Seething Wells is considered to roughly consist of any land previously used as a waterworks on the southeast bank of the Thames facing Hampton Court Park.

[5] As well as many houses, the residential area contains a hall of residence for Kingston University, and an old waterworks building that has been converted inside into a gym.

[13] There is no evidence of any substantial early settlement of the area, although a few Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Roman artifacts were discovered during the waterworks' construction.

The Lambeth Waterworks Company anticipated this by choosing to build their works at Seething Wells in 1847, which were purchased around 1849, and completed and opened in 1852.

[15][14] The Lambeth Waterworks played a part in John Snow's investigations into cholera; he showed that homes supplied from further downriver by the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company had a cholera mortality rate 14 times that of homes supplied by Seething Wells, which was upriver and hence had cleaner water.

[16][17] Despite carrying less disease, the inlets at Seething Wells sucked up too much mud with the water because of turbulence caused by the twin-mouthed River Mole, The Rythe, and the sharp bend in the Thames.

The Electric Parade area and the 130 year old Victoria Recreation Park at the edge of Seething Wells were not located inside the actual waterworks.