Bow Locks

Bow Locks
Bow Locks, with Bow Creek, beyond, at low tide. Limehouse Cut begins to the right of the locks.
Waterway	River Lee Navigation
County	Tower Hamlets Greater London
Maintained by	British Waterways
Operation	Mechanical
First built	1850
Latest built	1930
Length	95 feet (29.0 m)
Width	19 feet 6 inches (5.94 m)
Fall	tidal
Distance to Hertford Castle Weir	28 miles (45.1 km)
Geographical Data
Coordinates	51.523°N 0.0081°W / 51.523; -0.0081

Bow Locks (grid reference TQ383824) (No20) is a set of bi-directional locks in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The locks link the tidal Bow Creek to the River Lee Navigation, which is a canalised river. These locks were first built in 1850 and then rebuilt in 1930, at the same time as the Prescott Channel was cut nearby. At high tide, the tide from Bow Creek formerly flowed through Bow Locks, to raise the level of the canals, such as the Limehouse Cut. But in 2000, these locks were modified to keep the tide out, to reduce silting in the canal system.

In 2004–05, British Waterways refurbished the historic footbridge over Bow Locks.

Access and transport

There is pedestrian and cycle access via the towpath which also forms part of the Lea Valley Walk.

The nearest London Underground stations are Bromley-by-Bow and West Ham.

See also

• Canals of the United Kingdom
• History of the British canal system

External links

• Bow Locks from the late Mike Stevens
• One Hundred Views of Bow Locks
• Bow Locks footbridge re-opens
• British Waterways history of the Bow Back Rivers
• The Lee Navigation - Intro and Bow Locks to Old Ford
• Tuesday Night Club
• Bow Locks- a history

Next lock upstream	River Lee Navigation	Next lock downstream
Old Ford Lock miles	Bow Locks Grid reference: TQ383824	none