History of the New River

There are several New Rivers around the world but none perhaps as unique as that upon which the coots described here struggle for survival.

Our local New River is neither new nor a river as it is actually a man made water course on which work began way back in 1609 and was completed in 1613.

It was built by Sir Hugh Myddelton, a Welsh engineer, who set out to provide a source of fresh water to the citizens of London. This artificial channel starts near Ware in Hertfordshire, about 20 miles to the North of London, but it meanders around the contours over an actual distance of some 40 miles. The river was an engineering wonder of its time as it carried water down a gradient of between two and four inches in the mile. It used to end near Sadler's Wells theatre in Islington but now does so near a reservoir in Stoke Newington, North London. Its waters are pumped from there via a pipe to a water purification works in Walthamstow a few miles to the east.

It was opened on 29 September 1613 by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Myddelton, who was Hugh's brother. Most of it is still in use today under the ownership of Thames Water, and it still supplies the capital with drinking water 393 years later. Its current capacity is around 40 million gallons per day, some of which is pumped from the nearby River Lea.