Bow Back Rivers

Bow Back Rivers
The sluices at Three Mills Lock, with the lock structure to the right
Connects to	Lee Navigation, River Lea, Bow Creek
Locks	4
Status	Open
Navigation authority	British Waterways

The Bow Back Rivers are part of the River Lea in the London Borough of Newham, east London, England, and form a complex system of waterways. The River Lea was originally tidal as far as Hackney Wick; man-made changes to the river had changed this dramatically in the 9th century, and in 1110 a bridge was put in place at Bow. Over the ensuing centuries, the causeway that led to the bridge was cut by a number of man-made channels made to power water-driven tidal mills, such as those at Abbey Mills, and the still-surviving Three Mills. Further improvements to the channels were carried out in 1930 under the River Lee (Flood Relief) Act.

Bow Creek and the connecting waterways—Prescott Channel, Channelsea River, Abbey Creek, Three Mills River, City Mill River and Waterworks River—reverted to little more than tidal creeks following the removal of the sluice on the Prescott Channel in the early 1960s, which had regulated water levels above House Mill. In 1968, the rivers were categorised by the British Waterways Act as remainder waterways with no economic or long-term future. However, British Waterways decided that their full restoration was an important aim in 2002, and the construction of the main stadium for the 2012 Summer Olympics on an island formed by the rivers has provided funding to construct a new lock and sluice which has stabilised water levels. It was hoped that significant amounts of materials for the Olympic site would be delivered by barge, but this did not happen.

History

City Mill River, Bow Back Rivers (2004)

The Bow Back Rivers cross an area originally known as Stratford Marsh, an area of common Lammas land between Stratford-Langthorne and Stratford-at-Bow. Little remains from pre-history, but the name suggests that the two settlements lay at either end of a stone causeway across the marsh, with a ford crossing the River Lea at Bow that could be crossed at low tide. This was in use by the Roman era, carrying the principal road to Colchester. The upstream ford at Old Ford is of pre-Roman origin, and afforded an easier crossing. A further causeway existed between Homerton and Leyton, known as Wanstead Slip.

These crossings passed across a true marsh, either side of the natural Lea. This wide, fast flowing river was then tidal, as far as Hackney Wick, and navigable, as far as Hertfordshire. Dates for the earliest use of the rivers by boats are unknown, although a late Bronze Age dugout canoe and parts of a Saxon barge have been found in the marshes at Walthamstow. The first alteration to the natural river may have been made by Alfred the Great, who drained the river to strand a force of Danes in 896, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. This lowered the tide head to Old Ford, and prevented large boats sailing the river until the 15th century.

Bow Back Rivers

Legend Lee Navigation River Lee Flood Relief Channel A104 Lea Bridge River Lea (Middlesex Filter Beds Weir) Site of Pond Lane Flood Gates Old course of Waterworks River Hackney Cut A12 East Cross Route Channelsea River Hackney Wick railway station Hertford Union Canal Culverted Channelsea River Carpenters Road Lock Pudding Mill River(Olympic Stadium site) Old Ford Lock + Old River Lee City Mill River + Waterworks River Northern Outfall Sewer bridges Stratford stationGreat Eastern Railway Northern Outfall Sewer bridges Bow Back River + City Mills Lock Site of Marshgate Lock A118 Bow Road Meggs Dock Three Mills Wall River Three Mills Back River Bow River section of Lee Navigation Prescott Channel Tide Mill + Three Mills Lock Abbey Creek District line Bow Tidal Lock Regents Canal + Limehouse Cut Bow Creek (tidal) A13 East India Dock Road Limehouse Basin Limehouse Lock + Lower Lea Crossing River Thames

In 1135, Stratford Langthorne Abbey was founded. The Abbey continued the process of draining Stratford marsh begun in the Middle Ages, and creating artificial channels to drive water and tide mills. A small river port developed at Stratford, mentioned in the 15th century, to serve the needs of Stratford Abbey and the mills at Stratford, and there is similar evidence in later centuries. The Abbey took on responsibility to maintain the marsh walls around Bow Creek, to keep the tidal waters out. From 1613, extraction of water for the canals linking with the network, and the artificial New River, supplying fresh water to the city from Hertfordshire, has caused water levels to fall in the non-navigable channels, and much of the traditional water milling to cease. This began a process of canalisation of the water course from Hertford to Old Ford, to enable boats to use the river.

