River Lea - Hackney Marshes
River Lea and the
Hackney Cut
The Lea, the Hackney Cut, the Flood Relief Channel and the Aqueduct flow south eastwards
Post to the north Lea Bridge Road
Post to the west Lea Bridge
Post to the east Leyton
Post to the south Hackney Marshes
Hackney Marsh
Hackney Marsh is described as ‘Hakenemersshe’ in 1397. The land was owned by the Knights Hospitallers and some of the area was Lands. South Hackney was still mainly farmland in the 1820s. Most common and Lammas lands were passed to the Metropolitan Board of works in the mid 19th but the Hackney marsh was excluded because many Lammas rights were still active and the marsh was used for grazing. There was pressure from landowners – for example the Eton Manor Mission - who wanted to use the marsh for sport. In 1890 the London County Council took it over by purchasing the landowners' interests and commoners rights and opened it to the public in 1893. They also undertook flood prevention - although this is marshland it has been drained since the middle ages and was also used to tip rubble from bomb sites during the Second World War.
Mandeville Road
Mandeville Primary School. This was originally, opened in 1902 as Mandeville Street School, and reorganised in 1927 and 1936. In 1949 it became Clapton Park Secondary School and following a number of changes and use by other schools in 1977 it became Mandeville Primary School.
Tower blocks – 19 storey Norbury and Ambergate courts were demolished in 1993
Orient Way
Built from the late 1990s and opened in 2002 this runs through part of the Temple Mills Railway Marshalling Yard and also covers some Lammas lands.
Seymour Road recreation ground
Laid out in 1952, partly on land bought in 1931 for allotments. There are now aspirations to improve them.
Waterworks
Waterworks Nature Reserve and golf course. Built on land previously owned by the East London Water Company by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.
Essex Filter Beds. The filter beds have been adapted as one of London’s largest bird hides. The East London Water Company bought land along Lea Bridge Road and built a series of filter beds. The Essex Filter beds were built in 1855 and then were joined by another six beds since filled in. The six radial beds on this site date from 1870 and the rectangular beds, from 1880-82. They were decommissioned in the late 1970's. Thames Water used the site in the 1980's for fishery experiments, and four of the rectangular beds were filled in. They then passed the land to the then Greater London Council as part of a land swap and in 1986 the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority took over ownership. An earlier set of Essex Filter beds remains within the operational area.
Waterworks Nature Reserve. Site of Essex Filter beds, opened as a nature reserve in 2003. Known as "The Waterworks" it has a large part open/part closed bird hide at the centre of a circle of former filter beds built in 2002 Nine of the original filter beds remain and each radial bed is managed throughout the year to show different stages of succession, ranging from open water to floodplain grassland through to dense reed and willow woodland.
Lee Valley Pitch and Putt Golf course – 18 hole golf course and floodlit driving range
Aqueduct. This links the filter beds to the Walthamstow Reservoirs was built at the same time as they were
Benches. there are a number of benches made replicate insects - a mosaic grasshopper and some damsel flies
Rails in some of the road ways were used to transport coal to the boilers in the water works
Sources
Walford. Highgate to the Lea
London Encyclopaedia,
Sexby. London Parks
London Gas Museum. Info
Victoria County History. Essex
Friends of the Earth. Gas Works Sites in London
GLIAS. Newsletter
The Lea, the Hackney Cut, the Flood Relief Channel and the Aqueduct flow south eastwards
Post to the north Lea Bridge Road
Post to the west Lea Bridge
Post to the east Leyton
Post to the south Hackney Marshes
Hackney Marsh
Hackney Marsh is described as ‘Hakenemersshe’ in 1397. The land was owned by the Knights Hospitallers and some of the area was Lands. South Hackney was still mainly farmland in the 1820s. Most common and Lammas lands were passed to the Metropolitan Board of works in the mid 19th but the Hackney marsh was excluded because many Lammas rights were still active and the marsh was used for grazing. There was pressure from landowners – for example the Eton Manor Mission - who wanted to use the marsh for sport. In 1890 the London County Council took it over by purchasing the landowners' interests and commoners rights and opened it to the public in 1893. They also undertook flood prevention - although this is marshland it has been drained since the middle ages and was also used to tip rubble from bomb sites during the Second World War.
Mandeville Road
Mandeville Primary School. This was originally, opened in 1902 as Mandeville Street School, and reorganised in 1927 and 1936. In 1949 it became Clapton Park Secondary School and following a number of changes and use by other schools in 1977 it became Mandeville Primary School.
Tower blocks – 19 storey Norbury and Ambergate courts were demolished in 1993
Orient Way
Built from the late 1990s and opened in 2002 this runs through part of the Temple Mills Railway Marshalling Yard and also covers some Lammas lands.
Seymour Road recreation ground
Laid out in 1952, partly on land bought in 1931 for allotments. There are now aspirations to improve them.
Waterworks
Waterworks Nature Reserve and golf course. Built on land previously owned by the East London Water Company by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.
Essex Filter Beds. The filter beds have been adapted as one of London’s largest bird hides. The East London Water Company bought land along Lea Bridge Road and built a series of filter beds. The Essex Filter beds were built in 1855 and then were joined by another six beds since filled in. The six radial beds on this site date from 1870 and the rectangular beds, from 1880-82. They were decommissioned in the late 1970's. Thames Water used the site in the 1980's for fishery experiments, and four of the rectangular beds were filled in. They then passed the land to the then Greater London Council as part of a land swap and in 1986 the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority took over ownership. An earlier set of Essex Filter beds remains within the operational area.
Waterworks Nature Reserve. Site of Essex Filter beds, opened as a nature reserve in 2003. Known as "The Waterworks" it has a large part open/part closed bird hide at the centre of a circle of former filter beds built in 2002 Nine of the original filter beds remain and each radial bed is managed throughout the year to show different stages of succession, ranging from open water to floodplain grassland through to dense reed and willow woodland.
Lee Valley Pitch and Putt Golf course – 18 hole golf course and floodlit driving range
Aqueduct. This links the filter beds to the Walthamstow Reservoirs was built at the same time as they were
Benches. there are a number of benches made replicate insects - a mosaic grasshopper and some damsel flies
Rails in some of the road ways were used to transport coal to the boilers in the water works
Sources
Walford. Highgate to the Lea London Encyclopaedia,
Sexby. London Parks
London Gas Museum. Info
Victoria County History. Essex
Friends of the Earth. Gas Works Sites in London
GLIAS. Newsletter
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