It saddens me a little now to walk on the Greenway across Stratford Marsh to remember what has been lost. The business estates and small works etc of course were not to everyone’s taste, although there were some modest but pleasing buildings among them, but there were some invigorating areas of minor wilderness, and some lush willow trees along the Pudding Mill River, along with some nice little touches of the picturesque.
Willow trees by the Pudding Mill River on Marshgate Lane, 2005
The trees were at the left of this scene – June 2009
So much has now gone, and so many areas are now inaccessible – as for example:
Bridge over Pudding Mill River at junction with Old River Lea, 2006
You can see many more pictures of the Olympic area, including Stratford Marsh on my River Lea site, including some from the 1980s as well as since 2000. When I get time I’ll add more from the 1990s, when the waterways and footpaths in the area were all cleaned up and neatly signposted for walkers.
Saturday I went to take pictures to show the progress being made in covering the area with concrete for the Olympics, and made some more panoramas:
The opposite side of the Greenway to the Olympic stadium
You can see this rather larger, and also panoramas including the growing Olympic stadium and other pictures of the site on My London Diary.
Unfortunately the section of the Greenway south of the main railway line to Stratford High St is closed until Spring 2010, with a detour in place across to Pudding Mill Lane at Pudding Mill Station and down this to Marshgate Lane and Stratford High Street. This is to allow the roadway under the railway to be dug out to allow double-decker buses to pass under.
