The Limehouse Cut opened in 1770, about 2.5 miles in length and its purpose was to facilitate trade by shortening the passage between The Lee Navigation and the City of London. The area was named after the lime kilns, used in the pottery trade in the area.
By 1850 this part of London was still surprisingly undeveloped, although the Regent’s Canal had been built, with two entries to the river, for ships and barges. The Limehouse Cut had its own entrance.
Commercial traffic on the Cut lasted until the 1980s. In 1968 the Limehouse Basin was linked to the Regent’s Canal Basin with a new section of canal and redevelopment started in earnest in the 1980s.
It was a gloomy afternoon, draining all the light from everything, including my camera, and quite different from the trendy Regent’s Canal!
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A Walk along the Limehouse Cut
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The Limehouse Basin from a narrowboat
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