It was built for 15th century monks to power their mills and links the home of English rugby, a grade I-listed country manor and one of Europe's largest sewage works.
Walking the Duke of Northumberland's River, which today teems with wildlife including cranes, kingfishers and water voles, is like taking a stroll through history.
Yet years of neglect, coupled with the vagaries of local planning, mean much of this living history is no more accessible than the dusty tomes buried deep in library archives.
Take a short walk along the river, which runs through Twickenham, Whitton and out into the Thames at Isleworth, and you are confronted with concrete walls, fences and overgrown scrubland.
Despite resplendent pockets, like the stretch through Silverhall Park, in Isleworth, there is no sense of continuity and too few reminders of its rich heritage.
That could soon change, with the river competing with six other nature spots across the capital for a share of £900,000 in the Mayor of London's Big Green Poll.
As getwestlondon revealed last month, it needs your vote to help secure the £175,000 of mayor Boris Johnson's money and £225,000 in match funding required for a major make-over to open it up to many more visitors.
Rob Gray and Frances Bennett, of environmental charity Friends of the River Crane Environment (FORCE) outlined their vision for its revival.
"At the moment there are lots of interesting segments of the river but too many parts which are blocked off, often for no apparent reason," says Mr Gray. "Opening up this stretch properly would complete a 10km loop along the Duke's River, the Crane and the Thames, which would make a lovely walk, with plenty of good pubs to stop off at."
Silverhall Park is a perfect example of the river's contradictory nature.
The park itself - once home to an impressive mansion, the ice house of which remains standing - is busy and well looked after, home to several cranes and other wildlife.
But the opposite bank is an overgrown, litter-strewn eyesore, apparently fenced off by Hounslow Council after it became a hotspot for antisocial behaviour.
A short distance upstream is the former site of Watneys brewery, now occupied by a mixture of homes and industrial units.
Here, a concrete wall serving no obvious purpose juts out and blocks the riverside path, before the waterway disappears from view completely around the back of some houses.
The only recognition to the huge brewery which stood here from 1726 to 1991 is a plaque on one of the bridges, which tells you no more than those two dates.
"It's a really healthy river, which is populated by kingfishers and water voles, and it's so sad to see sections like this which are so lost, lonely and unloved," says Mr Gray. "This money's needed to tidy up the river, improve access and try to spread the word about a treasure which is little known locally."
Despite being named after the Duke of Northumberland, the river was actually built for monks at what was then Syon Abbey, to power mills and feed their ornamental fish pond.
The mills are long gone but the pond remains in Syon Park, which was taken over by the duke after the dissolution of the monasteries, and is still replenished by the river.
Today, the river's course takes it south through Mogden Sewage Treatment Works, in Isleworth, around Twickenham and the Stoop rugby stadiums and on to Kneller Gardens, in Whitton, where it joins the River Crane.
FORCE has teamed up with Hounslow and Richmond councils, and with the Crane Valley Partnership, to make the case for the Duke's River. Should it win the funding, work on improvements would begin this summer.
As well as physical improvements, including new signs, the money would be used to produce leaflets to encourage more people to visit the river.
Among the new visitors could be some slippery customers, with an eel pass planned for the mouth of the river at Isleworth where barges once docked to collect flour from Kidd's Mill.
You can vote for the Duke's River online. Voting closes on March 2.
