The Lea Valley, the valley of the
River Lea
The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of t ...
, has been used as a transport corridor, a source of sand and gravel, an industrial area, a water supply for
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, and a recreational area. The London
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
were based in
Stratford, in the
Lower Lea Valley
The Lower Lea Valley is the southern end of the Lea Valley which surrounds the River Lea. It is part of the Thames Gateway redevelopment area and was the location of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
A 2005 documentary ''What Have You Done Today, Mer ...
. It is important for London's water supply, as the source of the water transported by the
New River aqueduct, but also as the location for the
Lee Valley Reservoir Chain
The Lee Valley Reservoir Chain is located in the Lee Valley, and comprises 13 reservoirs that supply drinking water to London.
The Reservoir Chain is a major geographic constraint; together with the Thames it is one of the two significant topogr ...
, stretching from
Enfield
Enfield may refer to:
Places Australia
* Enfield, New South Wales
* Enfield, South Australia
** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb
** Enfield High School (South Australia)
...
through
Tottenham
Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...
and
Walthamstow
Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...
.
Geography
Physical geography
The catchment area of the
River Lea
The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of t ...
is located in the central part of the
London Basin
The London Basin is an elongated, roughly triangular sedimentary basin approximately long which underlies London and a large area of south east England, south eastern East Anglia and the adjacent North Sea. The basin formed as a result of compre ...
, on that basin's northern flank.
![River Lea basic geology](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/River_Lea_basic_geology.jpg)
The main underlying geological formation of the upper part of the Lea catchment, north of
Hoddesdon
Hoddesdon () is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, lying entirely within the London Metropolitan Area and Greater London Urban Area. The area is on the River Lea and the Lee Navigation along with the New River.
Hoddesdon is ...
, is
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
. The main underlying geological formation of the lower part of the Lea catchment, south of Hoddesdon, is
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
London Clay
The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...
.
However, large areas of these formations are overlain by much more recent
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...
formations, including
Clay-with-Flints
In geology, clay-with-flints was the name given by William Whitaker in 1861 to a peculiar deposit of stiff red, brown or yellow clay containing unworn whole flints as well as angular shattered fragments, also with a variable admixture of rounded ...
(on the Chalk),
till
image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
and other glacial deposits (mostly in the upper part of the catchment), and fluvial sand, gravel and
alluvium
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...
(in the lower parts of today's valleys, but also on some higher ground in east
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
and west
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, where such deposits were laid down by the pre-glacial "proto-Thames" and its former tributaries).
[British Geological Survey (BGS) maps at a scale of 1:50,000 which cover most of the Lea Valley can be viewed online a]
largeimages.bgs.ac.uk/ (Hertford)
an
![Lea Valley topographic map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lea_Valley_topographic_map.jpg)
The northern boundary of the Lea catchment area rises to an altitude of almost 180 metres, in hills north-east of Luton. The lowest point of the catchment area is the junction of the Lea with the Thames in east London, at an altitude of barely 5 metres.
The relief of the upper part of the Lea catchment is one of gently rolling hills, which are divided by the valleys that fan out to the north and north-west from an area between
Hertford
Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census.
The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...
and Hoddesdon.
The lower part of the Lea catchment runs from Hoddesdon southwards to east London, with the flood plain of the River Lea as its central feature. That flood plain has a width which extends to about 7 kilometres in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
. From there, the land rises on either side to an altitude of around 120 metres, to gravel-capped plateaus in Hertfordshire (
Northaw
Northaw is a village in the Welwyn Hatfield district of Hertfordshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Northaw and Cuffley (where at the 2011 Census the population was included), which was originally known as Northaw.
The parish had ...
) and Middlesex (
Southgate
Southgate or South Gate may refer to:
Places Australia
*Southgate, Sylvania
*Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, an area within Southbank, Victoria
Canada
*Southgate, Ontario, a township in Grey County
* Southgate, Middlesex County, Ontario
Ed ...
) to the west, and to Essex (
Epping Forest
Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London ...
) in the east.
The upper part of the catchment area of the River Lea was formerly a group of valleys whose rivers flowed approximately north–south directly into the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
(the "proto-Thames"). Until the
Anglian glaciation
The Anglian Stage is the name used in the British Isles for a middle Pleistocene glaciation. It precedes the Hoxnian Stage and follows the Cromerian Stage in the British Isles. The Anglian Stage is correlated to Marine Isotope Stage 12 (MIS 12), ...
about 450,000 years ago, the Thames flowed north-eastward past
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
, through what is now the Vale of St Albans, then eastwards towards
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...
and the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
.
