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Floral beautification of Carthagena
Lock, looking north in the direction of Ware. |
At Carthagena Lock, looking south. |
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London Waste Ltd. Incinerator,
Edmonon. |
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We passed the London Waste
Incinerator near Edmonon. Built between 1971-4 by the Greater London
Council.The building is described as " being on the edge of the marshes, in
a setting that enhances its impressive scale. Vast box-like forms clad in
corrugated metal sheeting, pale grey and dark grey, approached by two big
ramps on tapering piers. Huge cylindrical concrete chimney containing two
flues" It is Britains's largest incinerator. The site handles un-recycled
waste from seven London Boroughs: Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Islington,
Hackney, Haringey and Waltham Forest. The waste is converted into
electricity. Sufficient power is generated to meet the needs of 24.000
households. The site has been the scene of a demonstration by Greenpeace who
are against all energy-from-waste plants. The site is now euphemistically
known as the London EcoPark. Trials are being carried out to use the River
Lee Navigation in transporting materials to the EcoPark. A large composting
facility opened on the site in 2006, allowing green and kitchen waste from
local homes to be converted to compost. |
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Greenpeace protest in 2000, in
opposition to the expansion of the London Waste Ltd. Incinerator at Edmonon,
on the River Lea. |
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The question
of incinerators for London has proved a controversial topic. Ken
Livingstone, the mayor of London until the elections in the early part of
2008, was engaged in a challenge to prevent construction of a new
incinerator in south-east London, as outlined by the BBC on 23rd February,
2007:
London's
mayor has lost a legal bid to prevent a giant waste incinerator being built
in south-east London. Ken Livingstone and Bexley Council challenged a
government decision to build one of Europe's largest incinerator plants in
Belvedere. The government said the plant would tackle waste but
critics said it would add to climate change and discourage borough councils
from recycling. The High Court rejected the mayor's bid for a judicial
review of the decision. Mr Livingstone said he was "disappointed" by the
decision and said it was "a bad day for London's environment". "It
means that hundreds of thousands of tonnes of London's rubbish, which could
have been recycled or used to produce biofuels and hydrogen, will simply be
burnt," Mr Livingstone said. "These kinds of incinerators will release as
much carbon per unit of energy as a coal-fired power station. "Given the
scale of the challenge facing us on climate change this incinerator is an
obscenity." The government said the plant would be fuelled by waste which
would otherwise have been sent to landfill sites in the Home Counties.
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Near Tottenham Hale, looking
north; Lea Valley Marina, Springfield (near Tottenham Lock);
Crossing over Horseshoe Footbridge, Walthamstow Marshes. |
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View north from Horseshoe
Footbridge, Walthamstow Marshes. |
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Residential abode along the Lea,
somewhere near Hackney Marsh. |
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Industrial parks near Hackney Wick. |
Stopping near Hackney Wick; Sign at
Three Mills; Old Ford Lock, just south of Hackney Wick; |
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The Three
Mills are former working mills on the River Lee in the East
End of London, one of London's oldest extant industrial
centres. The House Mill remains the largest tidal mill in
the world, although the water wheels are not in operation.
The building is owned by The River Lea Tidal Mill Trust Ltd.
It is thought that there were 8 or possibly 9 mills on the
River Lee in Stratford at the time of the Domesday Book.
These would therefore have been the earliest recorded
examples of a tidal mill system. Some time during the middle
ages, Stratford Langthorne Abbey (once in Essex, now in the
Borough of Newham), acquired the three mills, and the area
became known as Three Mills. Stratford, historically
Stratford Langthorne, is located in the London Borough of
Newham in East London. It will be the major location of the
2012 Summer Olympics. By the time Henry VIII dissolved the
abbey in the 1530's, the mills were grinding flour for the
bakers of Stratford-atte-Bow, who were celebrated for the
quality of their bread and who supplied the huge City of
London market. In 1588, one of the mills was described as a
"gunpowder mill". During the 16th century the three mills
were reduced to two (which today are the House Mill and the
Clock Mill). In the 17th century the mills were used to
grind grain, which was then used to distil alcohol; the
mills became a major supplier to the alcohol trade and gin
palaces of London. A gin palace is an English name
originally for a lavish bar selling gin, later transferred
by association to late Victorian pubs designed in a similar
style. The House Mill was built in 1776 (and after a fire
destroyed it, quickly rebuilt) by Daniel Bisson. It is a
major grade I listed building. The Clock Mill was rebuilt by
Philip Metcalfe between 1815 and 1817 incorporating the old
clock, and an older bell. There was also a windmill which
survived until about 1840. The House Mill continued to
operate until 1940 and the Clock Mill until 1952.
