The Old River Lea is the former natural channel of the
River Lea below
Lea Bridge, in the
London Borough of Hackney. The Old River forms a large meander from the
Middlesex Filter Beds Weir to rejoin the main channel of the
River 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 ...
below
Old Ford Lock
Old Ford Lock is a paired lock and weir on the River Lee Navigation, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England. It is at Fish Island in Old Ford and takes its name from the natural ford which used to cross the River Lea.
Tidal section
...
, just west of the 2012 Olympic stadium.
The natural channel is joined by the
River Lee Flood Relief Channel
The Lee Flood Relief Channel (FRC) is located in the Lea Valley and flows between Ware, Hertfordshire, and Stratford, east London. Work started on the channel in 1947 following major flooding and it was fully operational by 1976. The channel in ...
, and
Dagenham Brook and a number of subsidiary channels to form the semi-tidal
Bow Back Rivers
Bow Back Rivers or Stratford Back Rivers is a complex of waterways between Bow and Stratford in east London, England, which connect the River Lea to the River Thames. Starting in the twelfth century, works were carried out to drain Stratford M ...
, discharging into
Bow Creek.
The natural channel forms the boundary between the London Boroughs of Hackney and
Waltham Forest; and forms the eastern boundary of
Hackney Marshes, and historically the western boundary of
Leyton Marshes
Leyton Marsh is an open space in the Lower Lea Valley, located in Leyton in the London Borough of Waltham Forest.
Geography
The marsh is bordered by the Walthamstow Marshes to the north, and by Coppermill Fields, the Lee Navigation and the ...
.
See also
*
List of rivers of England
This is a list of rivers of England, organised geographically and taken anti-clockwise around the English coast where the various rivers discharge into the surrounding seas, from the Solway Firth on the Scottish border to the Welsh Dee on the Wel ...
*
List of reservoirs and dams in the United Kingdom
This is a list of dams and reservoirs in the United Kingdom.
England Buckinghamshire
* Foxcote Reservoir, north of Buckingham
*Weston Turville Reservoir, between Weston Turville and Wendover
Cambridgeshire
* Grafham Water
Cheshire
* Bollinh ...
*
Locks and Weirs on the River Lee
*
Lea Valley Walk
The Lea Valley Walk is a long-distance path located between Leagrave, the source of the River Lea near Luton, and the Thames, at Limehouse Basin, Limehouse, east London. From its source much of the walk is rural. At Hertford the path follows t ...
*
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 ...
Notes
External links
Rivers of London
Geography of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Geography of the London Borough of Newham
Geography of the London Borough of Hackney
River Lea
2OldRiverLea
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