Editing River Fleet (section)

==History==
In [[Roman Britain|Roman]] times, the Fleet was a major river, with its estuary possibly containing the oldest [[tidal mill]] in the world.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Spain |first1=Robert |title=A Possible Roman Tide Mill |url=https://kentarchaeology.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/files/publications/005.pdf |publisher=[[Kent Archaeological Society]] |access-date=30 September 2024}}</ref> The river secured the western flank of the Roman City.

[[File:Map Londinium 400 AD-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|alt=Vector map of Londinium in 400 AD|Londinium in the year 400 showing the Fleet to its west. The tributary Fagswell Brook is shown running from east to west.]]

In [[Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon]] times, the Fleet was still a substantial body of water, joining the Thames through a marshy tidal basin over {{convert|100|yd}} wide at the mouth of the Fleet Valley. Many [[water well|wells]] were built along its banks, and some on springs (Bagnigge Wells, [[Clerkenwell]]) and St Bride's Well, were reputed to have healing qualities; in the 13th century, the river was called River of Wells.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wickstead|first=Thomas|title=On the supply of water to the Metropolis|journal=The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal|date=January 1840|volume=III|issue=28|page=10}}</ref> The small lane at the south-west end of New Bridge Street is called Watergate because it was the river entrance to [[Bridewell Palace]].

As London grew, the river became increasingly a [[combined sewer|sewer]]. The area came to be characterised by poor-quality housing and prisons: Bridewell Palace itself was converted into a prison; [[Newgate Prison|Newgate]], [[Fleet Prison|Fleet]] and [[Ludgate]] prisons were all built in that area.  In 1728 [[Alexander Pope]] wrote in his ''[[Dunciad]]'', "To where Fleet-ditch with disemboguing streams / Rolls the large tribute of dead dogs to Thames / The king of dykes! than whom no sluice of mud / with deeper sable blots the silver flood".<ref>''Dunciad'', book the second</ref>

[[File:River Fleet, 1844, 2.png|thumb|left|The Fleet Ditch in 1844]]
Following the [[Great Fire of London]] in 1666, architect [[Christopher Wren]]'s proposal for widening the river was rejected. Rather, the Fleet was converted into the New Canal, completed in 1680 under the supervision of [[Robert Hooke]]. Newcastle Close and Old Seacoal Lane (now just short alleyways off Farringdon Street) recall the [[wharves]] that used to line this canal, especially used by the coastal coal trade from the [[north-east of England]]. (An adjacent narrow road, Seacoal Lane, also existed until the late 20th century, when the present building fronting onto Farringdon Street was built, perhaps suggesting that a new wharf had been built near the old one.)

{{anchor|Fleet Ditch Act 1732}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Fleet Ditch Act 1732
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of Great Britain
| long_title            = An Act for filling up such Part of the Channel of Bridewell Dock and Fleet Ditch as lies between Holborn Bridge and Fleet Bridge; and for converting the Ground, when filled up, to the Use of the City of London.
| year                  = 1732
| citation              = [[6 Geo. 2]]. c. 22
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 17 May 1733
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
The upper canal, unpopular and unused, was from 1737 enclosed between [[Holborn]] and [[Ludgate Circus]] to form the "[[Fleet Market]]". The lower part, the section from [[Ludgate Circus]] to the Thames, had been covered by 1769 for the opening of the new Blackfriars Bridge and was consequently named "New Bridge Street".

The development of the [[Regent's Canal]] and urban growth covered the river in King's Cross and [[Camden Town|Camden]] from 1812. The Fleet Market was closed during the 1860s with the construction of [[Farringdon Road]] and [[Farringdon Street]] as a highway to the north and the [[Metropolitan Railway]], while the final upper section of the river was covered when Hampstead was expanded in the 1870s.

The history of the River Fleet was documented by the 19th-century artist and historian [[Anthony Crosby]]. His sketches and notes are held in the Crosby Collection at [[The London Archives]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Crosby Collection |publisher=London Picture Archive |url=https://www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk/collection?i=322296&WINID=1727876697363 |access-date=2 October 2024 }}</ref> The archive has been used extensively by researchers, historians and publishers to provide images and contemporary descriptions of the 19th-century Fleet during the period when it was undergoing significant change.