History of Lea Bridge

A calico ground at Temple Mills lay on the Leyton [Essex] side [of the Lea River] in 1772. (fn. 13) Two calico printers and a calenderer recorded in 1795 (fn. 14) were probably at Spring Hill, where there was a large calico factory in 1774 (fn. 15) or at High Hill ferry, where George Baker and William Burch occupied intermingled buildings, backed by drying grounds, in 1826. Burch was normally styled a calico printer and Baker a dyer. (fn. 16) They were there c. 1845 (fn. 17) and may have been represented in 1855 by Baker & Hudden, calenderers, and James Burch, who had a carmine works. (fn. 18) Baker's Hill by 1880 contained the Lea Valley bleaching and dyeing works of William Connell & Co., whose Lea Valley laundry was taken over in the 1960s by Initial Services. (fn. 19) Also at High Hill ferry were Robert Lyon, a bleacher in 1826 and 1838, (fn. 20) and George Wickenden, a glazier or presser in 1845 and 1855. (fn. 21) Another calico printer was John Hammond, who was building immediately south of Lea dock in 1832 and acquired more land in 1838. (fn. 22)

From: 'Hackney: Economic History', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 92-101. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22708 Date accessed: 20 December 2009.


Riverside settlements grew up at Lea bridge, High Hill ferry, and the high bridge at the foot of Spring Hill. (fn. 48) Lea bridge had 21 householders in 1821 and Lea Road, presumably Lea Bridge Road, had 22, all tradesmen or labourers. (fn. 49) The Jolly Anglers at Middlesex wharf, on the site of Smith's ferry, and a dock to the north may have been included in those numbers. High Hill ferry was reached circuitously by Mount Pleasant Lane, part of which had 19 working-class households, or more directly by Spring Place; as Hilly ferry it had 44 householders in 1821, several of them dyers. (fn. 50) At the foot of Spring Hill Thomas Webbe had owned c. 39 a. in 1774, including Horseshoe Point and islands to the north, a tileyard, a calico printer's, and three wharves on a creek later called Giles's dock. (fn. 51) Premises adjoining the dock were leased by John Webbe Weston to a varnish maker in 1806. (fn. 52) Tile kilns in Spring Lane near the head of the dock were presumably those where 34 householders dwelt in 1821. (fn. 53)

From: 'Hackney: Clapton', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 44-51. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22702 Date accessed: 20 December 2009.