Walking the Lower Lea - Sunday 18th May, 2014
I had pre-walked this route in 2012, with Pam and had wondered whether to offer it to the Group, as it is a bit of a strange one, I thought. It includes some nice places, some historic places, some interesting places and some horrible places. It also includes some frustrating places. (for the previous article, click here)
Thirteen people had said they were coming, and twelve did, and all in good time to leave Stratford Station at 10am. I'd have liked to have started the walk as last time at Pudding Mill Lane, but the DLR was not running. They are building a Crossrail system, so we had to walk further.
Pumping station workers cottages in Abbey LaneJust to give a bit of interest to Stratford itself, we visited the Martyrs Monument at St. John's Church in the Broadway. These were eleven men and two women who were burned together for their Protestant beliefs in 1556 during the Marian persecutions. I also decided to do a bit of a dog-leg along the course of Channelsea River and back along part of the Greenway, which is really Bazalgette's Northern Outfall Sewer. Of course you don't actually walk along the sewer, just along a route under which it runs – a route designed by Bazalgette following "The Big Stink" of 1858 as a promenade for the people, which it still is. We wasted time by standing on the Greenwich Meridian and working out what the time was (in GMT) by using one of us as a gnomen and standing on “May”. Luckily it was a sunny day so the time was about right. If it is cloudy there is no time at all.
The 40m Strand East Tower Olympic Torch in swanky Danes Yard – once the premises of a chemical factory - Great Black-backed Gulls and House Martins provided a bit of interest to some as we walked along Three Mills River towards the back of the House Mill at Bromley-by-Bow. We passed the Prescott Channel, built 1930-35 as part of a flood relief scheme. What I didn't mention – because we were a little later than I'd intended 'cos I kept talking – was that rubble from the demolished Euston Arch was used in 1962 to improve the channel. What I did point out was that a new lock was built between 2007-9. It was ten months behind schedule, so not able to be used as was planned to bring materials in by water for the creation of the Olympic Park.
House Mill tea-roomIn the reeds by the muddy tidal waters which was once the pound for the waters that powered the mills, a Reed Warbler was singing and the “peep” of a Kingfisher was heard. We discussed Excise duties because of the once-gin-factory and now (ex Big Brother) studios on our left before we entered the House Mill, on our right.
After teas and coffees and that in the tea-rooms of House Mill, David, our guide, began the tour. This building is Grade 1 listed building, mostly of wooden construction but with a brick frontage. It is amazing that it survives at all, having suffered the ravages of age (as the saying goes) bombs and fires. But there have been mills here since at least the 13th century, and there are plans to bring some of the water-wheels back into use – even perhaps to provide electricity from the water-power.
After and hour or so tour, we left the mills and walked with Bow Creek on our left and the Lea Navigation channel on our right towards Bow Locks. There have been controls for the water here since Edward 1st time around 1300.The present lock system to allow access and egress between the tidal Bow Creek and hence the Thames and the Lea Navigation was originally built in1850 and rebuilt much as now in the 1930s.
There is a bridge to enable the towpath to cross the locks which was also built in the1930's; it is an early example of using reinforced concrete to create an elegant design. After crossing that, we had to cross the River Lea itself, which here is known as Bow Creek. This was to gain access to the Essex side of the river, where a new pedestrian and cycle path has been built to help complete the total route of the Lea from its source in Luton to the Thames. This path – somewhat sadly, I think – called the Fat Walk (because it is wide), was prepared for the Olympics at Stratford: a grand ecologically friendly way for people to travel to Stratford, which would include the Grade 2 listed gasworks nearby. The plans (still available as a pdf file on the web) show happy people on their way between the great ornamental iron works, built on what was originally the site of a gunpowder factory. This is the factory that built the rockets used against the new Americans and give the title to “The Star Spangled Banner” - stars, you see, rockets! Well, the gasworks remain un-peopled, and the Fat Walk almost so – and I determined to show the group why. It's an easy stroll along the broad pathway – best done in the daylight with company for fear of muggers, because although near a host of office buildings is separated from them by an insurmountable fence. Across Bow Creek, strange industrial riverside industries still separate the people of Poplar from their hidden river.
