Latchmere Stream

THE UNLOST RIVERS OF LONDON Latchmere Stream Kingston → Ham (1¼ miles) [Latchmere Stream → Sudbrook → Thames] This barely counts as an unlost river, given all but 50m has been buried, but let's attempt to follow it all the same. Its source was close to Kingston station, not by the shops but across Richmond Road a short distance up Canbury Park Road, initially more a set of drainage ditches than a proper spring. You can't see anything rivery hereabouts, not even any telltale contours, but the stream's early course is patently obvious from any street map - it followed the long thin slice of former fields between Acre Road and Elm Road. Elm Road is lined by a gorgeous sequence of late Victorian detached cottages, most individually named, which would once have faced the brook and now face a recreation ground at best. But new residents didn't like living near a smelly stream so it was culverted early, allowing development of a splendid suburb to proceed undisturbed. Local notes: The local…