London's Lesser Known Rivers - River Mole
The River Mole at Cobham Bridge, Surrey
This river goes way outside of London, but I shall keep these photographs within the M25.
The River Mole rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows north-west through Surrey for 50 miles. The Mole winds its way past Leatherhead and under the M25 then runs beside the boundary of the Chelsea FC training ground & then through the wealthy village of Cobham (with many "Chelsea Tractors"). It meanders past Painshill Park and under the A3 near the Sainsbury's turn off, passes near Hersham & East Molesey where it merges with the River Ember just before the Thames near Hampton Court Palace.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names suggests that Mole either comes from the Latin mola (a mill) or is a back-formation from Molesey (Mul's island). In John Rocque's 1768 map of Surrey, the name Moulsey River is used.
The Domesday Book lists twenty mills on the river in 1086.
The River Mole originally flowed into the River Thames at the point where the present Hampton Court bridge now crosses the Thames (approximately quarter of a mile upstream of the present confluence). However, during the early 1930s, when Hampton Court Way and the bridge were built, the River Mole was redirected to flow into the River Ember and both rivers now enter the Thames in a single widened and straightened channel once occupied only by the River Ember. There have been further alterations to the courses of these two rivers in a major flood prevention scheme since serious flooding in the area in 1947 and 1968. In fact, there has been quite a history of flooding along the Mole, although the 1968 floods were the worst which submerged much of the villages of Cobham and East Molesey neck deep in water damaging thousands of homes.
Various attempts to make the river navigable or canalise it have not come to anything. In 1664, an act was passed to make the River Mole navigable from Reigate to the River Thames, but was never executed. In 1810, the well-known engineer John Rennie proposed a canal linking the River Medway to Portsmouth which was to have a branch to London following the Mole for much of its length. Between 1825 and 1828 the architect and civil engineer Nicholas Wilcox Cundy proposed a Grand Imperial Ship Canal from Deptford to Chichester passing through the Mole Gap, however he was unable to attract sufficient financial interest in his scheme. The only Surrey river to have been made fully navigable is the River Wey.
Today the Mole is navigable for the last stretch to the Thames (via the Ember) at Molember Weir at East Molesey where there is a private mooring facility.
The River Mole rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows north-west through Surrey for 50 miles. The Mole winds its way past Leatherhead and under the M25 then runs beside the boundary of the Chelsea FC training ground & then through the wealthy village of Cobham (with many "Chelsea Tractors"). It meanders past Painshill Park and under the A3 near the Sainsbury's turn off, passes near Hersham & East Molesey where it merges with the River Ember just before the Thames near Hampton Court Palace.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names suggests that Mole either comes from the Latin mola (a mill) or is a back-formation from Molesey (Mul's island). In John Rocque's 1768 map of Surrey, the name Moulsey River is used.
The Domesday Book lists twenty mills on the river in 1086.
The River Mole originally flowed into the River Thames at the point where the present Hampton Court bridge now crosses the Thames (approximately quarter of a mile upstream of the present confluence). However, during the early 1930s, when Hampton Court Way and the bridge were built, the River Mole was redirected to flow into the River Ember and both rivers now enter the Thames in a single widened and straightened channel once occupied only by the River Ember. There have been further alterations to the courses of these two rivers in a major flood prevention scheme since serious flooding in the area in 1947 and 1968. In fact, there has been quite a history of flooding along the Mole, although the 1968 floods were the worst which submerged much of the villages of Cobham and East Molesey neck deep in water damaging thousands of homes.
Various attempts to make the river navigable or canalise it have not come to anything. In 1664, an act was passed to make the River Mole navigable from Reigate to the River Thames, but was never executed. In 1810, the well-known engineer John Rennie proposed a canal linking the River Medway to Portsmouth which was to have a branch to London following the Mole for much of its length. Between 1825 and 1828 the architect and civil engineer Nicholas Wilcox Cundy proposed a Grand Imperial Ship Canal from Deptford to Chichester passing through the Mole Gap, however he was unable to attract sufficient financial interest in his scheme. The only Surrey river to have been made fully navigable is the River Wey.
