There had been gates at the site since at least 1307, as a structure was erected by Henry de Bedyk during the reign of Edward I of England. The channel now ends in Limehouse Basin.Īccess to the new navigation, now known as the Lee Navigation, was still by tidal gates at Bow. Traffic began to switch to the new cut, which was too narrow to allow barges to pass one another, and so a programme of widening it, which was completed in September 1777, was carried out. The cut was to be opened on 2 July 1770, but failure of a side wall delayed the event until September and a bridge collapsed into it in December. Although only a little further to the west, access at Limehouse avoided the long loop around the Isle of Dogs for traffic heading towards London. He produced a report in 1766, which recommended replacing the flash locks with more modern pound locks, and more significantly for Bow Creek, making a new cut from Bow tidal gates to the Thames at Limehouse. īecause of the importance of the river for navigation, the engineer John Smeaton was asked to survey it and to suggest how it could be improved in 1765.
During the great plague of 1665, bargemen on the river continued to supply food to the population of London and were granted permission to navigate the Thames without having to ask a Thames Lighterman for assistance, in recognition of the risks they had taken. This work is thought to have included a new cut between Old Ford and Bow Locks, which is known as Bow River and, like Bow Creek, is not subject to tolls for those using it. Another act of 1571 allowed the Lord Mayor to make cuts and improvements to the river and to construct towing paths on both sides of it. Use of the river for navigation is recorded in documents dating from 1190 and, in 1424, it became the first river in Britain where improvements were authorised by an Act of Parliament. The river is one of the oldest navigations in the country, but the creek is tidal, providing insufficient depth for navigation at low tide.
The final 2.25 miles (3.62 km) are known as Bow Creek, and follow a meandering route across a low-lying area formerly called Bromley Marsh, but now occupied by gas works and trading estates. The River Lea rises in the town of Luton in Bedfordshire, and flows to the east and then the south to reach the River Thames at Leamouth. Bow Creek at high tide with a view towards Balfron Tower and Canary Wharf History
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