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showing the course of the rivers
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The
Wealdstone Brook
The Wembley Brook
Other Minor Brooks
The Wealdstone Brook rises well outside the Borough of Brent, somewhere north of the Uxbridge Road near All Saints Cemetery. It enters Brent underground close to the junction of Kenton Lane and Kenton Road, but is open to view for a large part of its subsequent course to the River Brent.
Called "Liddinge" in a Saxon charter of 767, the first time the Wealdstone Brook's name appears in a recognisable form is as "le Weldebroke" in 1453. It has also been known as the Kenton Brook, the Preston Brook and Fortie Brooke. The brook was obviously attractive, with a natural course, well into the 20th century.
Running openly through Woodcock Park, the Wealdstone Brook provides an attractive natural sanctuary. The shallow gravel-bedded brook flows through a four metre wide course with banks that ease up into the park.
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 The Wealdstone Brook runs through the park |
 The stream forms a small island (on the right) at the western end of the park |
The forking of the stream at the western end of the park forms what looks like a mill stream. In fact, it was once part of an ornamental lake presumably associated with Kenton Grange. A boat house existed here in 1914. The original course flows to the south, whilst a straighter channel has been dug to the north - the two meet up again some 80 metres further east. |
The island between the two branches of the river is accessible via a stone structure, built into the river bed where the two first diverge. The original course of the river has a low wooden toe-boarding, is slower flowing and is clear.
| Exiting Woodcock Park, the stream, now back in a brick culvert, travels south to cross Lindsay Drive roundabout which boasts two brick bridges. It still has a rural look about it, with the Brook flowing peacefully among the trees in the middle of the roundabout. |
 The Wealdstone Brook in the middle of the Lindsay Drive roundabout |
Another picturesque view can be enjoyed around Ledway Drive due to the variety of trees lining the banks, and because brick rather than concrete has been used for channelling.
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Elmstead
Avenue Bridge provides interesting views of the Wealdstone Brook
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The tall channel means that any vegetation has to struggle to obtain a foothold. The surroundings have sadly changed from 1887, when H.J.Foley described a walk along Forty Lane which crossed a "picturesque little streamlet with green rushy banks and overhanging willows".
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 The Wealdstone Brook at Forty Avenue Bridge. The bridge was built in 1924 according to inscriptions on it. The name of the Wembley UDC has been obliterated (like Kingsbury Bridge) as an anti-invasion tactic |
This brook has many tributaries and a large catchment area, and a downpore of rain can cause flooding problems. In the mid 1980's almost the whole river in Wembley was channelled in an effort to improve flow and remove obstacles. Eighteen months of work was started in 1985 on the section between Uxendon Hill and Wembley Park Station. A 592 metre length of brick-lined channel and 940 metres of concrete channel were constructed, and the riverbed under Forty Avenue bridge lowered. The vertical walls are up to three meters high, with greenery on top of the walls helping to mellow the otherwise stark appearance of the watercourse in these sections.
Among the many tributaries joining the Wealdstone Brook are:
Ryddy Brook running underground in north-east Brent meeting it at Queensbury
Park;
The Gaderbrook, again, running underground and meeting the Wealdstone
Brook south east of the modern and uninspiring Preston Hill Bridge;
An unnamed tributary joins near Shakespeare Drive, coming from across
the north of Barn Hill;
Crouch Brook joins near Elmstead Avenue Bridge, draining the east side
of Harrow Hill;
The tiny Wellan, draining the open area to the west of St.Augustine's
Avenue, adds its waters via a culvert just north of Forty Bridge.
In the 1890's Wealdstone Brook was used to fill a large ornamental lake which beautified Wembley Park. Towards the end of its run the brook's course has been altered more than once as railways came into the area. The best part of the Wembley Park section of the Wealdstone Brook is nowadays to be found between Forty Avenue and Wembley Park Drive. Unfortunately, it can only be really appreciated by the residents of the new housing at Elliot Close; their lawns run down to a sloping bank.
 Wealdstone Brook (left) joins the River Brent near the Metropolitan Line Railway passing on the bridge over the Brent |
Another short stretch leads between Wembley Park Drive and Olympic Way, and has quite a pleasant little garden. The rest of the Wealdstone Brook's course to the River Brent lies through the Wembley Park Industrial Estate. It is a rather straight channel which leads unexpectedly to an open confluence with the Brent. |
Wembley (or Rowlands) Brook rises close to Vale Farm and travels eastwards underground towards Lancelot Road, then following a course down Ealing Road. Due to flooding problems, some of its sections were culverted.
| From the pathway beside 31 Lyon Park Avenue it can be seen that the Brook is culverted to the west and open to the east. Further along Lyon Park Avenue, another footpath leads to railway footbridges across the North London Line, and West Coast Main Line. From there the well-wooded route of Wembley Brook can be observed behind the houses before it flows into tunnels under each line. |
 The Wembley Brook can be seen running openly behind the houses to the east of 31 Lyon Park Avenue |
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 The blue brick culvert near the footbridge over the Watford (Bakerloo) railway line |
 The Wembley Brook just before joining the Brent opposite Stonebridge Station |
The waterway reappears at the other side of the footbridge over the railway line near the end of London Road. Here the youth of the area once had many an adventure exploring the large blue-brick culvert. To keep children out of the Bakerloo Line works, and to prevent the tipping of rubbish a high mesh fence with barbed wire on top has been erected. It also provides an excellent secluded spot for wild life. Running past Copland School playing fields and Tokyngton Avenue, the brook goes into a tunnel opposite Stonebridge Park station to join the Brent underground a few yards further on. |
At least four other small streams run from Wembley into the River Brent. All are culverted. One drains the heights of Tokyngton estate and runs directly into the river just above the entrance to Mitchell Brook. Another rises close to Beresford Avenue, and runs through Northfield Industrial Estate to join the river upstream of the aqueduct. The third and fourth appear to have a common source at the Chequers Pub Alperton, to cross under the canal to the east of the Piccadilly Line railway bridge, where they divide and take separate routes to the river. There are many other mysterious outlets trickling their contents into the needy Brent.
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