Lee & Stort Navigations

Richard Thomas has compiled a very informative website with very comprehensive information on the history of the Rivers Lee and Stort. 

In the early 1930s, significant investment was injected into the Bow Backs to improve their ability to accommodate both floodwaters and navigation. At this time two new locks were constructed at City Mills and Carpenters Road. In addition the Prescott Channel was constructed with a sluice gate at its southern end to retain water. In the 1950s the Prescott Channel sluice was removed when the mills ceased working and retained water was no longer required.  Commercial traffic ceased to use the Bow Backs after the Second World War, and they were largely left to silt up and deteriorate.

Olympic Park Waterways

In November 2003, consultation plans were published for the potential site for an Olympic park. These were firmed up following the announcement in 2005 that the Olympics games were to be hosted in London in 2012. The Olympic works included a new lock, subsequently named Three Mills Lock, on the Prescott Channel for the transportation of construction materials.

Prior to the Olympic development of the park, British Waterways had dredged the City Mill River.  With the subsequent restoration of City Mill and Carpenters Road Locks, and the the Bow Back Rivers, a second cruising loop was created.

Built in 1776, a tide mill museum on the Bow Back Rivers known as the House Mill, is the world’s largest surviving tidal mill and one of the best kept secrets in London