Inventory Site Record

Although Three Mills Green is a new public open space, the area has a long history, with records of a mill on the site at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086. It is known as Three Mills Island due to being surrounded on three sides by the River Lea, and for its three mills: the C18th House Mill, early C19th Clock Mill, and a windmill, demolished in 1838. Until the C18th the mills were used to grind flour for bread and subsequently grain for distilleries. Three Mills Green is the first part of a project to create the Lea River Park linking to the new Olympic Park. It is owned by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and is an open green space predominantly on level ground with a mound towards the north. The main entrance from Three Mills is from a cobbled area inlaid with slabs leading to elaborate metal gates inscribed with the park's name.

Site location:

Three Mills Lane

Postcode:

E3 3DU

What 3 Words:

ants.metro.carry

Type of site:

Public Park

Borough:

Newham

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

unrestricted. House Mill open for tours Sundays 1-4pm, May-October.

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Toilets, Miller's House Café (weekdays 10am-3pm))

Events:

various events

Public transport:

Tube: Bromley by Bow, West Ham (District/Hammersmith & City). DLR: Bow Church. Rail: West Ham. Bus: 108, D8, 25, 448

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/01/2012

Last minor changes:

29/03/2026

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.leevalleypark.org.uk

The House Mill was built in 1776 and was once the largest and most powerful tidal mill in the country and was operational until damaged by bombing in 1941. The Clock Mill and corn drying kilns was built in 1817 whose clock tower dates from c.1753; the third mill, a windmill demolished in 1838. Other historic buildings include the Miller's House with its façade copied from an earlier C18th building, and Customs House. Until the C18th the mills were used for flour, and grain from Hertfordshire was processed here to supply bakeries in Bow, but this was succeeded by grinding grain for distilleries such as J & W Nicholson's gin. The former distillery warehouses are now the new Three Mills Island film studios, and the area was later better-known for such programmes as 'Big Brother'. Three Mills Green's riverfront site was shown in 1821 with osier beds, but later usage included printing ink factories, glue works, asphalt works and other noxious industries particularly following the banning of such activities classed as 'harmful trades' from Metropolitan London under the 1844 Act. As a result the area became known as 'Stinky Stratford'. Some of the historic buildings at Three Mills were restored by LB Newham and were managed by the Passmore Edwards Museum Trust. House Mill is now managed by the River Lea Tidal Mill Trust, as part of the Lower Lea Project of the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, which runs educational and environmental projects. By the north gate along the towpath is a memorial to workers who were killed in 1901 in a well on the site that was overcome with fumes. The memorial was formerly a cross, but this was replaced in 2001 by a sculpture 'Helping Hands' by Alec Peever, with fragments of the earlier memorial

Sources consulted:

Lower Lea Project leaflets; East End Life, 26/3-1/4/2001; Bridget Cherry, Charles O'Brien, Nikolaus Pevsner, 'The Buildings of England London 5: East', (Yale University Press, 2005 ed)

Grid ref:

TQ384830 (538450,183050)

Size in hectares:

Site ownership:

LVRPA

Site management:

LVRPA Park Operations

Date(s):

late C20th

Designer(s):

Listed structures:

LBI: House Mill. LBII: Tide Mill (1817), Clock Mill, paved roadway west side of House Mill to wall & gate on east side of Clock Mill, early C19th offices opp. Clock Mill

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:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

Three Mills

Tree Preservation Order:

Not known

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

Green Chain; Major Leisure Attraction