Ferry Lane Local History Website

Just after passing under the North Circular Road the Lee Navigation crosses into the London Borough of Haringey, although the houses to the left are part of Higham Hill in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, which starts just east of the River Lee Diversion alongside. A footbridge, Chalk Bridge, leads over the river here giving access to Tottenham Marshes, former lammas land that became a popular leisure location during the 1920's and 30's. The remaining area is now looked after by Lee Valley Regional Park. An information board on the opposite bank tells how a plant new to science, Wurzell's Wormwood, was discovered here in 1987. On the skyline are the BT tower and closer to the south, Canary Wharf.

It is possible to use Chalk Bridge and walk on the edge of the marsh to Stonebridge Lock, or to continue along the towpath on the east bank of the Lee Navigation. The first of the many Walthamstow reservoirs, Banbury Reservoir, is now on the left. It was opened in 1913 and is also home to the Lee Valley Watersports Centre. Another ten reservoirs follow (although they can not be counted from the towpath), all built between 1852 and 1904.

On the right, beyond the marshes and road is London Underground's Northumberland Park depot, which maintains trains for the Victoria tube line. Northumberland Park station is on the main Lea Valley line out of Liverpool Street, and has to deal with additional traffic generated by home games at Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane stadium, which like the station is in Park Lane, not White Hart Lane!

Just before Stonebridge Lock is "The Waters Edge" - a pub/restaurant that is literally on the very edge of the river and makes a convenient stopping point on this section of the walk. At Stonebridge Lock(s) the walk crosses to the west bank of the river. The "Seed Sequence" here is another example of the modern art that can be found within the Lee Valley Park. Shortly after Tottenham Lock(s) Pymmes Brook itself joins the Lee. The building beside Tottenham Lock(s) with the Middlesex University sign was formerly The Heron Hospitality Centre, a wine bar and restaurant that was completely different to the previous generation's old Ferry Boat Inn - both are now just a memory.

A modern flyover takes Ferry Lane over the river here. For centuries there has been a crossing over the Lea at this point, the road was originally known as Mill Lane, and there have been various Ferry or Mill Bridges. Tolls were charged up until 1877 when the Corporation of London bought the rights from the East London Waterworks Company. Tottenham Hale station is just a few yards west along Ferry Lane. South of Ferry Lane the towpath is lined by residential flats, separated by The Narrowboat pub and a bridge carrying the Barking to Gospel Oak railway line, which in contrast to the Lea Valley line is a major freight route around London, the small passenger trains being outnumbered by the many heavy goods ones. The River Lee Diversion joins up with the Navigation here, after which the towpath turns and passes under another railway bridge, this time carrying the main Lea Valley line across to the other bank and down between the East and West Warwick Reservoirs. On the skyline is the spire of the Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd. If time and energy permit, it is well worth walking up to Rookwood Road (accessed via Watermint Quay - see below) to see the sculptures around the tower at close hand.

Immediately afterwards, Markfield Recreation Ground appears on the right. The pumping station at the northern end houses a preserved beam engine, once used to pump sewage, and is open to the public on the first Sunday each month. Turning the bend, the disused cranes of Oak Wharf come into view. Priday's timberyard is still in existance, but the timber now arrives at the other end of the yard by road, not barge. Beside Oak Wharf is Watermint Quay, a residential development opened in 1988 by the then Minister for Housing, William Waldergrave MP. Next to Watermint Quay is the Spring Hill sports ground and boathouse of the Lea Rowing Club. Rowing and canoeing have been popular here for well over a century now and a riverside cafe next to the boathouse offers welcome refreshments for all.

At long last the grass banks of the Walthamstow reservoirs on the opposite bank come to an end, as the boats at Springfield Marina come into view. Up to 200 boats can be moored here at any one time and it is here that the BBC's "Animal Hospital" TV programme filmed a cat being rescued by the Fire Brigade, after it got stuck inside a boat! The marina occupies a short loop on the east bank of the river, from which the tiny Coppermill Stream leads up to the old copper mill and the large Coppermill Water Treatment Works at the edge of Walthamstow (It is this industrial complex that treats all the water held in the reservoirs north of here, and here that the water from the New River ends up). Springfield Park on the opposite bank rises up to give a panoramic view over the river. It was opened in 1905 when the London County Council purchased the land for use as a public park.