[Bridgland, DR and Gibbard, PL (1997), ''Quaternary River Diversions in the London Basin and the Eastern English Channel'', Géographie physique et Quaternaire, vol. 51, n° 3, 1997, pp. 337-346. Online a]
www.erudit.org/fr/revues/
See in particular Figure 1.
The lower part of today's Lea valley was formed during the Anglian glaciation. During that period, ice from the north of England advanced at least as far south as Watford,
Finchley
Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross.
Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...
and
Chingford
Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The town is approximately north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow to the ...
. As a result, the River Thames was diverted to a more southerly route, broadly along the line of its current course.
As the ice retreated, the lower part of the River Lea was formed. It flowed almost directly north–south into the newly diverted Thames (see further notes below).
Further north, the newly formed lower Lea was fed by rivers which, as mentioned above, had flowed directly into the proto-Thames prior to the Anglian glaciation. These rivers - the upper Lea, the
Mimram
The River Mimram is a river in Hertfordshire, England.
Geography
The river valley known locally as the Mimram Valley is named after the River Mimram, which rises from a spring to the north-west of Whitwell, in North Hertfordshire, England, an ...
, the
Beane, the
Rib, the
Ash
Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
and the
Stort
The River Stort is a river in Essex and Hertfordshire, England. It is 24 miles (38 km) long and flows from just south of the village of Langley to the River Lea at Hoddesdon.
The river's name is a back-formation; the town of Bishop's Stor ...
- today follow courses which are mostly similar to those of their pre-Anglian predecessors.
(Note - the above summary is accurate as far as it goes, but in reality the processes of glaciation and river diversion were more complex than in this summary - for example, four separate ice advances of the Anglan glaciation in this area have been identified.)
Further notes on the lower Lea Valley
Prior to the Anglian glaciation, a "proto-Mole-Wey" river was flowing northwards from the Weald and North Downs, through the "
Finchley depression", to join the proto-Thames somewhere around Hoddesdon.
Just prior to the arrival of the Anglian ice sheet in the Thames basin, this proto-Mole-Wey river appears to have been flowing over a wide, low-gradient valley floor between
Palmers Green
Palmers Green is a suburban area and electoral ward in North London, England, within the London Borough of Enfield. It is located within the N13 postcode district, around north of Charing Cross. It is home to the largest population of Greek Cy ...
and Hoddesdon at what is today an altitude of around 60 metres.
When the Anglian ice sheet diverted the Thames southwards, the Mole-Wey was cut off at Richmond. As meltwater from the retreating Anglian ice sheet gave birth to the south-flowing lower River Lea, that river cut into and followed the line of the former proto-Mole-Wey, between Hoddesdon and Palmers Green. It flowed into the newly diverted Thames, which at that time was spread over a wide flood plain extending as far north as Islington.
![Lower Lea valley from the air](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Lower_Lea_valley_from_the_air.jpg)
The earliest line of the lower River Lea is indicated by what appear on the BGS 1:50,000 map as deposits of "Boyn Hill gravel", notably at
Forty Hill
Forty Hill is a largely residential suburb in the north of the London Borough of Enfield, England. To the north is Bulls Cross, to the south Enfield Town, to the west Clay Hill, and to the east Enfield Highway. Prior to 1965 it was in the his ...
, Bush Hill and Palmers Green (
Broomfield Park
Broomfield Park was a association football, football stadium in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, home of Airdrieonians F.C. (1878), Airdrieonians from 1892 until it was closed after the 1993–94 in Scottish football, 1993–94 football season.
Aird ...
).
These deposits lie at an altitude of approximately 50 metres, just to the east of, and slightly lower than, the lowest gravel deposits left by the proto-Mole-Wey (shown on BGS maps as "Dollis Hill Gravel").
But the River Lea has clearly moved eastwards since the Boyn Hill terraces were laid down. In fact, the lower Lea Valley has been noted for the striking width of its valley floor, especially the section from
Wormley down to
Tottenham
Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...
, as well as for the relative steepness of parts of its eastern slope.
