River Wandle

The River Wandle is a nine-mile tributary of the Thames in south London. It rises near Croydon’s central springs and flows north-west through Sutton, Merton and Wandsworth to join the Thames. Carshalton Ponds and Norbury Brook feed its headwaters, while the Wandle Trail follows the riverbank from Croydon to Wandsworth. The Wandle was once famed for trout fishing; Izaak Walton wrote about it in the 17th century and Lord Nelson cast a line here. By the 19th century it had become an open sewer and was culverted, but clean-ups have brought brown trout back. Today anglers fish at Hackbridge and Colliers Wood, and the river powers historic mills such as Merton Abbey Mills. Walkers find the Wandle Trail lined with mature trees and patches of grassland. In Carshalton the river passes Wandle Meadow Nature Park, while Bell Lane Creek at the Thames now forms a new nature reserve. The river’s banks show traces of old leats and water wheels, linking past industry with today’s green spaces.