Today the Mole is navigable for the last stretch to the Thames (via the Ember) at Molember Weir at East Molesey where there is a private mooring facility.
River Mole in pictures from the M25 (Cobham) to the A3 (Painshill)
River Mole in pictures from the A3(Painshill) to the Thames
Stephen Spark writes to this website:
"From what I understand, the origins of the name Mole are considered a little outdated these days. The river's name was recorded in 983 as Emen (from Old English æmen meaning 'misty' or 'making mist'). The council's name, Elmbridge, came from the name of the hundred, which itself was derived from Amelebrige, ie bridge over the River Amele/Emele/Emen. That, over time, turned into both Emlyn and Mole, ie the name of each of the two branches of the river are actually variants of the same original name.
Having grown up in Stoke D'Abernon and walked alongside the river between Dorking and Molesey at all times of year and in all conditions, I would say that 'misty' or 'creating mist' is exactly the right name for the river and far more likely than anything to do with mills, moles or Molesey. A major local pillar of the arguments against the M25 was the tendency of the Mole floodplain to be seriously affected by mist/fog. When I was a child (when car headlights weren't as effective as they are today), my mother, driving me to boarding school early on Monday mornings, sometimes had to stop the car because the mist was so thick we literally couldn't see to continue safely until it had cleared. And then suddenly you'd drive into another fog bank: æmen indeed!
Though it's my local river, I have decidedly mixed feelings about it. It's the most secretive of rivers, very hard to access and mostly hidden from view. I've always felt it to be rather unfriendly, even sinister, and certainly deceptive. Water can flow sluggishly on the surface but fast and powerfully at a lower level. In places, water flows in one direction on the surface but in the opposite direction underneath. It has dangerous eddies, a very uneven bed (very apparent when I walked along the bed in the Great Drought of 1976) and a lot of tree and human-created debris on the surface and on the bed. It floods unpredictably and destructively, as I well remember from 1968.
Statistically, the river takes, on average, one life a year. If Amele has a spirit, she's a dark and deceptive one."
"From what I understand, the origins of the name Mole are considered a little outdated these days. The river's name was recorded in 983 as Emen (from Old English æmen meaning 'misty' or 'making mist'). The council's name, Elmbridge, came from the name of the hundred, which itself was derived from Amelebrige, ie bridge over the River Amele/Emele/Emen. That, over time, turned into both Emlyn and Mole, ie the name of each of the two branches of the river are actually variants of the same original name.
Having grown up in Stoke D'Abernon and walked alongside the river between Dorking and Molesey at all times of year and in all conditions, I would say that 'misty' or 'creating mist' is exactly the right name for the river and far more likely than anything to do with mills, moles or Molesey. A major local pillar of the arguments against the M25 was the tendency of the Mole floodplain to be seriously affected by mist/fog. When I was a child (when car headlights weren't as effective as they are today), my mother, driving me to boarding school early on Monday mornings, sometimes had to stop the car because the mist was so thick we literally couldn't see to continue safely until it had cleared. And then suddenly you'd drive into another fog bank: æmen indeed!
Though it's my local river, I have decidedly mixed feelings about it. It's the most secretive of rivers, very hard to access and mostly hidden from view. I've always felt it to be rather unfriendly, even sinister, and certainly deceptive. Water can flow sluggishly on the surface but fast and powerfully at a lower level. In places, water flows in one direction on the surface but in the opposite direction underneath. It has dangerous eddies, a very uneven bed (very apparent when I walked along the bed in the Great Drought of 1976) and a lot of tree and human-created debris on the surface and on the bed. It floods unpredictably and destructively, as I well remember from 1968.
Statistically, the river takes, on average, one life a year. If Amele has a spirit, she's a dark and deceptive one."