This site is being regularly updated as I add new information. The latest additions are:

5th August 2010: The addition of photographs of the Lee Resident Engineer 1872-1897, Joe Child (Lee Navigation and Lee Engineers)

4th August 2010: Lots of new photos and information. See Dobbs Weir Lock, Newman's Weir, Picketts Lock, Bow Back Rivers (City Mills Lock), Bow Locks (Three Mills Lock) and Limehouse Lock. Also a new photo on the Lee Surveys page.

30th June 2010:  The last milepost (at Hackney) is located and added to the site!

3rd June 2010:  A postcard image of Feakes Lock on the Stort in 1909.

2nd April 2010:  A new page for the Mileposts with their origins, photographs and locations of the surviving posts. Also a boundary post at Enfield and a Coal Tax post at Kings Weir

2nd March 2010: Mystery pictures page - see below and left - can you identify the location?

26th February 2010:   A new "old" map of Broxbourne Mill and Gull. See Carthagena Lock

21st February 2010:  The 1911 census.  The names of the lock keepers and their wives (but not their children), who were at home in their lockhouses on 2nd April 1911, have now been added.  To decode the reference, see below....

18th February 2010:  Hunsdon Mill Lock.  The details of the Mill at Hunsdon have been corrected and amplified.

15th February 2010:  Additional family details and photographs have been added to Sheering Mill Lock and Spellbrook Lock.

18th January 2010: Lee History Papers.  A new section containing research papers on the history of the Lee between 1190 and 1790.

Welcome to the History of the Locks on

the Lee and Stort Navigations

On the following pages are reproduced some of the entries in the 168 Minute Books of both the River Lee Trust (1769 - 1868) and the Lee Conservancy Board (1868-1948), held at the National Archives at Kew.  Information has also been gleaned from the Census returns (1841-1901) and from the massive holdings of Engineering plans and reports at the London Metropolitan Archives in Clerkenwell.

It was about two years ago that I was asked to write an article about the derivation of the names of the locks on both the Navigations.  My interest was kindled and after researching the names of the locks, I started to wonder about the names of the lock-keepers, so I hunted through the Census returns.

Then John Boyes told me that the Minute Books contained many references to the locks and the keepers.  This led to a series of visits to Kew to comb through those volumes.  It was a time-consuming task, as my attention would often be drawn into interesting side tracks, some of which I followed and recorded.

The original article was four pages long - when the research exceeded a hundred pages I decided to publish it. To produce a book seemed prohibitively expensive with the additional problem that the resultant volume was unlikely to top the Sunday Times' best-seller lists. 

So here it is as a website.  Apart from the histories of each lock, there are other pages which may interest you.

Where possible, I have added a reference to the origin of the information. You will need to visit the NA or the LMA if you want to verify or expand an entry, although I might have a digital image of the record. 

NA = National Archive. Rail 845 is the subject (Lee) in their records. The volume number follows the oblique stroke. The date will then take you directly to the relevant meeting in the Minute Book if you wish to go back to an original entry.

LMA = London Metropolitan Archives.  Acc 2423 is the British Waterways holding which includes the River Lee Trust and the Lee Conservancy Board papers.  The file number follows the oblique stroke.

LCB Records = The discovery of a box of Lee Conservancy staff record cards was unexpected and a treasure chest of information, often filling in gaps left by other sources.

Where there is a Census entry, the reference for each of the Census years 1841-1901 gradually narrows down through county to town to district to page.

The 1911 Census reference breaks down as follows: (the example is for Hertford Lock).

RG    14                         1911 Census

PN    7630                      Piece Number

(RG78PN374)                   (Ignore this bit)

RD    137                        Registration District

SD    2                           Sub District

ED    10                          Enumeration District

SN    269                        Schedule Number

If you enter the relevant number in the "census reference search" window, it should take you directly to the lock!

I have, in most cases, set an arbitrary time limit of 1950 on personal details, except where I have permission to include them.

The Lock keeper Index pages list all the Lock keepers alphabetically for both the rivers.  There are also pages which record the careers and locations of the Conservancy Police and Water Bailiffs.

The Mystery Pictures page contains images of scenes in the Lea Valley.  Our experts are defeated as to the location of these pictures!  Can you help?

The Survey pages record all the surveys carried out between 1791 and 1947.  To go to a particular lock in the Surveys, simply click on the title at the head of the individual lock pages or go via the Survey pages..

A broad history of the River Lea and the Lee Navigation written by John Boyes in 1994, particularly relating to the engineering aspects, will be found behind the Lee Engineers button.  Lee History Papers is the portal to the Edmonton Hundred History Society paper researched by Michael Parker, "The Navigation of the River Lee from 1190 to 1790" and to Dr Keith Fairclough's detailed doctorate thesis "THE RIVER LEA 1571-1767: A River Navigation prior to canalisation."

For those desiring a wider and more general history of the River Stort Navigation, I have included my own article "A Short History of the Stort".

Those interested in the legal history of the Lee and Stort should go to the Acts of Parliament page which shows all the Acts relating to the rivers with the major actions for each Act listed.

Just choose a button on the left to go somewhere that interests you!

By the way, if you are wondering just how much 20/- or a pound a week was worth in 1885 (answer £80*), this little table will give you an approximation.  It shows the value of £1 in terms of the Retail Price Index compared with 2008.

* Or that you could buy for £1 in 1885 the same amount of goods that would have cost you £80 in 2008.

All the currency amounts quoted on this site are in the "old" money format that disappeared with decimalisation on 15th February 1971.  For those who cannot remember those days, a pound was divided into 20 shillings (s) each comprising 12 pence (d). These pennies were divided into halfpennies (ha'pence) and quarters (farthings).  There was also the guinea which was £1. 1s, the crown (5s) and the half crown (2s 6d).  Currency amounts were either written as £5.2s.6d. or £5.2.6 or £5/2/6.  Just to make it interesting, amounts below £5 were often quoted in shillings and pence only; hence £3.7.6d would be shown as 67/6.

If you spot something you don't understand or think is wrong or just want to chat about, then click here and email me.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Richard Dean has kindly allowed me to use his finely-researched historical maps of the Lee Navigation, to locate, illustrate and add information to each lock. The legend can be brought up by clicking on the map. These maps are included in his 'Canals of London - No. 4 in the Historical Canal Maps' series. Full details of his work can be found at www.cartographics.co.uk/Page3.htm.

I must record my grateful thanks to John Boyes, Keith Fairclough and Jeremy Batch,  whose various researches, published and private, I have plundered for information.

Also to Dennis Ashby, whose extensive collection of early 20th century postcards has provided many of the illustrations on these pages.

Many of the other photographs were taken by me.  I have credited other images where I know the source.  The remainder have come by various circuitous routes and I cannot recall the origins.  If you know the provenance of any that I have not acknowledged, please contact me.

Richard Thomas

p.s. If you have the time to browse further, please have a look at my other websites -

www.alltalkthomas.co.uk

www.steamershistorical.co.uk