For example, in the London Borough of Enfield, the ground slopes from an altitude of only about 25 metres at the Ridge Avenue library to about 15 metres at the foot of Kings Head Hill, some five kilometres to the east. It then rises to an altitude of 85 metres on the summit of
Pole Hill
Pole Hill is a hill in Chingford, north-east London, on the border between Greater London and Essex. From its summit there is an extensive view over much of east, north and west London, although in the summer the leaves of the trees in Epping Fo ...
, barely a further one kilometre to the east. Across that five kilometres of valley floor, the ground is mostly covered by river terrace deposits of decreasing altitude and age, thus demonstrating that the lower River Lea has migrated eastwards since it was formed some 400,000 years ago.
Some authors have proposed that the notable width of the lower Lea Valley indicates that it was once occupied by a larger and more powerful river, namely the proto-Thames.
However, this hypothesis is not universally supported. In any case, even if all or some of the water being conveyed by the proto-Thames as it flowed north-east through the Vale of St Albans was diverted southwards from around Hoddesdon by an advancing Anglian ice sheet, this could only have been for a brief (geologically speaking) period, because the ice then progressed further to the south and caused the above-mentioned complete diversion of the Thames to its more southerly course of today.
In addition, it is clear that the River Lea alone has been powerful enough to cause significant erosion below the surface across which the Anglian ice sheet flowed and on which it left till and other deposits. A cross-section across the Lea Valley at Enfield shows that the Lea has cut down by as much as 45 metres, over a width of more than six kilometres, since the Anglian glaciation.
[Wells, AK and Wooldridge SW, ''Notes on the Geology of Epping Forest'', Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, Volume 34, Issue 3, 1923, page 251.]
![Lower Lea valley post-Anglian](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Lower_Lea_valley_post-Anglian.jpg)
But why did the River Lea move eastwards? It has been suggested that the River Lea has been "tilted...into its eastern bank" by "a north-south
monocline" which was established "at least as early as the beginning of Eocene times".
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
isostatic adjustment of the London Basin (with uplift in the west caused by erosion and subsidence in the east caused by accumulation of deposits in the North Sea) may also have played a role.
[Bridgland, DR (1994), ''The Quaternary of the Thames''. Chapman & Hall, London, chapter 1, "Terrace Formation".]
Human geography
The northern section of the valley, although including several towns (
Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...
,
Harpenden
Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Har ...
,
Hertford
Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census.
The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...
and
Ware
Ware may refer to:
People
* Ware (surname)
* William of Ware (), English Franciscan theologian
Places Canada
* Fort Ware, British Columbia
United Kingdom
* Ware, Devon
*Ware, Hertfordshire
* Ware, Kent
United States
* Ware, Elmore County ...
), is mainly rural. Below Hertford the Lea flows on a wide
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
, which becomes an increasingly urban transport corridor as it enters Greater London. Many of the upper sections have been exploited for sand, gravel or brickearth, and are now part of the
Lee Valley Park
Lee Valley Regional Park is a long linear park, much of it green spaces, running through the northeast of Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire from the River Thames to Ware, through areas such as Stratford, Clapton, Tottenham, Enfield, ...
.
From
Hoddesdon
Hoddesdon () is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, lying entirely within the London Metropolitan Area and Greater London Urban Area. The area is on the River Lea and the Lee Navigation along with the New River.
Hoddesdon is ...
a more or less continuous
ribbon development Ribbon development refers to the building of houses along the routes of communications radiating from a human settlement. The resulting linear settlements are clearly visible on land use maps and aerial photographs, giving cities and the countrysid ...
runs south to the west of the river, running through
Wormley,
Broxbourne
Broxbourne is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Hoddesdon, in the Broxbourne district, in Hertfordshire, England, north of London, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census.Broxbourne Town population 2011 I ...
,
Cheshunt
Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, Hertfor ...
and
Waltham Cross
Waltham Cross is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, located north of central London. In the south-eastern corner of Hertfordshire, it borders Cheshunt to the north, Waltham Abbey to the east, and Enfield to the south ...
to
Freezy Water. To the south the wider expanse of Greater London includes the floodplain settlements of
Enfield Lock
Enfield Lock is an area in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. It is approximately located east of the Hertford Road between Turkey Street and the Holmesdale Tunnel overpass, and extends to the River Lee Navigation, including the Enfi ...
,
Enfield Highway
Enfield Highway is an area in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. It is roughly located in the area either side of Hertford Road (Enfield Highway) between Hoe Lane and The Ride.
Etymology
Enfield Highway is marked thus on the Ordnance ...