Public water supply

Water was extracted from the rivers for a public water supply. Around 1745, the West Ham Waterworks Company built a waterworks at Saynes Mill in Stratford. The river on which it was located later became known as Waterworks River. The East London Waterworks Company was set up in 1807, and had works further to the west at Old Ford. The supply to the works was moved further upstream in 1829, and in 1830 they built a canal, running parallel to the Hackney Cut, so that water could be obtained from Lea Bridge. Much of the work was carried out by William Hoof, who had gained a reputation as a specialist tunnelling contractor, after working on Strood Tunnel for the Thames and Medway Canal and Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal. He worked on the waterworks project from 1829 until 1834. Where there had been a reservoir to the south of the Middlesex Filter Beds weir in 1850, maps from 1870 show the site occupied by a waterworks, and the canal beside the Hackney Cut. Another large reservoir, triangular in shape, was located between the old river and the Hackney Cut at Old Forge, with two connections to the old river. The canal appears to pass under the old river to feed two compensation reservoirs to the north of the Great Eastern Railway tracks. A covered reservoir was situated on the west bank of the old river.

The Waterworks River underwent considerable change over the years. In 1850, it left the channel of the Old River Lee much further to the north, to the south-west of Temple Mills railway depot. It was called Lead Mills Stream at this point. Near Temple Mills bridge, now on the A12 road, Channelsea River split off. The two channels ran parallel to the Old River Lee, before Channelsea River turned to the south-east. There was a small connection between the Waterworks River called Bully Fence, where the northern Channelsea River is shown on modern maps. It turned to the south-east near to the point at which it now leaves the old river. By 1870, it was called Waterworks River as far north as Temple Mills depot, and by 1896, its present connection to the old river had been established. Twenty years later, the northern Waterworks River rejoined the Lee at Bully Fence, and the section between there and the new juction had been filled in. At some point, the connection at Bully Fence became the main source for the Channelsea River, although the 1953/66 map still shows it connected to the remnants of the system to the north, for drainage. Administrative boundaries still follow the northern course of the Waterworks River.

Navigation

Although the River Lee was navigable up to Hertford, this had been achieved by the use of flash locks, where a single gate created a channel through a weir. These caused conflict between the bargemen and the millers, since operation of the lock lowered the water level above it, hindering the operation of the mill. In 1765, the engineer John Smeaton was asked to survey the river, with a view to improving it "for the good of the public". His report of September 1766 highlighted the need to replace the flash locks with the more modern locks or pen sluices, each with two sets of gates. Significantly for the Bow Back Rivers, he suggested a new cut from Lea Bridge to Old Ford, and another from Bromley Lock to a basin at Limehouse. The first became known as the Hackney Cut, and the second as the Limehouse Cut. An Act of Parliament was obtained on 29 June 1767, and work began.

The Limehouse Cut would give direct access to the River Thames, avoiding the tidal Bow Creek. It was expected to open in July 1770, but some of the brickwork collapsed, and had to be repaired before the cut opened on 17 September 1770. It closed again briefly in December, when a bridge collapsed into it, and it was soon decided that it was too narrow, and so was widened to allow barges to pass each other along its complete length. This work was finished on 1 September 1777. The contract for the Hackney Cut was given to Jeremiah Ilsley on 18 January 1768, and a bricklayer called Henry Holland was asked to build two locks on the cut on 23 April 1768. A millwright from Bromley called Mr Cooper was given the job of building Bromley Lock (close to Bow tidal gates). Work progressed quickly, and the cut was opened for traffic on 7 August 1769.

The Act of 1767 had specified points on the river at which tolls could be collected, but had made no mention of tolls for use of Bow Creek, Bow Back Rivers, or the section of the navigation between Bow tidal gates and Old Ford, and these had remained toll-free. An Act of Parliament obtained on 14 August 1850 allowed the trustees to build a pound lock at Bow tidal gates. To prevent opposition from the bargees, the Act had formalised the freedom from tolls on the Bow River section. Once the lock was built, however, the trustees charged a toll for using it. This was unpopular, but there was still the option of using the tidal gates at certain states of the tide, which did not incur a toll. A clause to authorise the lock toll was deleted by Parliament from a subsequent Act of 1868, and it was still the case in 1977 that a charge was made for using the lock but not for using the gates.

By 1821, Stratford was served by a number of wharfs, some located on the Lea and others on the Channelsea River or other branches. In addition to wharfs for general goods, some specifically handled timber, chalk, stone, coal, or wheat. Several of the factories and mills had private wharfs. By this date, a dock had been built near Bow Bridge to the south of the High Street. It was about 80 by 50 yards (73 by 46 m), and was connected to the river by its own channel. It was initially called Stratford Dock, later becoming Meggs Dock and was probably constructed by the Middlesex and Essex turnpike trust. Half of it had been filled in by 1896, and the rest by 1920.

