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24-611: Frays River is a semi-canalised short river in England that branches off the River Colne at Uxbridge Moor and rejoins it at West Drayton . It is believed to be a mainly man-made anabranch north of the confluence with the River Pinn to feed watermills in the Parish of Hillingdon . The river is believed to be named after John Fray who owned Cowley Hall in the fifteenth century. Other names for

48-618: A distributary between New Denham and Uxbridge. After this, at West Drayton , the Frays rejoins and the Wraysbury River , the second main anabranch, and Duke of Northumberland's River divide off. Soon after, at Longford , the intake is given to the Longford River , a 12-mile (19 km) artificial channel created in 1610 for King Charles I to supply the water features in Bushy Park and

72-775: A bored aristocratic lady who takes up highway robbery, while the exterior appeared in Agatha Christie's Marple ' s The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side as the house of Marina Gregg. North Mymms is also home to the Hawkshead Campus of the Royal Veterinary College , part of the University of London . The campus also includes the Equine Referral Hospital, and the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals. At

96-458: A north-eastern, which can be considered the upper Colne; and the Mimmshall Brook . Their main sources are 2.5 to 4 mi (4.0 to 6.4 km): in western Northaw , Brookmans Park , Hadley, London and Borehamwood , draining much of those places. A seasonal, intra-parochial stream runs under the seven-building village of North Mymms draining most of the park, which, with adjoining woods is

120-618: A similar total stretch bounding Greater London (and Spelthorne ), east and (through anabranch ditches) Buckinghamshire , west. Specifically, it passes between West Hyde, near Maple Cross , and Harefield , passes Denham Green then passes Uxbridge , where it parallels the Grand Union Canal and its first main anabranch, the Frays River which is co-fed by the Pinn between Cowley and Yiewsley , Greater London. The Colne Brook splits off as

144-681: A small square plateau, sloping down to its corners except the south-west. Shallow swallow holes of the two brooks are in North Mymms' Water End , centred on so-named combined surface flow. From the Water End Swallow Holes the Colne runs west, longer NNW, then west then receives the Ellen Brook and turns SSW, then meanders south-west, bounding central and residential Watford and Oxhey , also bounding Rickmansworth and Batchworth , then for

168-465: A square base, which was erected at Colne Bridge in 1861. It was moved from its original position to the other side of the river in 1984 when it was repaired by Watford Borough Council. It is close to the five-arched Colne Viaduct , which was built in 1837 to carry the London to Birmingham Railway over the river. Each of the arches spans around 40 feet (12 m) and is 45 feet (14 m) high. The structure

192-786: Is a river and a tributary of the River Thames in England . Just over half its course is in south Hertfordshire . Downstream, it forms the boundary between Buckinghamshire and the London Borough of Hillingdon . The confluence with the River Thames is on the Staines reach (above Penton Hook Lock ) at Staines-upon-Thames . Two of its distributaries, constructed in the 1600 – 1750 period largely for aesthetic reasons for Hampton Court and for Syon Park , have been maintained. Their main purpose

216-510: Is a chapel, the burialplace of the Coningsbys. There is a monument to Robert Knolles, also of North Mymms Place, dated 1458, and a brass to a priest. There is a large monument to Lord Somers , Baron Evesham, and lord chancellor in the time of William III, d. 1716. The monument was erected by his sister, Lady Elizabeth Jekyll. The civil parish includes: North Mymms House was a location for the 1983 film The Wicked Lady , starring Faye Dunaway as

240-597: Is named after the River Colne and its two tributaries, the River Chess and the River Gade . Among early proposals to link the river to London was one in 1641 by Sir Edward Forde for a navigable canal, the main purpose of which seems to have been the supply of clean water, and two in 1766, for canals from Marylebone to the river at Uxbridge and another from Marylebone to West Drayton. The river underwent considerable change in

264-515: The Colne Valley regional park covering 43 square miles (110 km ). The Colne becomes universally so-named after two close subterranean streams converge at a spring , or in very wet weather in the meadows above, all along the east side (Tollgate Road) of North Mymms Park in Hertfordshire . The source streams are long, multi-source, in final, northern stages, partly underground tributaries:

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288-761: The Grand Union Canal mainline is carried over the river in an aqueduct at Cowley lock. The Frays continues south, flowing past Little Britain Lake on its western side before crossing under the Slough Arm of the Grand Union Canal which is also carried above it in an aqueduct. In Yiewsley it is joined on its east bank by the River Pinn. It then re-joins the River Colne at Drayton Point in West Drayton . The river flows through two Sites of Special Scientific Interest managed by