Cody Dock - a history and an obstructionBut first we had to get to the Fat Walk from Bow Locks. After the railway bridge that carries the Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness line there are two bridges side-by-side that you walk beneath just before the locks. One - which is a pedestrian bridge that gave workers access to the gas-works - even has a ramp leading up to it, but also has a gate which is locked. The other is a road bridge and could easily have the Olympic-planned stairs up to it, but it never happened. So instead you exit from the canal towpath just where the Limehouse Cut starts, up to the A12 Blackwall Tunnel approach road, back-track along Gillender Street, and cross the security-gated road bridge leading to what had been the gas works. It looks private and always was; now, though (secretly) you can get onto the Fat Walk. A half-mile stroll alongside the creek, past the only exit which leads into the industrial complex, and up to a metal fence barricade. The other side of the dock entrance here is the rest of the Fat Walk, leading towards Canning Town. But there is no way to it; there is no bridge across the dock entrance. Another negative Olympic Legacy; another plan and promise that never happened.
We were really lucky, though, because if we hadn't been spotted by someone working inside the Cody Dock complex and he hadn't mistaken us for the following hundred-person (or so it looked) walking group, we would have had to return to the cut-through I just mentioned and our group wouldn't have been given nearly such a good potted history of the area and the Cody Dock community project as Simon gave us. Into the luck was thrown the fact that we were invited to walk through the dock, and out of an otherwise locked gate which saved us a considerable Olympic detour. (for the Gasworks Dock Project, click here)
I had said that the worst was yet to come, and we encountered that as we walked past Star Lane DLR and down Stephenson Street to the Canning Town Flyover. At the flyover we walked under, accompanied by such a smell of pot that we could almost have flown under. There is a friendly sign at the entrance to the underpass which says Bow Creek Ecological Park, and that at least is true and exists, and it is there that we paused for a break amongst the flowers and in the sunshine. There was a definite smell of burgers in the air; Fat Boy's Diner was beckoning.
Fat Boys American Diner at Lea MouthCrossing the River Lea again into Middlesex by the Blue Bridge footbridge, we entered East India Dock. What remains of the first of the London Docks to close (in 1967) is now a haven for birds, with nesting Terns screaming around their territories and Sheld Ducks flying over. East India Dock Basin was opened in early 1800s, promoted by the Honourable East India Company. It was relatively small dock, but could handle East Indiamen of 1000 tons and up to 250 ships at one time,carrying typically tea, spices, indigo, silk and Persian carpets.
From the docks and our first view of the Thames with O2 looming just across the river, we entered Orchard Place, passing a taxi with a tree sprouting from its roof, and made our way to Trinity Buoy Wharf – our destination.
The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company used to be here, at Lea Mouth, where the first all-iron warship, HMS Warrior, was launched in 1860. With the construction of East India Docks in 1803 the residents of Orchard Place were cut off from the rest of Poplar and hence the World. This led to considerable problems in finding marriage partners, so that all of the children were related. In 1930, out of 160 children registered at the school, 100 were Lammins.
The Group at Trinity Buoy WharfTrinity Buoy Wharf was the Trinity House depot for buoy repairs, repairs to lightships and training of lighthouse keepers. London's only lighthouse is here, and Michael Faraday experimented in the workshops.
The first thing we did when we arrived, of course was to dine in the diner. This is a very American affair, run by Sicilians. I had burger, fries and a milk shake; others had similar. Following the diner, some of us – if not all – visited the lighthouse. It's a free visit, and includes the singing bowls that give rise to the Perpetual Music Player which broadcasts from here. This is a musical-sound producing system that began at the Millennium and is programmed to continue until the next one.
Obligatory Group photographs completed, we walked back along Orchard Place to the nearest DLR. It's a long-old article, ennit?
Paul Ferris, May 2014
Distance 5.5 miles. Paul, Amina, Dave, Fozi, Fred, Jacky, Jinan, Jill V. Lynne, Marilyn, Pam, Tina.