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River

River Lea

68 km from source to mouth · United Kingdom.

United KingdomUnited KingdomFlows into Bow Creek

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

68km

Average flow

38m³/s

Basin

1,420km²

Drop

44m

from 45 m to 1 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

68 km of river and 67 stops on the way: 44 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

51 m1 m
Sourceat 45 m0 km
Luton213,052 people6 km
Welwyn Garden City51,505 people20 km
Hatfield41,265 people21 km
Hertford29,418 people30 km
Bayford Brooktributary35 km
River Storttributary41 km
Small River Leatributary45 km
Walthamstow109,424 people54 km
Tottenham129,237 people54 km
Canning Town42,667 people63 km
Bow Creekat 1 m68 km
020406068 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 45 m
  2. 6 kmLuton213,052 people
  3. 12 kmHarpenden30,674 people
  4. 15 kmWheathampstead4,326 people
  5. 20 kmWelwyn Garden City51,505 people
  6. 21 kmHatfield41,265 people
  7. 28 kmRoxford Bridge over River Lea
  8. 29 kmHornsmill Viaduct
  9. 30 kmHertford29,418 people
  10. 32 kmKingsmead Viaduct
  11. 34 kmWare17,576 people
  12. 35 kmBayford Brooktributary
  13. 35 kmRiver Beanetributary
  14. 35 kmRiver Mimramtributary
  15. 35 kmRiver Ribtributary
  16. 37 kmGreat Amwell1,098 people
  17. 37 kmLittle Amwell2,606 people
  18. 38 kmRiver Ashtributary
  19. 38 kmRoydon1,582 people
  20. 39 kmHoddesdon35,174 people
  21. 40 kmBroxbourne13,298 people
  22. 41 kmRiver Storttributary
  23. 41 kmStort Navigationtributary
  24. 41 kmpipeline bridge near Broxbourne
  25. 44 kmTurnford Brooktributary
  26. 45 kmCheshunt43,680 people
  27. 45 kmSmall River Leatributary
  28. 45 kmWaltham Abbey22,859 people
  29. 46 kmWaltham Cross8,577 people
  30. 47 kmEnfield Lock16,469 people
  31. 49 kmTurkey Brooktributary
  32. 50 kmKing George V Reservoir2.0 km²
  33. 50 kmChingford70,583 people
  34. 51 kmPonders End15,664 people
  35. 52 kmWilliam Girling Reservoir1.5 km²
  36. 52 kmEdmonton80,546 people
  37. 53 kmHighams Park11,355 people
  38. 53 kmBanbury Reservoir0.5 km²
  39. 54 kmRiver Chingtributary
  40. 54 kmPymmes Brooktributary
  41. 54 kmWalthamstow109,424 people
  42. 54 kmNorthumberland Park14,429 people
  43. 54 kmTottenham129,237 people
  44. 55 kmTottenham Hale15,064 people
  45. 55 kmLow Maynard Reservoir0.8 km²
  46. 56 kmSeven Sisters15,968 people
  47. 56 kmSt. Ann's14,638 people
  48. 56 kmMoselle Brooktributary
  49. 56 kmWest Warwick Reservoir1.1 km²
  50. 56 kmStamford Hill68,050 people
  51. 58 kmFriends Bridge
  52. 58 kmLeyton14,184 people
  53. 59 kmHackney Wick11,734 people
  54. 60 kmBow27,720 people
  55. 60 kmStepney16,238 people
  56. 61 kmStratford51,387 people
  57. 61 kmWest Ham15,551 people
  58. 61 kmBromley14,480 people
  59. 62 kmLimehouse15,986 people
  60. 62 kmPoplar8,069 people
  61. 63 kmBlackwall19,461 people
  62. 63 kmCanary Wharf73,390 people
  63. 63 kmCanning Town42,667 people
  64. 64 kmBlackheath Westcombe1,098 people
  65. 65 kmCharlton14,385 people
  66. 67 kmPlumstead16,736 people
  67. 67 kmAbbey Wood17,700 people
  68. 68 kmThamesmead31,824 people
  69. 68 kmBow Creekat 1 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in southern England

At the mouth it carries 38 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 66 seconds. It drops from 45 m to 1 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,420 km². 12.0 million people live in it. Highest water: from December to January. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

River Lea, month by month

Highest water: from December to January

Best months to visit: from May to September.

160
4°55 mmJan
130
4°38 mmFeb
100
7°47 mmMar
77
9°45 mmApr
69
13°48 mmMay
56
16°50 mmJun
45
18°48 mmJul
47
17°52 mmAug
63
15°55 mmSep
95
11°59 mmOct
130
7°59 mmNov
160
5°57 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 45 m³/s in the lowest month to 160 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire at LTN airport (Luton, Luton)Discover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

River Lea: the basin in numbers

12,210 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 12.0millionpeople live in the basin
  • 995/km²people per km²
  • 103maverage altitude of the basin
  • 675mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 9.7°Caverage air temperature
  • 31%protected areas
  • 0.5%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 1% Forest
  • 39% Cropland
  • 14% Pasture
  • 28% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

River Lea: what you find on the way

  • 4Dams
  • 78WeirsFeilde's Weir, Dobb's Weir, Kiora Radial Gates and 75 more
  • 134LocksRiver Lee Navigation, Hardmead Lock, Stanstead lock and 131 more
  • 2Waterfalls
  • 36Boat rampsLee River, Johnson's Drawdock, Bargehouse Causeway and 33 more
  • 8Ferry piersRotherhithe Pier, Canary Wharf, Trinity Buoy Wharf and 5 more
  • 12MarinasWardown Leisure Boating, South Island Marina, Lee Valley Marina, Springfield and 9 more
  • 9Boat rentalsLee Valley Canoe Cycle, Lee Valley Boat Centre, Victoria Park Boat Hire and 6 more
  • 2River beachesKelson Beach, Dock Beach

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

River Lea in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 5lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 16mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (5)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. King George V Reservoirkm 652.0km²
  2. William Girling Reservoirkm 681.5km²
  3. Banbury Reservoirkm 700.5km²
  4. Low Maynard Reservoirkm 720.8km²
  5. West Warwick Reservoirkm 731.1km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (16)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Ivinghoe Beacon12 km away233m
  2. Markham's Hill8.8 km away
  3. Deacon Hill8.4 km away
  4. Clark's Hill7.6 km away
  5. The Meg7.2 km away
  6. Butts Hill7.3 km away
  7. Gravel Hill6.7 km away
  8. Lion Hill6.8 km away

8 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

River Lea: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
River Lea: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth15 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

River Lea in pictures

HertfordBasin
Jamsta at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (18)

Also: River Stort, River Ching, Moselle Brook, River Beane, River Rib, Pymmes Brook, Small River Lea, Turnford Brook, River Ash, Bayford Brook, River Lynch, River Mimram, Stort Navigation, Turkey Brook, Abbey Creek, Cornmill Stream, Wormleybury Brook, Rags Brook

In the same basin

River ThamesUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom334 km66 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

River ThamesUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom334 km66 m³/s17 km awayRiver Great OuseUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom240 km66 m³/s144 km awayRiver SevernUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom354 km110 m³/s179 km awaySeineFranceFrance777 km500 m³/s226 km awayRiver SommeFranceFrance245 km35 m³/s182 km awayRiver AvonUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom154 km31 m³/s164 km awayRiver NeneUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom146 km20 m³/s148 km awayAa RiverFranceFrance89 km10 m³/s151 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q10675) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit