Inventory Site Record

The Greenway was created as a linear footpath and cycleway along the top of the Northern Outfall Sewer Embankment, which was built between 1860-65 by Joseph Bazalgette for the Metropolitan Commissioners for Sewers at a cost of £164,000. Due to its proximity to the Olympic Park, improvement works to the route have taken place to improve the Greenway, but until late 2014 a section will be closed between Marshgate Lane and Stratford High Street due to Crossrail and 2012 Olympic building works. View Tube, a temporary observation, information, education, cycle hire and café, has been erected on the Greenway near Pudding Mill Lane DLR station. The Capital Ring Walk follows the Greenway for most of its distance.

Previous / Other name:

Northern Outfall Sewer Embankment

Site location:

Wick Lane to Beckton

Postcode:

E15/E13/E6

What 3 Words:

zooms.rates.modest

Type of site:

Public Open Land

Borough:

Newham

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

unrestricted

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

London Overground/Rail/DLR/Tube (Central, Jubilee): Stratford then bus. Tube: West Ham; Plaistow (District, Hammersmith & City). DLR: Pudding Mill Lane, Beckton.

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/02/2006

Last minor changes:

14/07/2022

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.thameswater.co.uk

By the 1850s the Thames in central London was effectively an open sewer since sewage drained directly into the river. The 'Great Stink' of 1858 caused Parliament and the Law Courts to seriously consider moving away from the river and the curtains on river-fronting windows in the Houses of Parliament were soaked in calcium chloride against the stench. The Metropolitan Board of Works was set up in 1855, with the construction of a sewage system its primary task. In 1848 London's levels had been plotted in order to devise a drainage and sewage scheme, and this was the origin of the Ordnance Survey. Joseph Bazalgette, who worked for the Metropolitan Commissioners for Sewers and later became chief engineer for the Metropolitan Board of Works, was responsible for the Northern Outfall Sewer, which took sewage from all over London to Beckton. He was also responsible for building the Abbey Mills Pumping Station (q.v.) designed to lift lower level sewage into the Outfall. Nicknamed 'the Cathedral of Sewage', the Pumping Station's two chimneys were demolished in WWII in order to prevent their use as bomber landmarks.

The old Abbey Mills Pumping Station and the new pumping station of 1994-7 are both visible from The Greenway. It was called Abbey Mills Pumping Station due to its proximity to the former site of Stratford Langthorne Abbey founded in 1135, within whose precincts was an Abbey Mill that had previously been known as Wiggen Mill. Wiggen Mill was the earliest tidal mill in West Ham which in the early C12th had been given to Barking Abbey (q.v.) by Queen Maud as part of an endowment for the upkeep of Bow and Channelsea Bridges. It was later bought by Stratford Abbey, in whose ownership it remained until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the C16th. Mainly used for corn milling, the mill was rebuilt in 1768 and then again in the 1860s but was burnt down during WWI and most of the ruin was removed in 1967.

There are various landmarks of historic interest at points along the length of the Greenway as well as views across Newham. The northern end is near Old Ford Lock, which marks a river crossing or ford over the river Lea dating from Roman times; there is now a nature reserve here. Between Stratford High Street and Manor Road, near Abbey Mills, the Greenwich Meridian crosses the Greenway, marked by a coloured gravel design of moons and planets. Near here at Abbey Creek is a piece of redundant pumping station machinery, nicknamed 'The Snail'. Further south, the Greenway passes Memorial Grounds (q.v.) and the adjacent East London Cemetery (q.v.); it passes St Andrew's church (by James Brooks, 1868-70) near Barking Road, and also runs close to St Mary Magdalene churchyard, now East Ham Nature Reserve (q.v.), c.900 yards west of which a small Roman cemetery was discovered during the construction of the Northern Outfall Sewer in 1863. Judging by the coffins it appears wealthy Romans were buried.

Sources consulted:

Lower Lea Project leaflets; John Archer/Ian Yarham, Nature Conservation in Newham, London Ecology Unit, 1991; Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert, 'The London Encyclopaedia' (Macmillan, revised ed. 1993).

Grid ref:

TQ371839 (537168,183904)

Size in hectares:

23 ? (1.5 miles long)

Site ownership:

Thames Water

Site management:

LB Newham (and LVRPA?)

Date(s):

1860-65; 1990s

Designer(s):

Joseph Bazalgette

Listed structures:

LBII*: Abbey Mills Pumping Station. Locally listed: pedestrian bridges at Abbey Lane, Blaker Road, Marshgate Lane

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

No

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Borough Importance II

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

Green Chain