312-613: The London Wildlife Trust : Frays Farm Meadows and Denham Lock Wood . Frays Island between the Frays and the River Colne in West Drayton is a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation and is also managed by the trust. George Orwell once taught at Frays College, Uxbridge, which was on the banks of the river. 51°30′55″N 0°28′54″W  /  51.51528°N 0.48167°W  / 51.51528; -0.48167 River Colne, Hertfordshire The Colne

336-634: The 1790s, when the Grand Junction Canal (which became part of the Grand Union Canal in 1929) was routed along the valley and still takes the river channel for part of its course. Construction began from Brentford, where it used for 3 miles (4.8 km) the channel of the River Brent , and progressed westwards then northwards, with it reaching Uxbridge in November 1794. To reach the Midlands it continued along

360-523: The Batchford area, following the construction of the Grand Junction Canal, which were resolved in 1825, when an 8.2-foot (2.5 m) obelisk was erected in a pond, to act as a water gauge. The obelisk records the agreement made between the canal company, John Dickinson who was the owner of papermills at Batchworth, and R. Williams of Moor Park, who was the landowner. From its mouth to its source,

384-606: The Chiltern ridge is most noticeable, a watershed of this basin and that of the River Great Ouse , north and east towards the Wash . The villages of Colney Heath east of St Albans , London Colney south of St Albans , Colney Street (almost wholly a large business park) north of Radlett and Colnbrook between Slough and Heathrow take their name from the river. Three Rivers District Council covers part of Hertfordshire and

408-410: The Colne's named tributaries, anabranches and to-Thames distributaries are: 51°25′59″N 0°30′55″W  /  51.43306°N 0.51528°W  / 51.43306; -0.51528 North Mymms The village itself is an enclosure . North Mymms Park and Brookmans Park enclose large areas of the parish. Even the parish church (St Mary's) stands in the park of North Mymms; in it

432-496: The Slough Arm, the river channels thread their way between many large lakes, some of which were once watercress beds, some chalk pits, and some of which were the result of brickmaking, an industry that developed over several miles of the valley after 1800, when the Grand Junction Canal company advertised the presence of good brick earth , discovered during the construction of the canal. There are two London Coal Duty markers beside

456-644: The rectangular lakes in Hampton Court Park . The Colne's drainage basin extends almost as far north again as its northern limit – the inflowing Gade , Ver and Misbourne extend well into the Chilterns . Opposite, the other 2 ⁄ 3 of outer west and north-west London is drained by the Pymmes Brook , Brent , or Crane sub-basins of the Thames. In the north-west, centred on Tring 's northern boundary

480-715: The river are the Uxbridge and Cowley Mill Stream, the Cowley Stream or the Colham Mill Stream. Two of the three mills in Hillingdon Parish recorded in the Domesday book are believed to have been located on the southern section of the river. The Frays River leaves the River Colne east of Denham, Buckinghamshire at Denham Weir. It passes through Frays Farm Meadows , Uxbridge , Cowley , Yiewsley and West Drayton . At Cowley

504-621: The river channel until its junction with the River Gade, which it ran parallel to, but did not take over the channel. The Slough Arm was built in 1882 which required three aqueducts to carry it close to its junction with the Grand Junction, to cross the Fray's River, the River Colne and the Colne Brook. Between Croxley Green , where the River Gade joins the Colne, and Thorney / West Drayton , below

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528-496: The river, which mark points at which duty became payable on coal entering the London area. The first is on the north side of the river in Colney Heath Local Nature Reserve , and is a square-section cast iron pillar made by Henry Grissell at his Regents Canal ironworks and erected in 1861 or 1862. It is 5 feet (1.5 m) high and is painted white. The second is a stone obelisk, 13 feet (4.0 m) high, with

552-415: Was designed by Robert Stephenson , and is grade II listed . At London Colney, there is a seven-arched brick bridge which carries Barnet Road over the river. It dates from 1774 and is called Telford's Bridge, although it is not thought to have been designed by Thomas Telford . It was modified in the 20th century when parapets and railings were added. There was a long-running dispute over water levels in

576-644: Was not drinking water but these can be likened to the New River in scale and in date. Crossing its route, many viaducts and a canal, the intersecting Grand Union Canal , have been recognised for pioneering engineering during the Industrial Revolution . Digging for gravel and clay along its lower course near Rickmansworth has created a belt of flooded pits below the water table, as established lakes, many of which are well-adapted habitats for wildlife, protected as nature reserves. The river, meadows and lakes form

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