New River Company

The New River is an artificial waterway in England, opened in 1613 to supply London with fresh drinking water taken from the River Lea and from Chadwell Springs and Amwell Springs (which ceased to flow by the end of the nineteenth century), and other springs and wells along its course.

There is a designated walking route along the canal titled the New River Path. It is a 28 mile (45 km) long-distance footpath which follows the course of the New River from its source in Hertfordshire to its original end in Islington, London.

It starts between Ware and Hertford in Hertfordshire and today travels 20 miles (32 km) down to Stoke Newington. Among the districts it flows through are (from north to south):

Its original termination point was at New River Head near Clerkenwell, Islington, close to the current location of Sadler's Wells theatre — where water from the river was used to flood a large tank to stage an Aquatic Theatre at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1946, the water supply to New River Head was truncated at Stoke Newington with the New River ending at the East Reservoir. The reservoir is managed as the Woodberry Wetlands - a nature reserve and designated Site of Metropolitan Importance.

The design and construction of the New River is often attributed solely to Sir Hugh Myddelton. Edmund Colthurst first proposed the idea in 1602, obtaining a charter from King James I in 1604 to carry it out. After surveying the route and digging the first two-mile long stretch, Colthurst encountered financial difficulties and it fell to Myddelton to complete the work between 1609 and its official opening on 29 September 1613. The New River Company was founded with the assistance of Sir John Backhouse. The Company's first reservoir was built on his land in Islington. Myddelton gave some of the shares in the New River Company to Colthurst.

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