The Duke of Northumberland’s River or D. O. N. River consists of separate upper and lower artificial watercourses in west London, United Kingdom. The older name Isleworth Mill Stream/River more accurately describes the economic motivation behind its construction. 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[clarification needed] 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. A sluice underneath Mill Plat feeds the main lake in Syon Park.
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. Most of the local topsoil was quite thin, on fast-draining gravel.[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. The family cemented its foothold in Isleworth by acquiring and rebuilding a former grandiose monastery by the Thames there, which had become Syon House in 1594; it remains the family’s home in southern England.
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