Bow Creek

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Bow Creek
Bow Creek with Balfron Tower and Canary Wharf

Bow Creek with Balfron Tower and Canary Wharf

Data
location England
River system Thames
Drain over Thames  → North Sea
source River Lea
51 ° 31 ′ 1 ″  N , 0 ° 0 ′ 16 ″  W.
muzzle in Leamouth ( Tower Hamlets ) in the Thames Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 26 "  N , 0 ° 0 ′ 33"  E 51 ° 30 ′ 26 "  N , 0 ° 0 ′ 33"  E
Mouth height 0  m ASL

length 3.6 km
Map circa 1872, showing the Victoria Docks (now Royal Victoria Dock ), Bow Creek, and the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company
Bow Creek at high tide

The Bow Creek is a 3.6 km in length, from the tidal influenced estuary of the river Lea and part of the bow back Rivers . Below the Bow Locks , Bow Creek forms the border between the London Boroughs of Newham and Tower Hamlets , in east London.

Bow Creek near Bow Locks

history

The River Lea rises in Luton in Bedfordshire and flows first to the east, later to the south, to flow into the Thames at Leamouth . The last 3.6 km of the river is called Bow Creek and meanders through a low-lying landscape that was formerly called Bromley Marsh. Today there is a gas works and an industrial area here. Bow Creek is one of the oldest regulated shipping routes in England. Since the creek is tidal, it is not navigable at low tide.

The oldest evidence of navigation on the river dates back to 1190. In 1424 it became the first river on which changes could be made by a resolution of the parliament. A resolution of 1571 allowed the Lord Mayor of London to change the course of the river and create a towpath on both sides of the river. Additional work under this resolution should include a new link between Old Ford and Bow Locks called Bow River. As on Bow Creek, all users had to pay fees. During the plague epidemic of 1665, the boatmen on Bow Creek continued to provide food to the people of London. In recognition of the risk they took on, they were allowed to work without the otherwise customary use of officially ordered barges in London .

Because of the importance of the river, engineer John Smeaton was commissioned in 1765 to measure the river and make suggestions for improvement for shipping. His report from 1766 recommended replacing the flood locks with chamber locks. In addition, a breakthrough to the Thames was to be created in the Limehouse district. This avoided a detour by circumnavigating the Isle of Dogs in the direction of London. The connection was officially opened on July 2, 1770, but the collapse of a side wall prevented operation until September of that year, and in December of that year a bridge collapsed into the canal, interrupting traffic again. The canal was so narrow that two ships could not meet, so a widening was planned, which was opened in September 1777. The canal ends in the Limehouse Basin today.

Access to the canalized system now known as Lee Navigation was through flood gates . This flood gates had existed since at least 1307, when she by Henry de Bedyk under Edward I. built. The gates were renewed in 1573 by the owners of a mill. The City of London investigated the situation on the river, and in 1588 it was suggested that the gates should open automatically when the river and incoming tide balanced. In 1721 the mill owners again worked on the gates under the supervision of the city. Smeaton suggested in 1766 that the gates should be replaced with a chamber lock, but this was not implemented. A lock was built in 1852, but the gates remained. The lock was renewed and shortened in 1900, and a second lock was built next to it in 1931. Taller flood gates and walls were built in 2000 to prevent the canal system from being flooded when the water level in Bow Creek is higher than the canal system.

Access to the Bow Back Rivers was changed in the 1930s. The Prescott Canal was built to bypass mills and provide access from Bow Creek to the Three Mills Wall River and the Waterworks River . The lock system at the entrance to this system was decommissioned and dismantled in the 1960s. A new access system that can accommodate ships up to 350 tons was put in place as part of improvements to the rivers in London for the 2012 Summer Olympics . This means that there is again a ship connection between Bow Creek and the Bow Back Rivers. Bow Creek also had connections with Abbey Creek and the Channelsea Rivers , which connected to the Lea River near Hackney Marshes. Most of this connection is now underground.

Ships were built at Orchard House Yard, south of Leamouth, and launched into the waters of Bow Creek, from where they could either reach the canal system or the Thames. In 1810 an iron bridge was built over Bow Creek, which was located south of the current A13 bridge. The abutments were reused in the Hungerford Bridge footbridge .

literature

Web links

Commons : Bow Creek  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Boyes, Russel: The Canals of Eastern England. P. 13.
  2. ↑ Boyes, Russel: The Canals of Eastern England. Pp. 14-16.
  3. ↑ Boyes, Russel: The Canals of Eastern England. P. 17.
  4. ↑ Boyes, Russel: The Canals of Eastern England. Pp. 20-21.
  5. ↑ Boyes, Russel: The Canals of Eastern England. Pp. 21-22.
  6. ↑ Bow Locks - Bow Creek on: History of the Lee and Stort Navigation, accessed August 26, 2015.
  7. ↑ Boyes, Russel: The Canals of Eastern England. P. 36.
  8. ↑ Waterways face new Olympian task on BBC News, April 6, 2008, accessed August 26, 2015.