In the 1860s, the income from the navigation had dropped, as a result of attempts to compete against the railways, but economies were made, and capital works continued. The lock at Lea Bridge was removed, and replaced by Old Ford Lock further to the south, which was built to take 100-ton barges, rather than the 40-ton barges specified by an Act of 1805. Although the Lee trustees, and since 1868 the Conservators of the River Lee, were officially responsible for the Bow Back Rivers, there was little incentive to maintain them, since they did not generate any revenue. Nor could they be closed, since they allowed surplus water from the upper Lee to reach the Thames, without causing flooding.

Decline

The rivers were run down by the 1920s, and with high unemployment in the area, West Ham Corporation and the Lee Conservancy Board applied for a government unemployment relief grant, with which to fund major improvements. In addition to work on the channels, Bow Tidal Lock was duplicated, Marshgate Lock, was rebuilt further east as City Mill Locks, and a second new lock at Carpenters Road was constructed. It used up-and-over radial gates operated by winches, rather than the mitre gates used at Marshgate. An Act of Parliament was obtained in 1930 to authorise the work, called the River Lee (Flood Relief) Act, and work began the following year. The project was completed in 1935. Before the work, there had been a floodgate on the Waterworks River above its junction with the Three Mills Wall River, and a large pool, the City Mill Pool, connecting to the City Mills River and Bow Back River. Marshgate Lock was situated to the west of the junction between the Pudding Mill River and Bow Back River. It was originally built in 1864, by adding a second set of gates to Hunters Gates, a floodgate which had been built around 1847. The reconstructed lock was built on the site of the City Mill Pool, and had two sets of gates at its eastern end, to prevent high tidal levels in Waterworks River flooding the waterways to the west. It was labelled Marshgate Lane Lock on the 1948 map, but was called Ward Lock, after a local councillor, and is now known as City Mills Lock. The course of the Bow Back River was then straightened, and Marshgate lock was no longer on its course. The lower section of the Pudding Mill River was filled in, leaving a dead end, and most of the Three Mills Back River was also filled in. The floodgate on Waterworks River was also removed. Reconstruction of the channels included widening City Mill River to 50 feet (15 m), while Three Mills Wall River and Waterworks River were made twice that width.

Steps going down to the tow path, used in the past by horses

Prior to the work, the arrangement had been to regulate the navigation with the Pond Lane Flood Gates and Marshgate Lane tidal lock. The new lock at Carpenter's Road gave access to the Waterworks River, providing barge access to Temple Mills. The low headroom of the Northern Outfall Sewer aqueduct prevented access to the southern reaches of the system, and to allow access City Mill Lock was constructed near Blaker Road. In 2005, the lock was partially restored as part of the planning gain required from the developers of the adjacent Bellamy Homes housing scheme.

Crossing the Back Rivers by a series of bridges is the Northern Outfall Sewer which leads to the Abbey Mill Pumping Station, both of which were designed by Joseph Bazalgette in the 1860s. Today, the route of the embankment that encloses the sewer from Bow to Beckton is followed by a public footpath, The Greenway.

The 1930s improvements included the construction of the Prescott Channel, designed to allow flood water to bypass the Three Mills tide mills. The channel included sluices to regulate water levels above it, but these became redundant once the tide mills ceased to operate, and eventually seized up. They were removed soon after parts of the Channelsea River were culverted.

By the 1960s, only the Bow Back River, the City Mills River and the Channelsea River were still being used for commercial traffic. A section of the Channelsea River between Stratford High Street and Lett Road was culverted between 1957 and 1958. As traffic ceased, the lock structures deteriorated, and by 2006, City Mills Lock and Carpenters Road Lock were officially disused. The 1968 British Waterways Act had classified most waterways into commercial, cruising and remainder waterways. Remainder waterways were those for which the government of the time could see no economic future, and which would only therefore be subject to maintenance to prevent them becoming unsafe. The Bow Back Rivers fell into this category, and remained neglected until their full restoration was enshrined in a British Waterways policy document in 2002.

Olympics

The Olympic Stadium is under construction among the Bow Back Rivers. (Waterworks River and City Mill River at left, Lea Navigation at bottom right, Three Mills Wall River and Prescott Channel at top left.)

The Olympic Stadium for the London 2012 Summer Olympics is constructed on former industrial land between the Lea Navigation to the west and the City Mill River to the east. The land was formerly bisected by the remains of the Pudding Mill River, but this was filled in to provide a site which was large enough. As part of the construction phase for the event, Three Mills Lock was constructed on the Prescott Channel. This consists of a barge lock, suitable for 350-tonne (344.5-long-ton; 385.8-short-ton) barges, and an adjacent sluice, which enables the water levels above the structure to be regulated, rather than navigation being subject to the tides. The lock was built to allow construction materials to be delivered to the site and spoil to be removed, and the final cost was £23 million, which included a sluice on the Three Mills Wall River. Work began in March 2007, and the project lasted for just over two years. Despite hopes that it would transport 1.75 million tonnes while the stadium was being built, very little commercial traffic used the new lock.

