The River Brent

Certain members of the Heritage Team (whose literature tastes lean towards the scifi/fantasy genre) were particularly excited when the Cityread book for 2015 was announced. Cityread asks people in a city to come together and read the same book together in the month of April. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch is a fantastic book about “the adventures of Peter Grant, Police Constable, apprentice wizard and all round nice guy, as he tries to maintain law and order amongst the more ‘special’ members of London’s population.”

Rivers of London is the first of five books exploring Peter Grants world. Fairly early on in the story we are introduced to the Rivers of London…not the actual water bits running through the city but the gods and goddesses of the Rivers who appear in human like form. Father Thames deals with everything above Teddington Lock and Mama Thames deals with everything else. A great number of the tributaries make an appearance including the flirtatious Beverly Brook and the scary Lady Tyburn. The heritage team were delighted when little Brent also appears. In the books she seems to be the youngest of the rivers probably about three or four years old but you will have to read the book yourself to find out more!

Neasden 1957 693

Brent 1902 828

Harlesden 1910 1171

Stonebridge 1925 9026

Monks Park 1934 9028

Alperton 1930s 10589

Despite Brent’s small stature in the book the River Brent itself is actually over 17 miles long and runs through the Boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing and Hounslow.  When the London Boroughs were formed 50 years ago many boroughs named themselves after geographical place within their boundary. Brent however settled on naming itself after the river that flows through it. The new Brent coat of arms, granted in 1965, includes two references to the river. The first is fairly obvious as a river in the center below the shield just above the motto “Forward Together”. The second reference is the wavy white chevron separating and at the same time uniting the shields of Wembley (the lower green part of the shield) with Willesden (the upper red part of the shield).

Ben Aaronovitch is not the only writer to have written about the River Brent. The Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984) mentions the river in his poem Middlesex.

Gentle Brent, I used to know you
Wandering Wembley-wards at will,
Now what change your waters show you
In the meadowlands you fill!
Recollect the elm-trees misty
And the footpaths climbing twisty
Under cedar-shaded palings,
Low laburnum-leaned-on railings
Out of Northolt on and upward to the heights of Harrow Hill.

We hope that lots of people will enjoy this years Cityread and look out for lots of events in Brent libraries throughout April.

More information

http://www.cityread.london

http://www.the-folly.com/books/rivers-of-london-uk/

http://thamesriversrestorationtrust.blogspot.co.uk/

http://thamesriverstrust.org.uk/projects/river-brent-eel-pass-projects/