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The River Fleet is the largest of derived its name. The water initially flows in two paths before joining up and passing under Kentish Town and Kings Cross , running down Farringdon Street ( Holborn Viaduct was built to span the river), and joining the Thames below Blackfriars Bridge . Its name comes from Anglo-Saxon ''Holburna'' = "hollow stream", referring to its deep valley, and ''flēot'' = "estuary." In Anglo-Saxon times, the Fleet served as a Dock for Shipping . In Anglo-Saxon times, the Fleet was a substantial body of water, joining the Thames through a marshy Tidal Basin over 100 yards wide at the mouth of the Fleet Valley. A large number of Well s were built along its banks, and some on springs (Bagnigge Well, Clerkenwell ) were reputed to have healing qualities. As London grew, the river became increasingly a Sewer . By the 13th Century , it was considered polluted, and the area was given over to poor-quality housing, and, later, prisons ( Newgate , Fleet and Ludgate prisons were all built in that area). The flow of the river was greatly reduced by increasing industry. Following the to Fleet Street was channelled below the surface when the canal was filled, with the section to the river covered by 1765 . The development of the Regent's Canal and urban growth covered the river in Kings Cross and Camden from 1812 . The Farringdon Road section was built over again in the 1860s with the construction of the Metropolitan Railway , while the final upper section of the river was covered when Hampstead was expanded in the 1870s . In the 1970s , the river gave its name to a planned London Underground Tube line which was to run alongside the route of the former river but, prior to opening and in honour of the Queen 's Silver Jubilee in 1977 , the name was changed from Fleet Line to Jubilee Line . In fiction The River Fleet features in a serial from the BBC series '' Doctor Who '' entitled '' The Talons Of Weng-Chiang '', starring Tom Baker . In one episode, the Doctor claims he once caught a large Salmon in the Fleet, which he shared with the Venerable Bede . It also features in Neal Stephenson 's novel '' The System Of The World ''. SEE ALSO
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