FLOOD GATES OPEN OR FABRICOLOR
12 November 2008
Fabricolor is involved in manufacturing the soffit on the gate house at Prescott Channel and Three Mills Water Control, at a lock near Stratford.
Improvements are being made to allow materials to be transported by water to the Olympic site which will assist in achieving sustainability targets.
It is said that an invading Danish fleet of boats trying to avoid capture by King Alfred in 896 fled up the River Lea to Hertford, where they fortified defences against Alfred's armies. When the Danes set about returning to the Thames, they found the river had suddenly been split into three or four shallow branches. Most historians suspect the river was split up north by Cheshunt/Broxbounre/Ware, whilst a handful say it was split at Stratford Marshes (thus giving the Bow Back Rivers their origin.) Maybe King Alfred split the river here or further north, maybe he didnt even do the splits, but he was defintely the first to establish a mill on the River Lea, where corn was brought down from Essex for grinding, and so he instigated the commercial beginnings of the River Lea/Lee and the Bow Back Rivers.
The rivers comprise of the Channelsea River (now mostly culverted,) the Prescott Channel, Abbey Creek, Three Mills River, City Mill River and Waterworks River, which are tidal. St. Thomas Creek, City Mill River, Pudding Mill River and the Old River Lee are virtually non-tidal now since the modification of the locks at Bow to keep out high tides. The Thames Barrier provides a further block if any exceptionally high tides are expected. The Bow Back Rivers are now a quiet backwater punctuated by the odd industrial complex. In their heyday they were very busy and served a heavily industrialised area that lay north of the main London to east Anglia road at Stratford. In the 1930's they were heavily modified to provide improvements for waterborne traffic and the old locks were swept away, being replaced by two new ones - at Carpenters Road and City Mills. Severe bends were removed, and some realignment was undertaken, whilst additional channels were built to provide better drainage. These improvements were enabled by the River Lee (Flood Relief) Act. The improvements meant a more modern network of waterways, but in essence the heyday of the Bow Back Rivers was almost at an end and the improvements constituted a sort of a waterways folly - City Mill lock ever only seeing a couple of times use before dereliction set in and Carpenters Road lock struggled on a bit longer through the 1950's and early 1960's.
Now the 2012 Olympics have been won for London, the main focus will be upon the Bow Back Rivers, but the question is how much of a regeneration of the rivers will benefit the area. The plans for the Olympics mean that structures such as Carpenters Road lock, whilst restored, will be hidden beneath a network of roadways serving the main Olympic stadium. As one prominent architect put it, the plans for the 2012 Olympics has flunked the chance of a proper regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley.
The River Lea enters the Thames at Lea Mouth, near Canning Town, opposite the Millnenium Dome. The first part of the River Lea is known as Bow Creek and its a fiercely tidal stretch of waterway that is rarely used for navigation. This section is under the supervision of the Port of London Authority and BW's role kicks in just to the south of Bow Locks. Anyhow, boats are more likely to enter the Lee Navigation via the Limehouse Cut, which connects the Regents canal dock (aka Limehouse Marina) with the Lee navigation. To all purposes and intents the Limehouse Cut is an extension of the Lee Navigation. The other alternative is a passage via the Hertford Union canal, entering the Lee Navigation in what is known as the Hackney Navigation Canal (or Cut) above Old Ford Locks.
