The Coppermill Stream is a short waterway near

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...

in the

Lea Valley The Lea Valley (also spelt Lee Valley), the valley of the River Lea, has been used as a transport corridor, a source of sand and gravel, an industrial area, a water supply for London, and a recreational area. The London 2012 Summer Olympics wer ...

. Originally a minor tributary of the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Cr ...

, the approximately long stream is now used as an aqueduct to transport water from the reservoirs in the Lea Valley to Coppermills Water Treatment Works. The stream is part of a

Site of Metropolitan Importance Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI), Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and regionally important geological site (RIGS) are designations used by local authorities in the United Kingdom for sites of substantive local nature ...

Course

Rising close to and fed by water from the Lockwood Reservoir, the stream flows in a southerly direction under Ferry Lane A503 road, A503 and the Gospel Oak to Barking line and continues between the Walthamstow Reservoirs and the East Warwick Reservoir. It then passes the Coppermill and close to the Coppermills Water Treatment Works. It then flows parallel with Coppermill Lane and skirts the northern edge of Walthamstow Marshes, passing under the Lea Valley lines and merging with the River Lee Navigation at the Lee Valley Marina close opposite Springfield Park (London), Springfield Park.

Coppermill

The stream is named after the Coppermill, a watermill which was purchased by the British Copper Company in 1808. Before milling copper, the mill can be traced back to the 14th century when it was initially used for grinding corn. In the 1670s it was used in the production of gunpowder, in 1690 for rolling paper. In 1712 it was a leather mill and was next used in the manufacture of linseed oil. The mill was purchased from the British Copper Company by the East London Waterworks Company in the late 1850s and was modified to drive a water pump to assist in the building of reservoirs on the nearby marshland. Today it is owned by Thames Water.

Coppermills Water Treatment Works

Towards the southern end of the Coppermill Stream, water is removed for use at the nearby Coppermills Water Treatment Works, operated by Thames Water.

Ecology

The clean flowing stream is home to many species of coarse fishing, coarse fish including the barbus barbus, barbel.

Recreation

Day tickets are available for angling. Angling information page 12
Retrieved 15 December 2007

References

{{authority control Rivers of London Geography of the London Borough of Waltham Forest Tributaries of the River Lea Lea catchment, 1Coppermill