Ownership changed relatively frequently during the 17th to
the late 19th centuries, until 1872 when the Nicholson
family, gin producers in Clerkenwell, acquired Three Mills.
Distilling ceased after the mills sustained severe air-raid
damage during the 2nd World War. The Miller's House was
destroyed in 1941 and rebuilt in 1995 with a modern interior
and rear part, but retaining the original façade.
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Clock Mill atThree Mills, one of
several former working mills,
of which only two remain, in Bow, the other being House Mill. |
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Enjoying a pint at Canary Wharf, at
the gastro pub owned by Gordon Ramsay, known as, The Narrow. |
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The Docklands Light Railway (DLR)
passing through Canary Wharf. |
The Limehouse
Basin in Limehouse, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets provides a
navigable link between the Regent's Canal and the river Thames. A basin in
the north of Mile End, near Victoria Park connects with the Hertford Union
Canal leading to the River Lee Navigation. The dock originally covered an
area of about 15 acres (61,000 m²). The Basin lies between the Docklands
Light Railway (DLR) line and historic Narrow Street. The Basin, built by the
Regent's Canal Company, was formerly known as Regent's Canal Dock and was
used by seagoing vessels and lighters to offload cargoes to canal barges,
for onward transport along the Regent's Canal. Although initially a
commercial failure following its opening in 1820, by the mid 19th century
the dock (and the canal) were an enormous commercial success for the
importance in the supply of coal to the numerous gasworks and latterly
electricity generating stations along the canal, and for domestic and
commercial use. At one point it was the principal entrance from the Thames
to the entire national canal network. Its use declined with the growth of
the railways, although the revival of canal traffic during World War I and
World War II gave it a brief swansong. The Docklands Light Railway is
carried on a viaduct originally built for the London and Blackwall Railway
above the original wharves along the north side of the basin. The
redevelopment of the Basin started in 1983 as part of the London Dockland's
Development Corporation's overall masterplan for the Docklands area.
However, it took many years for the scheme to come to fruitition. The
property boom and bust of the 1980's set back progress considerably, as did
the construction of the Limehouse Link tunnel which was built under the
north side of the basin in the early 1990's. By early 2004 the majority of
the once derelict land surrounding the basin had been developed into luxury
flats. |
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On the Regents Canal from Canary
Wharf to Kings Cross. |
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Regents Canal near South Hackney. |
The Regent's
Canal was built to link the Grand Junction Canal's Paddington Arm, which
opened in 1801, with the Thames at Limehouse. One of the directors of the
canal company was the famous architect John Nash. Nash was friendly with the
Prince Regent, later King George IV, who allowed the use of his name for the
project. The Regent's Canal Act was passed in 1812 and the company was
formed to build and operate it. Nash's assistant, James Morgan, was
appointed as the canal's Engineer. It was opened in two stages, from
Paddington to Camden in 1816, and the rest of the canal in 1820. |
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Sunday on the Regents Canal at
Islington. |
We stopped for a pint at a gastro pub owned
by Gordon Ramsay, located in the historic street of the same name, Narrow
Street, a
Grade II-listed building directly alongside the River Thames.
In 1830, the
well-known brewer Taylor Walker began brewing on the site of today's Narrow
Street pub. The building itself was constructed between 1905 and 1910 by
British Waterways as a purpose-built Customs/DockMaster's house serving the
Limehouse Basin. The building then became a public house, initially called
The Barley Mow and later refurbished and re-named The Narrow Street Pub and
Dining Room.
Our progress to Kings Cross was interrupted
by throngs of people gathered on the canal near Islington, as we wandered
into the midst of a festival in full swing. Angel Day was started in the
1980's by the late Crystal Hale as a fund-raising event for the narrow boat
'Angel' used to give inner city children boat rides and trips into the
countryside. In 1987 Crystal was joined by Jim Lagden, who had wide
experience of staging events in the Midlands and London, and together they
co-founded the 'Angel Canal Festival' to celebrate the return of narrowboat
Angel from a week long trip with inner
city children aboard. |
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Angel Canal Festival in full swing, near Islington. |
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