Duke of Northumberland's River

The first section draws water via a sluice from the Colne — a source river which has seven distributaries, many of which are man-made — today an extended distance (to bypass Heathrow Airport) of about 5 miles (8 km) into the Crane; its lower section of about 1.8 miles (2.9 km) draws water from that small river in Whitton, Twickenham and discharges it via neighbouring Isleworth, passing Mill Plat into the tidal Thames.

The western section was constructed during the reign of King Henry VIII of England to augment the flow supplying existing mills and to supply new mills, a source of revenue for the Duke of Northumberland's estate with the further benefit of irrigation for his tenants' fields.

[1] The dukes and their Somerset-styled forebears were lords of the manor of Isleworth (1547–1554 and from 1594)[2][a] and Twickenham (1538–1541), retaining much of the dwindling agricultural land until the 20th century.

[6] The river is carved[clarification needed] east to join the Crane in patchy woodland known as Donkey Wood, by Baber Bridge at the west end of Hounslow Heath.

51°27′35″N 0°24′08″W / 51.4596°N 0.4022°W / 51.4596; -0.4022 This section diverts water from the Crane in Kneller Gardens, Whitton, Twickenham, eastward then northward past The Stoop and Twickenham Stadium rugby stadiums, through Isleworth (originally to its mill), then onwards to supply the ornamental ponds in the Duke of Northumberland's estate at Syon Park.

This part is the older — it was built in the time of Syon Abbey, over 100 years before it was inherited, in 1594, by wife of the "wizard earl", Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, Dorothy (née Devereux) which automatically became his own as this inheritance preceded the Married Women's Property Act 1870.