Stratford Mill, the name given to our latest London development was inspired by its surroundings and history, as are all the Anthology London developments. So, where did Anthology draw inspiration?
Stratford Mill occupies a site overlooking the historic and little-known network of rivers and interconnected waterways with names like Pudding Mill, Channelsea, Three Mills and Waterworks. The area was originally known as Stratford Marsh, common land between Stratford-Langthorne, the site of Langthorne Abbey and Stratford-at-Bow, where a bow bridge once stood. Locals grazed horses and cattle there when the land wasn’t being used for hay making. Hard to imagine now!
Over the centuries the rivers were diverted at various times. Alfred the Great used the rivers as a defence against the invasion of the Danes in 896 when the River Lea, into which the network flows, was the border between England and Danelaw. Next, in the 12th Century, Queen Matilda, the wife of Henry I, rerouted the rivers, creating a tidal system to power watermills. Once eight or nine tide mills sat along the River Lea as far as Hackney Wick. One survives today, Three Mills, one of London’s earliest industrial sites which you can visit.
By the 17th Century, construction started on the New River to supply drinking water to London. Subsequent extraction by waterworks companies led to a lowering of water levels and the river was gradually canalised to maintain navigation. The Lee Navigation was created in 1767 and then Hackney and Limehouse Cuts and the waterways played a major role during the Industrial Revolution providing water to local industry which grew up around the navigation system. By the 1960’s as canal freight declined, the waterways had largely fallen into disuse as had the surrounding industrial areas until in 2005 when a massive regeneration project pumped £50 million in to the area to transform, not only the waterways for walking and cycling but to create the site for the 2012 Olympics. Who can forget David Beckham racing down Waterworks River on board a speed boat to hand over the Olympic Torch as part of the Games Opening Ceremony?
Purchasers at Stratford Mill will be able to make the most of exploring these historic waterways which surround the development and flow through the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The River Lea into which the Bow Creek Rivers still flow today, connects two of Anthology’s developments, Stratford Mill and Hale Works in Tottenham Hale.
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If you are looking to settle in Stratford, Anthology is creating its Stratford Mill development which forms part of an outstanding regeneration project created by the legacy of the Olympic Games. Register your interest now to find out more about the selection of one, two- and three-bedroom homes.