South of Springfield Park and Marina it is possible to walk on either bank of the river. On the west bank, the Robin Hood public house used to stand for over a hundred years. It was joined during the LCC era by the flats that dwarf the smaller Anchor & Hope pub alongside. Over on the east bank lie Walthamstow Marshes, a Site of Special Scientific Interest across which the railway lines from Stratford and Liverpool Street join. It was under these railway arches that A. V. Roe constructed his early aeroplanes, conducting test flights across the marshes in the early 1900's. Later the AVRO company would build many successful aircraft, including Lancaster and Vulcan bombers. Beyond the marshes the embankment of an old aqueduct can be seen along with the Lee Valley Ice and Riding Centres. Even the relatively straight Navigation twists here in the shape of an "S" before reaching Lea Bridge Road.

The sign hanging above the Princess of Wales public house in Lea Bridge Road, an English rose, is a relatively new one. This riverside pub was formerly the Prince of Wales. It stands opposite a weir where the Lee Navigation and River Lea again split and flow their separate ways around Hackney Marshes. The old river goes east around the marshes, while the straighter navigation carries on down the west side. The Lea Valley Walk follows the towpath of the navigation, almost immediately crossing a bridge to the opposite bank, outside the Middlesex Filter Beds Nature Reserve. These filter beds were constructed to filter the water being piped to east London houses in the 1850's (after yet another outbreak of Cholera), but were superceded in the early 1970's by the large new complex at Coppermill Lane, north of here. One early suggestion was for the filter beds to be turned into formal lakes and water gardens, but they eventually passed into the hands of Lee Valley Regional Park and are now well looked after as a nature reserve, open to the public at weekends and weekdays during the summer.

On the opposite bank is Millfields Recreation Ground and the site where Hackney Power Station once stood, consuming coal by the barge load. Once past the filter beds, Hackney Marshes come into view on the left. If you fancy a game of football, this is the place to come. The marshes are covered in pitches, with hundreds of budding David Beckhams (who was born locally - not in Manchester!) practising their skills here every weekend. Some may well come from the houses and flats that have been built on the opposite bank.

Beyond the marshes and the old river can be seen New Spitalfields Market, built on the site of the former marshalling yards at Temple Mills, north of Stratford. Just before the bridge taking Homerton Road over the navigation is the home of Matchbox toys. Die cast models are no longer made here, but look for the names Lesney and Matchbox at the top of the office block still. The company was started using an old pub in Edmonton by some ex-servicemen after the second world war. It grew until the factories here employed over 2000 people and were making around 2 million Matchbox toys per week.

After passing under Homerton Road the Hackney Cut, as this straight section of the Lee Navigation is known, passes in front of some new flats, alongside Wick Field towards another road crossing. This road is the Eastway, which leads directly down to the Blackwall Tunnel. To the left can be seen the start of the controversial M11 link road for which hundreds of east end houses were demolished in the 1990's - despite the efforts of the anti road protesters who sat in tree houses and squats, and regularly featured in the national news. The road eventually opened at the start of September 1999, allowing motorists from the tunnel to swiftly reach the M11 or North Circular Road without passing through Leyton or Leytonstone.

Leaving the noise of the Eastway behind, the river continues south with Hackney Stadium, built in 1932, on the left. A plan to rebuild the stadium as part of a bid for the 2005 World Athletics Championships was suggested, but Picketts Lock, a few miles up river, was eventually chosen instead. On the opposite bank is the small Johnstone Boat House, presented to the Eton Mission Rowing Club in 1934 by their president Gilbert Johnstone.

A railway bridge taking the North London Line down towards Stratford marks the boundary between the London Boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, which the walk now enters. Immediately after the Whitepost Lane road bridge, is the junction with the Hertford Union Canal. This long straight waterway was opened in 1830 by Sir George Duckett to provide a direct link between the Lee with the Regents Canal. Also known as Duckett's Cut, it runs along the south edge of Victoria Park, an area of open space laid out in the 1840's by James Pennethorne. Duckett was also responsible for the River Stort Navigation, although he was known as plain George Jackson when he worked on that back in 1766! On the left are the production workshops of the Royal Opera House.