CONFLUENCE - Quaggy - Ravensbourne
Posted by: 
Team Sieni
N 51° 27.906 W 000° 00.750
30U E 707507 N 5705781
The confluence of the rivers Quaggy and Ravensbourne in urban South-East London.
Waymark Code: WM4W40
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/04/2008
Views: 18
This is not perhaps the most picturesque of confluence locations, but it is interesting nonetheless.
According to the nearby signboard (picture attached): "The confluence has influenced human settlement and communications from at least the 6th century AD. The village of Lewisham sprang up here". The Domesday Book (1086) lists 11 corn mills powered by the River Ravensbourne (according to QWAG website )
Both rivers have been heavily culverted, their natural banks being replaced with concrete and brick. This, and the fact that the rivers take run-off drainage mean that the flow varies widely from a trickle to a torrent, depending on whether it has recently been raining.
The Ravensbourne rises at Ceasar's Well, Keston Ponds near Bromley, and flows into the Thames at Deptford Creek, near Greenwich. The Quaggy is fed from two streams near Orpington.
The confluence itself is in the corner of Lewisham bus station. Not the prettiest spot imaginable!
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