LONDON'S WATERWAYS : PHOTOS

THE BOW BACK RIVERS AND THREE MILLS

These backwaters of the River Lea are London's least-known waterways, and the nearest that London has to a restoration scheme, which "restoration" & regeneration is heavily tied in to the 2012 Olympic project.

Click on the water can to see a map (53Kb) of the Bow Back Rivers.
Or click here to see how the Olympic development will impact on the Back Rivers (as far as I can tell as at May 2007).

Guided walks of parts of the London canals take place twice a month on Sunday afternoons all the year round, and also twice a month on Thursday evenings from May to August. A few of these walks (usually in June & September) cover Three Mills and the Bow Back Rivers. For details, see here.

For a down-loadable leaflet (86kb) about the Bow Back Rivers, go to .

(You'll need the Adobe Acrobat reader for the down-load : if you don't have that, you can get it free of charge here .)
Alternatively a printed version of the leaflet is available free of charge (although a donation to IWA would be appreciated). If you would like a copy, please send your snail-mail address to Mike Stevens.

Click on the small images here to see full-scale version with informative captions, then use your browser's BACK button to return here.

All uncreditied pictures are by Mike Stevens.

Three Mills

Three Mills Rally, August 2000 Photo :byTim Lewis	The mill pond in front of the mills, 1966
The back of the mills Photo by Tim Lewis, August 2000	Three Mill Lane, 1993

The Clock Mill at low tide, Dec,1999

The House Mill before restoration, 1987

Inside the House Mill before restoration,1987

Abbey Mills pumping stations, December 1999

Prescott Channel

Site of Prescott Sluice, Dec 1999

Building the new Prescott lock Photo by Peter Finch, May 2007

Artist's impression of the new lock Photo from the BW web site

Prescott Sluice use to be at the southern end of the channel, next to its junction with Abbey Creek, and was the sluice that controlled the waters that fed the tide mills. Since it was removed the rivers above this point have been fully tidal. Work has started to return them to a non-tidal state with a large lock on Prescott Channel, so that 350 ton barge traffic can be used in the construction of hte Olympic facilities further upstream.

Three Mills Wall River

The junction with Prescott Channel Photo by Tim Lewis, August 2000	New moorings behind the mills
	Photo by Tim Lewis, August 2000	August 2001

City Mill Lock

The lock dates from the work done under the River Lee (Flood Prevention Act) of 1930, and it is disputed whether it was ever used more than once or twice in its whole life. At the time of writing (Jan 2006) the lock is being restored and has already been regated in conjunction with a building project alongside it.

1993

1993

Photo by Tim Lewis, August 2000

July 2006

City Mill River

August 1994

June 2007

June 2007

June 2007

Abbey Creek

Boats entering Abbey Creek from Bow Creek, 1996

Further up Abbey Creek Photo by Tim Lewis, August 2000

Carpenter's Road Lock

Unique in the London area for its rising radial gates. In the building of the Olympic facilities, this lock will be (temporarily) roofed over by a huge "land bridge". This will be pretty well in the middle of the Olympics complex which will spread down the land south of the River Lea towards the A11, and across most of the width of the Back Rivers and furthr East to Stratford station.

1966

1993

Photo by Tim Lewis, August 2000

June 2007

The Old River Lee

The only time we met a boat coming tthe other way round the loop, June 2007	Remains of Old Ford tide gates		Entering the Old River Lee at Old Ford., August 1994
	,Christmas 2007	June 2007

Pudding Mill River

Christmas 1999

June 2007

St Thomas' Creek

The entrance to St Thomas' Creek from the Lee Navigation at Bow Bridge junction		Puding Mill Lane bridge, June 2007
date not known	June 2007

Two attempts on the loop

During the Three Mills Rally in 2000, a group of small craft tried to get round the "navigable" semi-tidal loop of the Bow Back Rivers, with mixed success.
The idea was to discover just how badly the silting and infestation with Floating Pennywort obstructed navigation.
The attempt was made at a time when the tide had brought the water well above the normal maintained level.
These photos were taken on the Old River Lee.
Photos : Tim Lewis, August 2000

By the time of the 2002 Three Mills Rally, dredging of the once-semi-tidal loop of the Bow Back Rivers had started but hadn't been finished. So once again an attempt was made to pass round the loop in a number of craft. Only canoes completed the whole loop. Two groups of narrowboats made the attempt from the two ends of the loop.

Photo 2002

Photo 2002

Photo : Tim Lewis, 2002

OTHER PAGES IN THIS SECTION	MAP	PHOTOS	FACILITIES
The Grand Union Main Line South of Watford (including the Slough Arm)
The Paddington Branch
The Regent's Canal
The Lower Lee
The Bow Back Rivers		Top of this page
The Thames Tideway			Tideway site

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