The Bow Back Rivers (aka London's Olympic Waterways)
The river that's no more. The Pudding Mill was razed to the ground to make way for the Olympics Stadium. In its place is a 'legacy' watercourse amenity further to the west, which is not part of the Bow Backs (or London Olympic Waterways) network
The Pudding Mill River (2)
All these scenes are now history. Nothing is left of the Pudding Mill River at all. Those wishing to see what kind of work is going on can use the Northern Outfall Sewer route (The Greenway) to observe the massive changes around here, and perhaps envisage just how much all this is going to cost (it is not going to be cheap!)
Above:The Pudding Mill River in January 2006 after a particularly high tide brought water up to its southern extrimity. Its full of trash at this point, no doubt discarded from people who drive alongside for a bout of unauthorised dumping. The right hand picture is actually a view looking over the wall from Marshgate Lane into the Pudding Mill River at the location it is stanked off (see below)
Looking in the opposite direction. Marshgate lane is behind the tree, the gas bottles can be seen and the concrete barrier that is the end of the Pudding Mill River can just be discerned through the undergrowth. One can see how the Pudding Mill River's alignment heads for the former navigation arch (now the new extended Pudding Mill Lane) under the North Outfall Sewer.
Top: The new extension of Pudding Mill Lane takes it on the actual course of the Pudding Mill River under the North Outfall Sewer. The section of Marshgate lane that was taken out of use and replaced by the new road can be seen through the left hand bridge hole. The Pudding Mill River is actually behind the wall on the right, where it is stanked off. Above: Looking north along the new Pudding Mill Lane. The river turned slightly to the east at this point to go through where the cars are parked behind the fence.
Above: Looking along the Pudding Mill's alignment towards the North Outfall Sewer. The first picture was taken in 2002 before a car sales lot was established here. In both pictures the remains of the sides of the overbridge over the former river channel can be seen.
Not a good quality picture, but amongst the undergrowth round the back, behind the walls of the overbridge, one could see the remains of the arch that at one time saw the waters of the Pudding Mill River flow under. The bridge stayed in place for many years simply because it carried a water mains. The diversion of utility this enabled the final remanants of the bridge to be demolished in 2002, making way for a used car sales lot.
The course of the Pudding Mill River as it 'narrows' to go under the restricted width railway arch. These two pictures show the site that was the Pudding Mill River's remains in 2002 after being used as a scrapyard. Now its all gone.
On the east side can be viewed the old bank piling of the Pudding Mill River. This is typical of the Pudding Mill River. It was always thought that the concrete wall on the west side was built as part of the 1930's improvements. A close examination of that showed it was of much later construction.
