Up the Junction: Battersea's Lost Rivers with Paul Talling author of London's Lost Rivers

Event information

This walk traces the course of two rivers: the Falcon Brook and the Heathwall. These water channels made Battersea into an island in ancient times.

To illustrate the changing face of social change in the area, we look at some locations from the 1968 film Up The Junction (Suzy Kendall, Dennis Waterman & Maureen Lipman) and the booklet from the 1973 Quadrophenia album by The Who, including the former studio owned by the band and used for recording the album and by other artists including Thin Lizzy, Neil Young, Joan Jett & Johnny Thunders. Other musical references include Battersea Town Hall that hosted gigs by The Jam & Fleetwood Mac, the café where the iconic Take On Me video by a-ha was filmed, the estate where So Solid Crew grew up and of course Battersea Power Station, the cover star of Pink Floyd's Animals album.

Other locations from films including Sitting Target (Oliver Reed & Ian McShane), Poor Cow (Terence Stamp & John Bindon), Cathy Come Home (Carol White & Ray Brooks), Brannigan (John Wayne & Richard Attenborough), All Coppers Are??? (Nicky Henson), Cosh Boy (Joan Collins) and The Optimists of Nine Elms (Peter Sellers) and a 1975 episode of The Sweeney (Dennis Waterman & John Thaw).

This walk starts at The Asparagus in Battersea (a 10-min walk from Clapham Jct) and ends at Nine Elms Station (Northern Line) lasting around 4 1/2 hours. There will be a stop en route for drinks. The Asparagus, a former Wetherspoon, is a great place for a decent value pre-walk breakfast (get your order in before 11:00 on a Sunday). I have some good pubs lined up for post walk drinks.