Longford River - History

History

Constructed in 1638/39 at the instigation of Charles I, the purpose of the Longford River was to bring water from the River Colne to augment the water supply to the Royal Parks at Bushy Park and Hampton Court. It was designed by Nicholas Lane, and took around nine months to build, at a cost of £4,000. It was not universally popular, as it was illegally stopped up in 1648 or 1649, and petitions were presented to the authorities in 1653, arguing that it should not be reopened, as it caused flooding which damaged crops and livestock.

At Longford, Bath Road crosses the Duke of Northumberland's River, the Longford River and the River Colne. It was once the main route to the southwest, but has since been bypassed to the north by the A4 road, which crosses the Colne above its junction with the Longford River. Longford Bridge carries Bath Road over the Duke's River, while Moor Bridge carries it over the Colne. A bridge was built over the Longford River when it was constructed, but it was demolished in 1648, and is known to have been reinstated by 1675. It was known as Stone Bridge in the nineteenth century, and the responsibility for keeping it in good order belonged to the Crown. Another name change had taken place by 1960, when it was known as King's Bridge.

Before the 20th century, the river was known variously as the New River, the King's River, the Queen's River, the Cardinal's River, the Hampton Court Cut, and the Hampton Court Canal. At its western end it flowed across land which was wanted for the extension of Heathrow Airport in the 1940s, and so it and the adjacent Duke of Northumberland's River were diverted into a single channel around the south boundary of the extended airport.

Before Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 was built, the Longford River and the Duke of Northumberland's River passed under the runways in culverts. As part of that project they were re-routed in open channels around the west edge of the airport. A new 3.7-mile (6.0 km) channel was constructed for each river, over 75 per cent of which were made from pre-cast panels manufactured off-site. Despite this construction method, biodiversity was encouraged by the use of hazel hurdles and coir rolls, pre-planted with native species, to provide habitat for small mammals. Habitat for fish was provided by creating meandering flow patterns using gravel and recycled trees, and the channels were populated with some 84,000 river plants. Water voles, plants, fish, freshwater mussels and silts from the original river bed were moved to the new channel to assist its regeneration, and landscaping involved planting 450 semi-mature trees, 2,000 shrubs and 100,000 groundcover shrubs. The scheme took 18 months to complete, and is now managed by the Twin Rivers Management Committee, with representatives from Heathrow Airport, the Environment Agency and the Royal Parks Agency. It was awarded a Civil Engineering Environmental Quality (CEEQUAL) Award, in recognition of the fact that it was completed on time, to budget, and maintained very high environmental standards throughout its construction.