Exploring The River Brent

Well it did take a while for our Summer to finally show it's face after that

miserable month of May. So by early June I was finally able to get out and

about with the camera for some new picture projects.

And although my main dominant blogging project involved several visits to the

North London Village of Mill Hill (post below),  four visits in fact. It was on

my way back from Mill Hill that I discovered this curious little hidden place

just by the junction of Brent Street and the busy North Circular Road.

It's part of the River Brent that passes what was once The Brent Bridge Hotel,

an establishment that was demolished back in 1974, making way for a new

residential block of flats called Brook Lodge.

And although I first explored this little area on a Tuesday the other week, I

knew that I would have to return the following day armed with a camera

tripod and my trusted green Wellington boots. There was no access to the

other side of the Bridge so I needed to wade through almost two feet of water

to get the shots I was after. And as I walked under that Bridge to get to the

other side, the water predictably came into my boots and I was well and

truly soaked up to my thighs. But I happily carried on.

Below is a short video I made on that very warm Wednesday. Yet it was

amazingly much cooler down by that shady stretch of River.

Below:  The Brent Street Bridge just by The North Circular Road.

The River Brent is one of London's longest Rivers at over 16 miles long. It starts at

the Junction of Dollis Brook and Mutton Brook in Hendon, and joins the River Thames

at Brentford.

I was fascinated to discover that these two old abandoned gothic looking towers

were once part of the grounds of the once Brent Bridge Hotel (demolished in 1974).

In fact they were originally joined by a footbridge that was was washed away in a flood

in 1927.

The footbridge and the River became a sort of leisure spot for the Hotel guests.

Below: An archive image of the Brent Bridge Hotel footbridge.

Source:  The Barnet Local Studies and Archives

and The Jack Richardson Image Collection.

After giving it a great deal of thought and with some advice, I finally decided to turn

off the Blog Comments. It's not as if we're deluged with them. And far too many

comments can be hurried and not very well thought out. It seems like people online

have very little attention span these days. And the less said about Blog Networkers, then the better. 

An interesting Youtube by Blogger (since 2006) Spencer Haws, explains his six

reasons why he finally turned off his Blog Comments, be it for slightly different reasons to

mine. That video can be found Here.

So yes, if you feel inclined to leave a comment (by e-mail) as a couple of my friends prefer

to do, then feel free to do so.