Feb 2010 - my london diary

	Three Mills Bromley by Bow, London. Wednesday 3 Feb, 2010 Path between the Three Mills River and the Lea Navigation. The path on the other side of the river by the wall at left is still closed
	The tide was low and there was little water flowing through the mill at left
	The lock and sluice gates keep the water level in the Prescott Channel fairly high
	The gasholders designed by Sir Corbet Woodall seen from the lock
	Most of the water from the River Lea reaches the Thames through this gate. The lock was opened in June 2009
	These gates also work as flood gates - when raised as at the right
			This 203 x 26 ft lock will mainly be used by boats less than 72x7 ft. It cost around £20 million.
			You get a good view of the lock from the south travelling on the District Line The lock allows for a draught of 2.4 metres, more than three times that of most boats that will use it There is a foot bridge across the lock, but the path it leads to is still closed, long after its promised opening. This barrier closes the Three Mills Wall RIver, which until the Prescott Channel was built in the 1930s took most of the flow of the Lea through Three MIlls Since then it has been more of a backwater, recently with moorings for leisure craft, now rebuilt The Prescott Channel runs off at the right centre of the picture and at the left of this one There are factories and warehouses between the Three Mills Wall and the Lea Navigation up to Stratford High St shown in this picture. The Three Mills Back River which also ran through this area to the mills disappeared in the 1930s and is now simply an overflow from the navigation just to the north of the Three Mills.
			February main page