Page updated 22 October 2005 

The Lee & Stort Navigations

Includes: Bow Back Rivers and Hertford Union Canal

General

Navigational Notes N97#1p90

Navigational Note 1:  Limehouse Lock (as it's called in the 2000 edition) closes at 16:00 in winter.  Telephone 0207 308 9930 to check opening times.

Navigational Note 2:  Telephone number now 0207 987 5661 or use VHF Channel 80.

Navigational Note 4:  This note has been deleted from the 2000 edition.

Navigational Notes N97#1p90 N2k#1p90

Navigational Note 3:  All locks between Old Ford and Stonebridge are paired.  Going upstream the right hand ones are the working mechanised ones, use BW key.  Picketts Lock is single and manual.  Ponders End lock is paired.  Use the left hand mechanised one and BW key.  Enfield and Rammey Marsh are manual, but have BW key operated mechanised bottom gates.

Limehouse Cut, and Bow Back Rivers

River Thames

Regents Canal

Bow N97#1p89

City Mill Lock is misplaced on the map.  It's not on the semi-tidal loop (with towpath) but forms a connection between that loop and the (light blue) fully tidal section.  Both City Mill and Carpenters Road locks are derelict.

Bow N97#1p89 N2k#1p89

The 2000 edition provides names for individual channels within the Bow Back Rivers complex.  Abbey Creek (marked as Channelsea River in the 1997 edition) is shown as tidal and navigable with care and has a winding hole just below the first bridge (round the top of the island).

The loop (with towpath) that passes the City Mills and Carpenters Road Locks is shown as the City Mills River.  This is semi-tidal and is badly silted and only suitable for shallow-draft vessels.

The Waterworks River (no tow path) runs from Three Mills Bridge to Carpenters Road Lock where a winding hole is shown north of the lock.

Bow Locks have been rebuilt, and a retaining wall built along the adjacent spit of land in order to keep the tide out of this section, which is therefore no longer semi-tidal.  Only one lock is in use at Bow, and opening times are available from BW London Region.  The relevant section of the Lee has been dredged, but the formerly semi-tidal loop of the Bow Back Rivers is so heavily silted that passage is impossible in anything bigger than a canoe.  Much of the Lower Lee and all the loop of the Bow Back Rivers have been heavily infested with Floating Pennywort, a non-native species of weed which chokes out other vegetation, suffocates fish and impedes boats.  BW are dredging this out of the main line, working southwards. The work is expected to be complete in July 2002 and the loop will once again be navigable.

You include some information which I sent you a while ago about the severe silting of the Bow Back Rivers (off the River Lee) and its infestation with Floating Pennywort. This will shortly be out of date, as the loop of the BBR which connects to the navigation (the formerly semi-tidal loop) is currently being dredged. The project is expected to be complete sometime in July 2002, when that loop will once again be navigable.

Anyone planning to navigate the Bow Back Rivers is advised to seek local advice.

A leaflet about walking the towpaths of the Bow Back Rivers is available on request by sending a stamped addressed C5 envelope to Mike Stevens, 333 Lyham Road, London SW2 5NS.

Lee Navigation

Limehouse Cut and Bow Back Rivers

Old Ford Lock N97#1p89 N2k#1p89

There are good temporary moorings above the lock.  The 2000 guide shows water, refuse and sewage disposal facilities in this area, but the text makes no specific mention of moorings.

Hertford Union Canal

Enfield Lock N97#1pp94-95 N2k#1pp94-95

Contrary to the text in the 1997 edition (p94), there are no shops near Enfield Lock and only one pub.  The Rifle, is found by the lockside and is not marked in either edition.  Other pubs and the shops are reached from the footbridge, a quarter mile upstream.

Boatyards:  BW Enfield Yard telephone number is 01992 788375.

Feilde's Lock

Stort Navigation

Stanstead Abbotts N97#1p98 N2k#1p98

Pubs and Restaurants:  There is confusion in the symbols and listing (on p101) for pubs in Stanstead Abbotts.  The 1997 edition claims the Jolly Fisherman is in St Margarets Road, Stanstead Abbotts, though the 2000 edition says the pub is at 8 Station Road, St Margarets.  Both are shown with the same telephone number, though the guest ale is no longer "occasional".  In Stanstead Abbotts there are, in fact, two pubs, both in the High Street.  The nearest is the Lord Louis, a Fullers pub.  The Red Lion is at the far end of the High Street.

Ware N97#1p102

Ware lock is shown the wrong way round and the bridge is shown the wrong side of it.

Hertford Union Canal

Lee Navigation

No updates received.

Regents Canal

Stort Navigation

Feilde's Lock

Burnt Mill Lock N97#1p107 N2k#1p107 N03#1p118

Burnt Mill Lock has an electric gate and paddle arrangement at the downstream end (BW key needed). The Water Point is situated just above the lock on the towpath side (adjacent to the station).

Community Boats operate above and below the lock and there is a very busy outdoor pursuits centre just below the lock. Keep a sharp lookout between Parndon Mill Lock and Burnt Mill. Slow down on the S-bends just below the A414 Bridge and expect to see canoes on the river.

Feakes Lock N97#1p107

North of the lock are shown three bridges.  The northernmost two are actually part of the towpath and do not span the Navigation.