,
Brimsdown
Brimsdown is a neighbourhood of eastern Enfield in the London Borough of Enfield, north London, on the west side of the mid-to-lower Lea Valley.
Geography
The east of Brimsdown, that is, east of the eastern Lea Valley line is one of the borough ...
,
Ponders End
Ponders End is the southeasternmost part of Enfield, north London, centred on the Hertford Road. Situated to the west of the River Lee Navigation, it became industrialised through the 19th century, similar to the Lea Valley in neighbouring Edm ...
,
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
,
Tottenham
Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...
,
Tottenham Hale
Tottenham Hale is a district of north London and part of the London Borough of Haringey, bounded by the River Lea and located to the south/south-east of Tottenham proper. From 1850 to 1965, it was part of the Municipal Borough of Tottenham, in Mi ...
,
Clapton,
Lea Bridge
Lea Bridge is a district in the London Borough of Hackney and the London Borough of Waltham Forest in London, England. It lies 7 miles (11.3 km) northeast of Charing Cross.
The area it takes its name from a bridge built over the River ...
,
Leyton
Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...
,
Hackney Wick
Hackney Wick is a neighbourhood in east London, England. The area forms the south-eastern part of the district of Hackney, and also of the wider London Borough of Hackney. Adjacent areas of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets are sometimes a ...
,
Old Ford
Old Ford is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets that is named after the natural ford which provided a crossing of the River Lea.
History Administration and boundaries
Historically, Old Ford was a cluster of houses and a mill, aroun ...
,
Bow,
Stratford,
West Ham
West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham.
The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...
,
Bromley-by-Bow
Bromley, commonly known as
Bromley-by- Bow, is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, located on the western banks of the River Lea, in the Lower Lea Valley in East London.
The area is distinct from Bow, which li ...
,
Canning Town
Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London. The district is located to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock, and has been described as the "Child of the Victoria Docks" as the timing and nature of its urbanisation ...
and
Leamouth
Leamouth is a locality in the Blackwall area of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area takes its name from the former ''Leamouth Wharf'' and lies on the west side of the confluence of the Bow Creek stretch of the Lea, at its confluence ...
.
A combination of factors led to the development of the valley as an important industrial area. These included, in the early days, distance from London for noxious industries and the availability of water power. Later factors included cheap electrical power from
Brimsdown
Brimsdown is a neighbourhood of eastern Enfield in the London Borough of Enfield, north London, on the west side of the mid-to-lower Lea Valley.
Geography
The east of Brimsdown, that is, east of the eastern Lea Valley line is one of the borough ...
and large expanses of flat land.
History
Boundary
In earlier centuries the river Lea and its marshland formed a natural boundary between the historic areas of
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
and
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, some 2 km wide and 20 km long. The river was crossed at several points by fords or ferries, which were eventually replaced by bridges. At
Stratford a stone causeway on the
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
to
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
was supplemented by bridge in 1100. In 1745 the valley was crossed at Clapton by
Lea Bridge
Lea Bridge is a district in the London Borough of Hackney and the London Borough of Waltham Forest in London, England. It lies 7 miles (11.3 km) northeast of Charing Cross.
The area it takes its name from a bridge built over the River ...
. In 1810 an iron bridge was built linking
East India Dock Road
East India Dock Road is a major arterial route from Limehouse to Canning Town in London. The road takes its name from the former East India Docks in the Port of London, and partly serves as the high street of Poplar. To the west it becomes Co ...
. In the late 1920s the
Lea Valley Viaduct, carrying the
North Circular Road
The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east via suburban North London, connecting ...
, was built to a design by
Owen Williams. This was replaced in the 1980s.
Byway
The valley of the Lea formed a route followed by the
New River and
Lee Navigation
The Lee Navigation is a canalised river incorporating the River Lea (also called the River Lee along the sections that are navigable). It flows from Hertford Castle Weir to the River Thames at Bow Creek; its first lock is Hertford Lock and its ...
, and roads including the Roman
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln (''Lindum Colonia'') and York (''Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earningas'', ...
, the
Hertford Road (A1010) and the later
Great Cambridge Road (A10) and A1055. The valley is also followed by two
routes of what became the
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...
and had important marshalling yards and locomotive works at
Temple Mills
Temple Mills is a district located on the boundary of the London boroughs of London Borough of Newham, Newham and London Borough of Waltham Forest, Waltham Forest, with a small part also in London Borough of Hackney, Hackney in east London.
