Black Ditch
The Black Ditch is a watercourse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets . The source of the Black Ditch is the Holywell Priory area, but maps show the Rogues Well pond on Rhodeswell Road as its source. In Whitechapel , the watercourse formed a pond in which petty criminals were punished by being tied to a chair and submerged in the water. A stone bridge crossed the watercourse in this area. There was another bridge on Poplar High Street. There was the Stonebridge Pond, which was used as a horse trough. The water flow in this area was very slow, contributing to a cholera epidemic in the area. In 1799 the Black Ditch is still recorded as above ground on a map, in 1851 it is then recorded as an underground watercourse as part of the sewer system. The Black Ditch flowed into the Thames at Limekiln Dock.
See also
Web links
- Black Ditch on London's Lost Rivers