The Wandle
The once industrial River Wandle flows through the London Boroughs of Croydon, Sutton, Merton and Wandsworth. It rises in both Carshalton and Croydon before its path takes it into the Thames at Wandsworth.
With a fall of 38 metres (126ft) and a length of 19 kilometres (12 miles) it is a very fast flowing river. This made it suitable to power watermills, which it has done since Roman times. A wide range of different industries used water power in their manufacture and information on these can be found elsewhere within this site’s pages.
Whilst industries still exist along the river today, they sadly no longer use its power. Today, the river is a place of leisure with nature reserves and pleasant parkland that makes a walk along its length a very enjoyable one.