Bromley Stop Lock (London)

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The Bromley Stop Lock, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, was a singe-gate lock that could be closed to cut off a section of canal for maintenance. The lock gate was situated near the junction of Limehouse Cut and the River Lee Navigation, by Bow Locks. The gate would normally sit in a slot on the southern bank of the canal and only be used when needed.

Stop locks were initially installed where there was a change of canal ownership to prevent the loss of water from one canal to another. Bow Locks were originally tidal, i.e. not a falling lock. They would be opened at high tide to fill the Limehouse Cut and to maintain navigation in the River Lee Navigation. This gate could be closed should anything go wrong with the process to maintain the level of the Cut, at the level in Limehouse Basin.

Today, the gate is redundant and very little of remains within a patch of weeds, behind the modern floating tow-path. The far bank has been reconstructed and there is little indication of the size of this predominantly wooden gate.