Temp ...
.
Industry
Much early industrialisation was a result of the availability of water power for numerous mills. These include the
Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills
The Royal Gunpowder Mills are a former industrial site in Waltham Abbey, England.
It was one of three Royal Gunpowder Mills in the United Kingdom (the others being at Ballincollig and Faversham). Waltham Abbey is the only site to have survive ...
(originally a
fulling mill
Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...
but already producing
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...
by 1665), the 19th century
Royal Small Arms Factory at
Enfield
Enfield may refer to:
Places Australia
* Enfield, New South Wales
* Enfield, South Australia
** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb
** Enfield High School (South Australia)
...
and
Wright's Flour Mill (Greater London's last surviving working mill) at
Ponders End
Ponders End is the southeasternmost part of Enfield, north London, centred on the Hertford Road. Situated to the west of the River Lee Navigation, it became industrialised through the 19th century, similar to the Lea Valley in neighbouring Edm ...
. Further south at
Bow is the
Three Mills
The Three Mills are former working mills and an island of the same name on the River Lea. It is one of London’s oldest extant industrial centres. The mills lie in the London Borough of Newham, but despite lying on the Newham side of the Lea, ...
tidal complex.
In the 18th century
Bow porcelain factory
The Bow porcelain factory (active c. 1747–64 and closed in 1776) was an emulative rival of the Chelsea porcelain factory in the manufacture of early soft-paste porcelain in Great Britain. The two London factories were the first in England. It ...
flourished. In the 19th century the lower Lea became an important area for the manufacture of chemicals, in part based on the supply of by-products such as sulphur and
ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...
from the
Gas Light and Coke Company
The Gas Light and Coke Company (also known as the Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company), was a company that made and supplied coal gas and coke. The headquarters of the company were located on H ...
's works at Bow Common. Other industries included
Bryant and May, Berger Paints,
Stratford Railway Works and confectionery manufacturer Clarnico (later
Trebor). Where the river meets the Thames were the
Orchard House Yard
Orchard House Yard (known as Orchard Yard and Hercules Wharf) was an English shipbuilding yard located at Leamouth, on the River Lea at Bow Creek . Forming part of the Orchard House estate, a number of shipbuilders occupied the site over time: ...
and
Thames Ironworks shipyards.
In the 20th century the combination of transport, wide expanses of flat land and electricity from riverside and canal-side plants such as
Brimsdown
Brimsdown is a neighbourhood of eastern Enfield in the London Borough of Enfield, north London, on the west side of the mid-to-lower Lea Valley.
Geography
The east of Brimsdown, that is, east of the eastern Lea Valley line is one of the borough ...
,
Hackney, Bow and
West Ham
West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham.
The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...
led to expansion of industries including for example
Enfield Rolling Mills
Enfield Rolling Mills was a British manufacturer of non-ferrous metals.
The company was founded in 1924 as a private company, located on the River Lea in Enfield Lock near London. In 1933, it became a public company, and became known as 'Enfiel ...
and
Enfield Cables
Enfield Cables Ltd was a British manufacturer of electric cables.
The company was founded in 1913 by James Grimston as the Enfield Electric Cable Manufacturing Co Ltd, located on the River Lea in Enfield Lock. In 1959, as Enfield Cables Ltd, it ...
,
Thorn Electrical Industries
Thorn Electrical Industries Limited was a British electrical engineering company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, but merged with EMI Group to form Thorn EMI in 1979. It was de-merged in 1996 and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 ...
, Belling,
Glover and Main,
MK Electric
MK Electric is a company that makes electrical accessories. The company's headquarters are in Basildon, Essex, England, from where it sells goods worldwide.
History
In 1912 Charles Arnold and Charles Belling formed Belling and Company making ...
,
Gestetner
The Gestetner is a type of duplicating machine named after its inventor, David Gestetner (18541939). During the 20th century, the term ''Gestetner'' was used as a verb—as in ''Gestetnering''. The Gestetner company established its base in London ...
,
JAP Industries,
Ferguson Electronics
Ferguson Electronics (formerly known as Ferguson Radio Corporation) is an electronics company specializing in small electronics items such as radios and set top boxes.
History
Ferguson is one of the older electronics companies, alongside Ultra ...
,
Hotpoint
Hotpoint is a British brand of domestic appliances. Ownership of the brand is split between American company Whirlpool, which has the rights in Europe, and Chinese company Haier, which has the rights in the Americas through its purchase of GE A ...
