Three Mills Residential Moorings

Three Mills Residential Moorings in 2010

Three Mills Residential Moorings is a community of twenty residential narrowboats moored on the Three Mills Wall River Weir near Three Mills in the East End of London. Historically a tidal stretch of water, the residential moorings were converted to non-tidal in preparation for the London 2012 Olympics by the construction of a weir ^[1]

Location

Access to the mooring is by two locks; City Mill Lock to the north and the Three Mills Lock in the Prescott Channel ^[2]

Situated in the southern section of the intricate Bow Back Rivers network of the lower River Lea tidal channels, the moorings are directly to the north of House Mill which a large tidal mill building, timber-framed Grade 1 listed building. The House Mill is Britain’s oldest standing mill, records dating back to the Domesday Book ^[3]

Regeneration

A joint regeneration project between Workspace Group ^[4] and Newham Council, the development of a residential mooring at Three Mills with onshore facilities to include a garden and service areas was granted in 1998,^[5] with amendments in 2008 to reconfigure and improve ^[6]

The explicit purpose of these plans was to provide affordable housing. Since its inception, Three Mills Residential Moorings has evolved into a ‘vibrant and cohesive community of working Londoners’ on which children have been born and raised. The moorings have an onshore garden, barbecue area, laundry room, coal shed, workshop and bike store. The community has cultivated its own vegetable plot, which has become a noted feature for walkers on the riverbank and from which members communally grow their own food.

Originally leased from the London Development Agency by Three Mills Studios, the moorings and surrounding land were purchased in 2011 by Landprop Holdings, a subsidiary of Inter-Ikea Group ^[7]

References

Coordinates: 51°31′46″N 0°0′26″W / 51.52944°N 0.00722°W / 51.52944; -0.00722