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Beverley
Brook is a minor English river 14.3 km (8.9 mi) long in southwest
London. It rises in Worcester Park and joins the River Thames to
the north of Putney Embankment at Barn Elms.
Beverley
Brook rises at the top of a hill in a shady area at Cuddington
Recreation Ground in Worcester Park then flows north in a culvert
under the A2043 road, emerging in waste land next to Worcester
Park Station. It then flows northeast through Motspur Park, New
Malden, Wimbledon Common, Richmond Park, forms the brief boundary
of East Sheen and Roehampton near Priest's Bridge, flows through
the south of Barnes (bounding the Barnes playing fields to the
north and Putney Common to the south) and joins the River Thames
above Putney Embankment at Barn Elms, Barnes.
Its basin has
a catchment area of 64 km2 (25 sq mi).
Beverley
Brook creates a water feature used by deer, smaller animals and
water grasses and some water lilies in Richmond Park (where it is
followed by the Tamsin Trail and Beverley Walk). Then for the
next 7 km (4.3 mi) upstream of Richmond Park, the Beverley Brook
forms the historic South West London boundary, now the boundary
between the London Borough of Merton and the Royal Borough of
Kingston upon Thames.
For the first
5 km (3.1 mi) south of Richmond Park, the six lane A3 trunk road
from London to Portsmouth runs always within 300 m (980 ft) of
the stream, crossing it three times. Although there is no point
where the stream itself can be seen when driving along the road,
the bridge parapets are visible and, for 2 km (1.2 mi), where the
road runs along the edge of Wimbledon Common, the trees flanking
the stream can be glimpsed across playing fields, with the
lightly managed "natural" woodland of the common rising
beyond. Except for the playing fields, the whole of the common,
including Beverley Brook, is both a Site of Special Scientific
Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Towards
the south (upstream) end of the common, Fishpond Wood and
Beverley Meads nature reserve lies a few metres east of the
stream.
South of
Wimbledon Common the stretch of the A3 running near the stream is
named Beverley Way after it.
The name is
derived from the former presence in the river of the European
beaver (Castor fiber), a species extinct in Britain since the
sixteenth century. The Middle English word for beaver was bever,
the word for meadow was ley (or lei or various other spellings,
still rarely used today as lea) and brook meant stream, as it
does today. Beverley Brook was thus the Beaver-Meadow Stream.
Beverley
Brook's longest tributary is Pyl Brook, 5.3 km (3.3 mi) long,
which is a Local Nature Reserve. It flows from Sutton through
Lower Morden to join it at Beverley Park in New Malden. Both
brooks are on the Environment Agency's watchlist of rivers
susceptible to flooding.
For much of
the twentieth century Beverley Brook was joined by poorly treated
sewage from a sewage works in Green Lane, Worcester Park. Since
some pipe redirection enabling the removing of the works and the
introduction of improved treatment methods in 1998, the range of
wildlife species in the river has steadily increased.
At Wimbledon
Common, Beverley Brook has banks reinforced with wooden
"toe-boarding", which prevents use by water voles, and
there is scope for further such improvements.
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