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Today 958 years ago William Duke of Normandy landed at Pevensey in Sussex. News of this invasion brought King Harold back south fresh from his victory over the King of Norway at Stamford Bridge three days earlier. As he passed down the Lea Valley he stopped at Waltham Abbey (then a minster) to pray before […]

The exit from Bromley-by-Bow station has been improved by taking pedestrians away from the main road. To reach Three Mills: On leaving the station go left down steps and right through the tunnel. Now go ahead into the Leaside Lock residential development (no water to see yet) and bear left. At the far end bear […]

The Cody Dock bridge will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. This means that if you are walking south from Three Mills to East India Dock or Trinity Buoy Wharf you must break off at the Amazon building to walk through the industrial estate turning left at the second roundabout to reach […]

SS Robin was built in 1890 by Mackenzie, MacAlpine & Coat at Orchard Yard on the River Lea at Leamouth. The 300-ton steam-powered coaster, now part of the National Historic Fleet, is the last of her type still in existence. Next Sunday 10 December the fully restored SS Robin returns to Leamouth to permanently moor […]

New background reading on the River Lea comes from Jim Lewis who has written many years writing about the valley. Although this book claims to look at the river as a canal and has been promoted as being handy for those on the water it brings together Dr Lewis’s latest research. He stresses that it […]

Behind the late 17th-century Ferry Boat Inn at Tottenham Hale is an ancient apple orchard with water on two sides. The annual wassailing takes place in the orchard on Sunday evening 15 January. Wassailing, usually associated with Somerset and the west Country, involves singing to the trees to promote a good harvest for the coming […]

The pilgrim road from London to Walsingham in Norfolk before the Reformation was the for much of the way the road built by the Romans. The new route being launched this Saturday 3 September avoids that now polluted main road by directing pilgrims up the Lea Valley Walk to Ware with use also being made […]

Reports of flooding on Sunday will raise many questions. But the much viewed film of water pouring into Pudding Mill Lane Station is particularly interesting. This is in the Lea valley where the river splits across a floodplain into the Bow Back Rivers. The station lies between the Lea navigation and City Mill River. But […]

A 900-home development with a riverside path on Blackwall Yard, designed by Glenn Howells Architects, Panter Hudspith and White Artiketer, has been given the go-ahead by Tower Hamlets Council. This is a location well known to many completing the Lea Valley Walk. The end of the Lea Valley Walk (unless you choose to follow the […]

Tanya Landman’s latest novel has an appropriately ‘striking’ cover by Chaaya Prabhat which may encourage an instant purchase. Lightning Strike seeks to tell to younger readers the true story of the terrible working conditions which led to the Matchgirls Strike in 1888. This was a turning point in Bow and the development of trade unionism. […]