London's Lost Rivers - Book and Walking Tours by Paul Talling
  • Home
  • London's Lost Rivers
    • The Black Ditch
    • Bollo Brook
    • Carbuncle Ditch
    • The Cock & Pye Ditch
    • Counter's Creek
    • Earl's Sluice
    • River Effra
    • Falcon Brook
    • River Fleet
    • Hackney Brook
    • River Moselle
    • Muswell Stream
    • River Neckinger
    • Parr's Ditch
    • River Peck
    • Pudding Mill River
    • Rotherhithe Mill Streams
    • Stamford Brook
    • River Tyburn
    • Tyburn Brook
    • River Walbrook
    • River Westbourne
  • London's Lost Canals
    • City Canal
    • Croydon Canal
    • Cumberland Arm
    • Grand Surrey Canal
    • Grosvenor Canal
    • Kensington Canal
    • Romford Canal
    • Royal Arsenal Canal
    • The Royal Gunpowder Mills Canals
  • Author's Guided Walks
    • River Fleet Walk
    • River Westbourne Walk
    • Lost Rivers of Hampstead Walk
    • Lost Docks of Wapping Walk
    • Grand Surrey Canal Walk
    • Woolwich - Dockyard & Royal Arsenal Canal Walk
    • Isle of Dogs Canal and Millwall Docks Walk
    • Derelict Limehouse & Poplar Walk
    • Derelict Silvertown walk
    • River Peck/Earl's Sluice
    • Bow Creek
    • River Neckinger walk
    • Croydon Canal Walk
    • Hammersmith Walk
    • East Finchley to Gospel Oak
    • Whitechapel and Bethnal Green walk
    • Minories to Poplar
  • Buy The Book Here
    • Sample Chapter
    • Reviews
  • London's Lesser Known Rivers
    • Beverley Brook
    • Bow Backs Rivers
    • River Brent
    • River Ching
    • River Crane
    • River Cray
    • River Darent
    • Dead River
    • Dollis Brook
    • Duke of Northumberland's River
    • River Ember
    • Hogsmill River
    • River Lea
    • River Mole
    • The New River
    • River Pool
    • River Ravensbourne
    • River Roding
    • The Silk Stream
    • River Wandle
    • Yeading Brook
  • Contact/Mailing List
  • Advertising on London's Lost Rivers
  • Privacy Policy/Cookies
  • London's Lost Music Venues
  • Home
  • London's Lost Rivers
    • The Black Ditch
    • Bollo Brook
    • Carbuncle Ditch
    • The Cock & Pye Ditch
    • Counter's Creek
    • Earl's Sluice
    • River Effra
    • Falcon Brook
    • River Fleet
    • Hackney Brook
    • River Moselle
    • Muswell Stream
    • River Neckinger
    • Parr's Ditch
    • River Peck
    • Pudding Mill River
    • Rotherhithe Mill Streams
    • Stamford Brook
    • River Tyburn
    • Tyburn Brook
    • River Walbrook
    • River Westbourne
  • London's Lost Canals
    • City Canal
    • Croydon Canal
    • Cumberland Arm
    • Grand Surrey Canal
    • Grosvenor Canal
    • Kensington Canal
    • Romford Canal
    • Royal Arsenal Canal
    • The Royal Gunpowder Mills Canals
  • Author's Guided Walks
    • River Fleet Walk
    • River Westbourne Walk
    • Lost Rivers of Hampstead Walk
    • Lost Docks of Wapping Walk
    • Grand Surrey Canal Walk
    • Woolwich - Dockyard & Royal Arsenal Canal Walk
    • Isle of Dogs Canal and Millwall Docks Walk
    • Derelict Limehouse & Poplar Walk
    • Derelict Silvertown walk
    • River Peck/Earl's Sluice
    • Bow Creek
    • River Neckinger walk
    • Croydon Canal Walk
    • Hammersmith Walk
    • East Finchley to Gospel Oak
    • Whitechapel and Bethnal Green walk
    • Minories to Poplar
  • Buy The Book Here
    • Sample Chapter
    • Reviews
  • London's Lesser Known Rivers
    • Beverley Brook
    • Bow Backs Rivers
    • River Brent
    • River Ching
    • River Crane
    • River Cray
    • River Darent
    • Dead River
    • Dollis Brook
    • Duke of Northumberland's River
    • River Ember
    • Hogsmill River
    • River Lea
    • River Mole
    • The New River
    • River Pool
    • River Ravensbourne
    • River Roding
    • The Silk Stream
    • River Wandle
    • Yeading Brook
  • Contact/Mailing List
  • Advertising on London's Lost Rivers
  • Privacy Policy/Cookies
  • London's Lost Music Venues
London's Lost Rivers - Book and Walking Tours by Paul Talling
​The Black Ditch

​London's Lost Rivers - The Black Ditch

Picture
Picture
Picture
The Black Ditch rose in the Shoreditch area running through Bethnal Green to Stepney and joining the Thames at Dunbar Wharf in Limehouse. 

The earliest reference to this watercourse is when a Saxon warrior called Stibba landed on the Thames in the tenth century in what is now the Limehouse area and rowed up a navigable channel (presumably the Black Ditch) and built a village now known as Stepney.

The upper course of the Black Ditch is believed to have originated in the grounds of Holywell Priory, the site of a Holy Well. The priory was demolished in 1539 but the name is remembered in the present day Holywell Row. The site was later used as a mass grave during the Great Plague in 1665. It is mentioned by Daniel Defoe, described 60 years after the epidemic and long since built over, as “a piece of ground just over the Black Ditch.”


In Whitechapel, adjacent to the Brady Street Jewish Burial Ground the watercourse created a pond labelled on ancient maps as a ducking pond - where petty criminals were strapped to a chair which was fastened to a long wooden beam fixed as a seesaw on the edge of the river and dunked into the river as a method of punishment. A stone bridge crossed the ditch in this area. Another stone bridge over the Black Ditch is documented further downstream on Poplar High Street as early as 1452 and later maps refer to a Stonebridge Pond, a watering place for horses and cattle in front of an inn called The White Horse which stood on the site between 1890 and 2003. The water in this area became increasingly stagnant and diseased and contributed to a cholera epidemic in the early 19th century.

The Black Ditch emptied into an inlet of the Thames at Limehouse known as Limekiln Dock. The name Limehouse actually comes from the lime oasts in Limekiln Dock in the 14th century and used to produce quick lime for building mortar from chalk brought in by boat from Kent. This was later an embarkation point for the first voluntary Australia-bound steamer passengers.

The route of the Black Ditch from Stepney is shown on a 1799 map of London although appears as an underground watercourse on a plan for the Sewerage of the Metropolis, which appeared in 1851. The upstream course from Stepney is harder to trace on maps and was culverted much earlier. The majority of maps show the Black Ditch originating at  a pond on Rhodeswell Road which was once names Rogues Well.
Picture of Limekiln Dock the mouth of the Black Ditch in Limehouse
The Black Ditch emptied into an inlet of the Thames at Limehouse known as Limekiln Dock.
London's Lost Rivers by Paul Talling. All images are copyright.