Lost Rivers of Hampstead Walk
    • River Moselle (aka Moselle Brook) walk
    • Battersea's Lost Rivers
    • Lost Docks of Wapping Walk
    • Grand Surrey Canal Walk
    • Woolwich - Dockyard & Royal Arsenal Canal Walk
    • Isle of Dogs Canal and Millwall Docks Walk
    • Derelict Limehouse & Poplar Walk
    • Derelict Silvertown walk
    • River Peck/Earl's Sluice
    • Bow Creek
    • River Neckinger walk
    • Croydon Canal Walk
    • Hammersmith Walk
    • East Finchley to Gospel Oak
    • Whitechapel and Bethnal Green walk
    • Minories to Poplar
    • Bridges of London
  • London's Lesser Known Rivers
    • Beverley Brook
    • Bow Backs Rivers
    • River Brent
    • River Ching
    • River Crane
    • River Cray
    • River Darent
    • Dead River
    • Dollis Brook
    • Duke of Northumberland's River
    • River Ember
    • Hogsmill River
    • River Lea
    • River Mole
    • The New River
    • River Pool
    • River Ravensbourne
    • River Roding
    • The Silk Stream
    • River Wandle
    • Yeading Brook
  • Buy The Book Here
    • Sample Chapter
    • Reviews
  • Contact/Mailing List
  • Advertising on London's Lost Rivers
  • Privacy Policy/Cookies
  • London's Lost Music Venues
London's Lost Rivers - Book and Walking Tours by Paul Talling
Falcon Brook

​London's Lost Rivers - FALCON BROOK 

London's Lost Rivers - The Falcon Brook is remembered in the street name Falcon Grove
London's Lost Rivers - The Falcon Brook is remembered in the street name Falcon Lane
London's Lost Rivers - The Falcon Brook is remembered in the name Falcon Terrace
London's Lost Rivers - The Falcon Brook is remembered in the name Falcon Road
The Falcon’s source has two branches - one in the  Streatham Hill area and the other from Tooting Bec Common  and meet near the east side of Wandsworth Common flowing past Clapham Junction Station and enter the Thames at Battersea.

The Streatham Hill The branch located just to the North of Streatham Hill Railway Station was originally  known as the Hydeburn and the other (just to the South of the station)  as the Woodbourne or Streatbourne. In the 17th Century the whole stream became known as the Falcon – the  name derived from the Lords of Battersea Manor, the St Johns, whose family crest was a rising falcon. 
At the Thames the Falcon’s mouth was known as Battersea Creek and was only filled in during the late 20th Century. Battersea Creek was used as a dock for the Price’s Candle Factory built in the early 19th Century in York Road. Price’s were once the largest maker of candles in the world and still supply candles for many Royal State occasions (from their factories which were relocated outside of London in the late 1990s). The candle factory replaced a late medieval moated house which was built by the Bishop of Durham in 1474. It was later given to the Archbishop of York.  A few of the factory buildings remain to this day and one is a shop selling candles. In this shop there is a photograph displayed on the wall showing the factory and the Creek in its heyday. 

These days the Falcon Brook is underground along its entire length. However, in 2007 it burst out of the pavement in several places and flooded the Falcon Road near Clapham Junction station causing havoc in the vicinity. Walking along present day Northcote & Falcon Roads it is easy to imagine a river running through this valley. The adjacent Falcon Inn, originally positioned on the banks of the brook has been the site of a pub for over 300 years. At the beginning of the 19th Century the landlord was a man named Robert Death and at this time many undertakers drank here on their return from the burial ground. In the British Museum there is a painting of the Falcon Inn by John Nixon entitled “Drinking at Death’s door” depicting drunken undertakers dancing in front of the Inn. Allegedly, street lamps were later positioned close to the water’s edge as passers-by were prone to fall into the Falcon Brook after departing the pub at closing time.

The Falcon was covered as a sewer in the 1860s. The rather unremarkable looking Falconbrook Pumping Station can be seen  in York Road and  handles storm water when the sewer becomes full and overflows into large pipes. The pumping station is used to lift flows to the nearby River Thames outfall.

Another now buried Battersea watercourse is the River Heathwall (aka Heathwall Sewer/Heathwall Sluice) which will be covered in a future post on London's Lost Rivers. And who knows, both the Heathwall and the Falcon may be the subject of a walking tour in the future.

Looking into the valley of the lost Falcon Brook in Northcote Road SW11 - London's Lost Rivers
Looking into the valley of the lost Falcon Brook in Northcote Road SW11
The Falcon Inn, originally positioned on the banks of the Falcon Brook has been the site of a pub for over 300 years.
The Falcon Inn, originally positioned on the banks of the brook has been the site of a pub for over 300 years.
Price's Candle Factory once the largest candle makers in the world used Battersea Creek (the mouth of the Falcon Brook) for docking & loading
Price's Candle Factory once the largest candle makers in the world used Battersea Creek for docking & loading
London's Lost Rivers by Paul Talling. All images are copyright.