The River Lee Navigation is a canalised river incorporating - as the name suggests - the River Lee (also known as the River Lea).

While the river itself can be spelt either Lee or Lea, the Lee Navigation was so named by Acts of Parliament and is so marked on Ordance Survey maps.

The Lee or Lea is a major tributary of the River Thames and was once used by Viking raiders: King Alfred changed the level of the river to strand Guthrum and his fleet. In more peaceful times, it became important for the transport of grain from Hertfordshire, but navigation of its southern-most tidal reaches Bow Creek was difficult due to its tortuous meanders.

The first Act for improvement of the river was granted in 1424, this being the first Act granted for navigational improvement in the British Isles; a second Act was passed in 1430. The Act authorised local landowners to make improvements paid for by levying tolls.

The first pound lock in the British Isles, that is, a lock as we now understand it with mitred gates, was opened at Waltham Abbey in 1577: the remainder of the control of levels was carried out by "staunches" or "turnpikes" - a wier with a single vertically lifting gate, through which boats were pulled against the current.

With increasing abstraction of water by the New River Company, navigation became difficult and water for mill-owners became scarcer, and a petition was presented to Parliament resulting in a further Act of 1739.

However, this did not solve all the problems. John Smeaton made a survey of the river in 1765 and recommended that the staunches be replaced by pound locks. An Act in 1767 provided these changes, together with the construction of a new stretch of canal, the Limehouse Cut to bypass the tight bends of Bow Creek near the River Thames, and this was opened in 1770 and widened in 1777. Artificial cuts and pound locks were opened at Waltham Abbey, Edmonton and Hackney in 1769. There were further improvements throughout the 19th century, including an Act in 1850 to authorise new lock cuts at Hoddesdon, Carthagena Lock (Broxbourne), Waltham Marsh, Tottenham, Walthamstow, Hackney, Leyton and Bromley and new locks at Hunter's Gate (Bow Bridge) and Old Ford. The River Lee Water Act of 1855 authorised a new lock at Amwell Marsh and the removal of Stanstead Lock. Edmonton Lock was to be removed and Picketts Lock rebuilt. In 1868 the Lee Conservancy Board was formed to take over control of the river from the former trustees.

The Lee Navigation bought the Stort Navigation in 1911, and instituted further improvements, including reconstruction of the locks between Enfield and Hertford, the width being increased from 13 feet 3 inches (4.04 metres) to 16 feet (4.88 metres): by the 1930s, 130-ton barges could reach Enfield, and 100-ton barges Ware and Hertford.

The navigation was nationalised in 1948, and control passed to the British Transport Commission. The locks as far upstream as Ponders End were duplicated and mechanised. In 1962, the British Transport Commission was wound up, and control passed to the British Waterways Board. Commercial traffic effectively ended in the 1980s, though there are efforts to transport rubbish for incineration.

See Also

• Canals of the United Kingdom
• History of the British canal system
• Bow Back Rivers