With water levels above the structure remaining fairly constant, £400,000 was spent on refurbishing City Mills Lock. Although some work had been carried out in 2006, including the fitting of new metal gates, it was not operational, and had not been used for around 40 years. The second phase of restoration included fitting the equipment to automate its operation. The first public use of the lock occurred on 31 July 2010. British Waterways hoped to restore the Carpenters Road Lock soon afterwards, but the project was postponed until after the completion of the Olympics, as temporary 'Land Bridges' were erected over the site of the lock to enable pedestrians to reach the stadium, some of which will be removed after the event. Following the Olympics, it is hoped the waterways will continue to be used by both commercial and leisure craft.

The Olympic Delivery Authority took the decision to culvert more of the Channelsea River, where it crossed the northern part of the site. It remains a designated main river, and so they had to liase with the Environment Agency on matters of flood-risk management, and a site was identified which would provide compensation for the loss of habitat caused by the culverting. Much of the old River Lea was inaccessible to the public prior to the project, but is a central feature of the northern parklands that have been created. Two 'wetland bowls' were designed, which have been planted with water-loving plants such as reeds, rushes, sedges and iris. They also provide spawning grounds and refuges during flood conditions for fish, as well as providing storage capacity for flood water. It was the largest aquatic planting scheme ever carried out in Britain when it was completed, and most of the 350,000 plants were grown in Norfolk from seeds and cuttings removed from the site. At the southern end of the site, the Waterworks River was reconstructed. Improvements in the 1930s created channels with vertical concrete sides, and little thought for habitat. The channel was made 26 feet (8 m) wider, with sloping banks and ramps down to the water's edge, and was improved visually and ecologically by the planting of aquatic marginal plants.

The Olympics construction works have closed public access to many of the Bow Back Rivers, which are intended to form a major feature of the Olympic site. The Olympic Stadium will form the centrepiece of the Olympics on an island site, with the Waterworks River to the east, and the Aquatics Centre on the eastern bank. Pedestrian bridges will cross the waterways to provide the principal access to the stadium, from Stratford International station.

Locks

The locks on the Bow Back Rivers are not built to a single standard, and sizes vary.

Lock	configuration	length	width	notes
Bow Tidal	twin	93.5 feet (28.5 m)	20 feet (6.1 m)	Built 1900 and 1931
Carpenters Road	single	92 feet (28 m)	20 feet (6.1 m)	Built 1933, up-and-over radial gates
City Mills	single	95 feet (29 m)	20 feet (6.1 m)	Built 1933, reopened 2010
Marshgate	single			Built 1864, removed 1935
Old Ford	twin	90 feet (27 m)	18.5 feet (5.6 m)	Built 1902 and 1935
Three Mills	single	203 feet (62 m)	26 feet (8 m)	Built 2009, hydraulic sector gates

See also

• Rivers of the United Kingdom

Bibliography

• Baker, T F T, ed. (1998). A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green. Victoria County History. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22742. Retrieved 31 July 2008. 
• Boyes, John; Russell, Ronald (1977). The Canals of Eastern England. David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-7415-3. 
• Cross-Rudkin, Peter; Chrimes, Mike (2008). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: Vol 2: 1830 to 1890. Thomas Telford. ISBN 978-0-7277-3504-1. 
• Nicholson (2006). Nicholson Guides Vol 1: Grand Union, Oxford and the South East. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-721109-8. 
• Powell, W R, ed. (1973). A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6: West Ham: Rivers, bridges, wharfs and docks. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=42750. Retrieved 12 December 2006. 
• Proceedings (November 2011). "Delivering London 2012: parklands and waterways". Civil Engineering (Institute of Civil Engineers) (164). ISSN 0965-089X. 
• Skempton, Sir Alec et. al. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: Vol 1: 1500 to 1830. Thomas Telford. ISBN 0-7277-2939-X. 
• Squires, Roger (2008). Britain's restored canals. Landmark Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84306-331-5. 
• Thomas, Richard (2009). Lock dimensions. History of the Lee and Stort Navigation. Richard Thomas. http://www.leeandstort.co.uk/Lock_Dimensions_%20L.htm. 
• Thomas, Richard (2010). Bow Back Rivers. History of the Lee and Stort Navigation. Richard Thomas. http://www.leeandstort.co.uk/Bow_Back_Rivers.htm. 

External links

• The "Tuesday Night Club" on a tour of this area
• Bow Back Rivers-a history