The River Lee or River Lea in England originates in Leagrave Park, Leagrave, Luton in the Chiltern Hills and flows generally east and then south to London where it meets the River Thames, the last section being known as Bow Creek.
The spelling Lea is predominant west (upstream) of Hertford, but both spellings are used from Hertford to the River Thames; the Lee Navigation was established by Acts of Parliament and should be so spelt.
The Lee flows south from Tottenham Lock. The large housing development to the west, Bream Close, is situated on a small island in the river, whilst in the distance the Gospel Oak to Barking Line crosses the river on a high bridge.
The source is usually said to be at Well Head inside Waulud's Bank at Leagrave Common, but there the River Lea is also fed by a stream that starts 2 miles further west in Houghton Regis.
The river flows through (or by) Luton, Harpenden, Welwyn Garden City, Hertford, Ware, Hoddesdon, Cheshunt, Waltham Abbey, Essex, Ponders End, Edmonton, Tottenham, Upper Clapton, Hackney Wick, Stratford, Bromley-by-Bow, Canning Town and finally Leamouth where it meets the River Thames (as Bow Creek).
It forms the traditional boundary between the counties of Middlesex and Essex, and was used for part of the Danelaw boundary.
For much of its distance the river runs within or as a boundary to the Lee Valley Park. Between Tottenham and Hackney the Lee feeds Tottenham Marshes, Walthamstow Marshes and Hackney Marshes (the latter now drained).
In their early days, Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient played their matches as football amateurs on the Marshes.
South of Hackney Wick the river's course is split, running almost completely in man made channels (originally created to power water mills, the Bow Back Rivers) flowing through an area that was once a thriving industrial zone.
Inside Greater London below Enfield Lock the river forms the boundary with the former Royal Small Arms Factory, now known as Enfield Island Village, a housing development. Just downstream the river is joined by the River Lee Relief Channel. The man-made,concrete banked water is known as the River Lee diversion at this point as it passes a series of reservoirs: King George V Reservoir at Ponders End/Chingford,William Girling Reservoir at Edmonton and the Banbury Reservoir at Tottenham.
At Tottenham Hale there is a connected set of reservoirs; Lockwood Reservoir, High Maynard Reservoir, Low Maynard Reservoir, Walthamstow Reservoirs and Warwick Reservoirs. It also passes the Three Mills, a restored tidal mill near Bow.
In the Roman era, Old Ford, as the name suggests, was the ancient, most downstream, crossing point of the River Lee. This was part of a pre-Roman route that followed the modern Oxford Street, Old Street, through Bethnal Green to Old Ford and thence across a causeway through the marshes, known as Wanstead Slip (now in Leyton. The route then continued through Essex to Colchester. At this time, the Lee was a wide, fast flowing river, and the tidal estuary stretched as far as Hackney Wick. Evidence of a late Roman settlement at Old Ford, dating from the 4th and 5th centurys, has been found.
In about 895, a force of Danes built a fortified camp, in the higher reaches of the Lee, about 20 miles north of London. Alfred the Great saw an opportunity to defeat the Danes and ordered the lower reaches of the Lee drained, at Leamouth. This left the Danes' boats stranded, but also increased the flow of the river and caused the tidal head to move downriver to Old Ford.
In 1110, Matilda, wife of Henry I, reputedly took a tumble at the ford, on her way to Barking Abbey and ordered a distinctively bow-shaped, three-arched, bridge to be built over the River Lee (The like of which had not been seen before), at Bow.
During the middle ages, Temple Mills, Abbey Mills, Old Ford and Bow were the sites of water mills (mainly in ecclesiastic ownership) that supplied flour to the bakers of Stratforde-atte-Bow, and hence bread to the City. It was the channels created for these mills that caused the Bow Back Rivers to be cut through the former Roman stone causeway at Stratford (from which the name is derived).
Improvements were made to the river from 1424, with tolls being levied to compensate the landowners, and in 1571, there were riots after the extension of the River was promoted in a private bill presented to the House of Commons.
By 1577, the first lock was established at Waltham Abbey and the river began to be actively managed for navigation.
The New River was constructed in 1613 to take clean water to London, from the Lee and its catchment areas and bypass the polluting industries that had developed in its downstream reaches. This artificial channel further reduced the flow to the natural river and by 1767 locks were installed on the canalised part of the River, now the River Lee Navigation with further locks and canalisation taking place during the succeeding centuries.
There are now plans to canalise parts of the Bow Back rivers to assist with construction of the Olympic Park for the 2012 Summer Olympics