River Effra

The River Effra is a river in south London, England. It is now mainly underground. The name cannot be traced back much earlier than 1840, so speculation that it came from a Celtic word for torrent is unwarranted. Probably it is also unrelated to the heah yfre 'high bank' at the river mouth mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter. When the London sewerage system was constructed during the mid-19th century, its designer Sir Joseph Bazalgette incorporated flows from the River Effra into his 'high-level interceptor sewer', also known as the Effra sewer, running from Herne Hill eastwards under Peckham and New Cross to Deptford. The main course of the River Effra was diverted into a sewer and culverts. It can be accessed through the sewers on...