River Westbourne
The River Westbourne, of similar size to the Fleet, is a river in England that flows from Hampstead down through Hyde Park to Sloane Square and into the Thames at Chelsea. According to Victorian pedants, the river was originally called the Kilburn (Cye Bourne - royal stream) but has been known, at different times and in different places, as Kelebourne, Kilburn, Bayswater, Bayswater River, Bayswater Rivulet, Serpentine River, Westburn Brook, the Ranelagh River and the Ranelagh Sewer.
According to an article by Christopher Long in London Portrait Magazine , the Westbourne "rises near Kensington Palace on the high ground of Notting Hill... It fills the Round Pond and then goes underground to feed the Serpentine. Again it has been buried underground and only surfaces to feed the lake at Buckingham Palace. The overflow from Buckingham Palace fills the lake in St James's Park while the river is ignominiously piped underground and across the platforms of Sloane Square tube station (where it leaks in protest) before emptying itself into the Thames."
The conduit through which the Westbourne crosses the platforms of Sloane Square station is a large cast iron pipe, located just below the ceiling towards the end of the platforms closest to the exits.
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