1) Bow Common Bridge

This bridge over the cut is known locally as "stink house bridge". It probably got its name because of the soap, potash, alum & lime factories nearby. Local residents remember a spice and black pepper factory nearby which closed in the 1970's which probably smelt a bit nicer.
- Norma Ashley

3) Our Lady's School

The school was built about 1916 in Copenhagen Place. The headmistress in the 60's was a Nun. As children we used to go to mass at Our Lady Immaculate Church on Commercial Rd. The church was started in 1926 by Father Higley and local volunteers and finished in 1934. The statue on the tower is a memorial to parishioners who lost their lives in World War II.
-Bernadette Sullivan

5) Pennyfields & China Town

Early in the 19th century part of Limehouse was known as Chinatown because of the large numbers of Chinese seamen and traders who lived and worked there. There were eating houses, opium dens and gambling places. Locals used to play the Chinese gambling game called "Puk-a poo". Restaurants often had a mongoose to catch vermin.
-Pat & Pearl

7) Coal Barges

This concrete structure is all that remains of the place where barges were loaded with coal from the North London railway (now the DLR). These barges were pulled by horses or tugs up the River Lea to places like Hackney Power Station.

9) Limehouse Barge lock

For nearly 200 years this lock connected the Limehouse Cut to the river Thames. The original lock cottages can still be seen today just off Narrow Street. In1967 it was replaced when a new cut was built connecting the Limehouse Cut to the Regent's Canal Dock. A new lock was built between Limehouse Basin and the Thames.
-Mark Blackwell

11) Barges

Most of the cargo on the Limehouse Cut and the River Lea was carried out on motorless barges. This model made by local resident Terry Davis shows what the barges looked like. Barges were pulled by horses or tugs. Terry is a member of the Victoria Model Steamboat Club listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest model boat club in the world. The club meets most Sundays in Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets.
-Joy & Terry Davis

13) Quebec Wharf

A map of 1870 shows a saw mill and timber yard on the site. It was the last survivor of one of the main industries along the River Lea in East London before it was redeveloped in 2000

15) Lifeboat building

The Norway Yard was owned by T&W Forrest who built lifeboats for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute. This picture from the illustrated London News shows the yard in 1860 with the viaduct of what is now the DLR in front.
-Tom Ridge

2) Limehouse Paper Mill

This was one of the many factories and warehouses along the Thames near where Limehouse Basin is now. The factory moved in 1987 and is now luxury flats. Local resident, Kit Jones who grew up as one of the 14 children in Colt Street worked there. She says it was "a dirty job but the money was clean."
-Iona Ollivierre

4) St Anne's Church

The church was started in 1712 and completed in 1729. The architect was Nicolas Hawksmoor, a student of Sir Christopher Wren. It is one of the very few buildings to fly the white ensign. -Laurentia Vallace

6) The Spratt's Factory

This red brick factory was built in 1899. It manufactured pet food, pet pages, kennels etc. Barges would deliver fish heads for processing into pet food. Before 1914 the factory also made food for human consumption under the "Poplar" brand. In the Boer War 4 million biscuits a week were made for the British Army.
-Roger Squires

8) The Biscuit Factory

As a child about 11, my friends and I used to go to the factory at lunch time to buy broken biscuits including chocolate ones and jammy dodgers at 10p a bag.
-Bernadette Sullivan

10) Regent's Canal Dock

Now known as Limehouse Basin this dock was once so busy that you could walk across the whole dock by hopping from one boat to another. In its heyday the dock received cargo from all over the world which was unloaded onto other boats for transport along the Regent's Canal and the rest of the canal system.

12) Rope Walk

There were a number of rope works in the area supplying the docks. When rope was made it was laid out in lengths along "rope walks". A map of 1847 shows one on the south side of Limehouse Cut between present day Bow Common Bridge and Burdett Road. By 1870 the rope works had changed to a cabinet works, salt petre works and oil wharf. -Eric Garland

14) Caird & Rayners Workshop

This building was built in 1869 by William cubitt & Co as a sailmakers and chandlery. In 1889 it was taken over by Caird and Rayners who specialised in desalination equipment for sea going ships including ships of the Royal Navy and the Cunard Line such as the "Queen Mary". It was Grade II listed in 2000 and is now owned by the Peabody Trust.
-Tom Ridge