,
Lesney
Lesney Products & Co. Ltd. was a British manufacturing company responsible for the conception, manufacture, and distribution of die-cast toys under the "Matchbox" name. The company existed from 1947 until 1982.
History
Lesney was founded on 19 J ...
(original makers of
Matchbox toys), a
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
components (later
Visteon
Visteon Corporation (VC) is an American global automotive electronics supplier and Fortune 500 company spun off from the Ford Motor Company in 2000. Visteon is composed of multiple businesses that design, engineer, and manufacture vehicle cockpit ...
) plant and
Johnson Matthey
Johnson Matthey is a British multinational speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies company headquartered in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History Early years
...
.
[Jim Lewis 1999, ''London's Lea Valley'', Phillimore, ] Much industry has now gone, replaced by warehousing and retail parks.
Small scale farming
North of
Cheshunt
Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, Hertfor ...
the Lea Valley, particularly around
Nazeing
Nazeing is a village and parish in Essex, England. Within the parish are the separate settlements of Upper Nazeing, Middle Nazeing, and Lower Nazeing. The Prime Meridian passes to the west of Lower Nazeing.
Location and topography
Nazeing is ...
, is associated with
market gardening
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to ...
,
nurseries and
garden centre
A garden centre (Commonwealth English spelling; U.S. nursery or garden center) is a retail operation that sells plants and related products for the domestic garden as its primary business.
It is a development from the concept of the retail plant n ...
s. The industry once dominated the area from
Ponders End
Ponders End is the southeasternmost part of Enfield, north London, centred on the Hertford Road. Situated to the west of the River Lee Navigation, it became industrialised through the 19th century, similar to the Lea Valley in neighbouring Edm ...
, north through
Enfield Lock
Enfield Lock is an area in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. It is approximately located east of the Hertford Road between Turkey Street and the Holmesdale Tunnel overpass, and extends to the River Lee Navigation, including the Enfi ...
,
Waltham Cross
Waltham Cross is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, located north of central London. In the south-eastern corner of Hertfordshire, it borders Cheshunt to the north, Waltham Abbey to the east, and Enfield to the south ...
and Cheshunt, to
Wormley,
Turnford and Nazeing, and spawned industries such as
Pan Britannica Industries. In the 1930s the valley contained the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world.
Stamp writing in 1948 described how glasshouses, originally established on the 'warm brickearth soils' of Tottenham and Edmonton in the 1880s, had been progressively driven north into the often poorer soils further north by the growth of London. At the same time the growth of industry had intensified the lack of winter sunshine. Today, in most parts south of Cheshunt greenhouses have been replaced by residential areas.
Protection & preservation
The
Lee Valley Park
Lee Valley Regional Park is a long linear park, much of it green spaces, running through the northeast of Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire from the River Thames to Ware, through areas such as Stratford, Clapton, Tottenham, Enfield, ...
occupies large areas of the valley. An extensive area of open land, built up using rubble from the
Blitz
Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to:
Military uses
*Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign
*The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War
*, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...
, is
Hackney Marshes. By contrast,
Walthamstow Marshes
Walthamstow Marshes, is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Walthamstow in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It was once an area of lammas land – common land used for growing crops and grazing cattle.
In aviation histo ...
is retained as a
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
(SSSI).
Further reading
Author Jim Lewis wrote several books covering many subjects about the area ranging from industry to sport.
Books written by Jim Lewis
Retrieved 17 July 2015
See also
*Lee Navigation
The Lee Navigation is a canalised river incorporating the River Lea (also called the River Lee along the sections that are navigable). It flows from Hertford Castle Weir to the River Thames at Bow Creek; its first lock is Hertford Lock and its ...
*Lower Lea Valley
The Lower Lea Valley is the southern end of the Lea Valley which surrounds the River Lea. It is part of the Thames Gateway redevelopment area and was the location of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
A 2005 documentary ''What Have You Done Today, Mer ...
*Markfield Beam Engine
Markfield Road Pumping Station, now known as Markfield Beam Engine and Museum or sometimes just as Markfield Beam Engine is a Grade II listed building containing a beam engine, originally built in 1886 to pump sewage from Tottenham towards the ...
Notes and references
External links
Walthamstow Pump House Museum of Technology and Industry
{{authority control
Valleys of Hertfordshire
Valleys of London
River Lea
Ramsar sites in England