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 WALTON'S FAVOURITE RIVER 
 
 A PAPER 
 
 BEAD BEFORE 
 
 THE QRESHAM ANGLING 
 
 E. H. BEAMLEY 
 
 (Reprinted from the " FISHING GAZETTE " of July 23, 1898.) 
 
 LONDON : 
 SAMPSON LOW, MAESTON & COMPANY, 
 
 LIMITED, 
 
 FETTER LANE, FLEET STEEET, B.C.
 
 WALTON'S FAVOURITE RIVER.* 
 
 WE are a band of brothers Masonic brothers ; some, 
 brothers of the angle. But angling is not our special 
 mission to-day. We are bent on a water frolic, an un- 
 official survey a survey of fish, spangled meadows, wooded 
 slopes, towns, villages, factories, mills, banks and braes, 
 landmarks and watermarks, tributary streams; matters 
 geological, geographical, historical and topographical ; and 
 anything interesting in connection with Walton's favourite 
 river : and, by arrangement, we are joined en route by a 
 party of ladies. Our floating castle is none other than 
 the official steam barge of the Lee Conservancy, well 
 found and well provisioned by our host, Mr. George Corbie, 
 clerk to the conservancy, who, in effect, says : " Come 
 with a whoop, come at a call, come with a good will ;" 
 and we went accordingly. We are proud, too, of the 
 Masonic rank of some of our party, including representa- 
 tives from the Grand Lodge of England Eichard Eve, 
 Past Grand Treasurer ; J. J. Thomas and J. M. McLeod, 
 Past Grand Standard Bearers ; our host, George Corbie, 
 who is a Past Provincial Junior Warden of Essex ; John 
 Glass, Past Provincial Superintendent of Works, Essex ; 
 Fred Eenshawe, Past Provincial Senior Deacon, Essex ; 
 and others of not lower rank than Past Mastars of our 
 respective lodges. This is not a dissertation on angling 
 and anglers, nor a painting of lips of eloquence to describe 
 angling swims, which, for various reasons, change so 
 frequently that no book or article on the latter subject 
 can be held reliable for a long period. The aim is, rather, 
 to give what all intelligent anglers desire and enjoy while 
 pursuing their favourite sport the raison d'etre of the 
 river from source to mouth, so that while_ drinking in, as 
 it were, the joys offered by the locality where they 
 " angle," they may realise all the items in other parts of 
 the stream which share in the production of the picture, 
 and thus elevate the character of the pursuit of angling. 
 And that the adoption of this course would be approved 
 by the author of '* The Compleat Angler " respecting his 
 favourite river goes without saying. 
 
 We arrive by train at the neat little town of Hertford. 
 Before commencing our voyage from this, the coMmence- 
 ment of the navigable part of the river, we take an object- 
 lesson from our host, who is guide, philosopher, and 
 friend. We take an imaginary stand in a balloon, and 
 gaze down on a watershed, whence the congealed dews of 
 heaven are drained over an area of 600 square miles. The 
 watershed maybe likened to a crooked trough, the bottom 
 of which is the river Lee, stretching sinuously for about 
 seventy miles, and drawing water from the tributaries and 
 
 * Being a paper road before the Qresham Angling Society by 
 Mr. E. H. Bramley, on Tuesday evening, July 19, 1898. 
 
 2067O14
 
 slopes on either side, and the tilt of which, from 
 to mouth, is about 400ft. Our bird's-eye view stretches 
 into four counties those of Bedford, Hertford, Essex, 
 and Middlesex. For navigable purposes Hertford is the 
 dividing Line, the part from the source to Hertford being 
 usually described as the Upper Lee, and from Hertford to 
 the Thames as the Lower Lee. On the upper part we see 
 a few pleasure boats ; on the lower part, numerous barges 
 bearing timber, gunpowder (from the works round and 
 about Enfield), malt from Hertford, Ware, Hoddesdon, 
 &o. The navigation is much busier than the uninitiated 
 imagine. The traffic down the Lee does not merely touch 
 the Thames ; there is a junction of the Regent's Canal 
 at the lower part, along which barges travel, and thence 
 along the Grand Junction Canal to Birmingham. 
 
 We gaze down on this picture map, and see a dozen 
 tributary streams lacing and braiding the slopes, pouring 
 their liquid wealth into the Lee, appearing like so many 
 ribs joining the spine. But only three of these are visible 
 in the first forty miles, and they are just above Hertford, 
 so that the riyer is comparatively narrow in its upper 
 part. We notice a silver-like sheen in the side streams 
 down as far as Hoddesdon, then a little yellow tinge in a 
 few tributaries, towards the lower reaches a more sombre 
 hue. Why is this ? Simply because the bed of the upper 
 stream (with the beds of tributaries) and part of the 
 lower stream is of chalk. The Ash, which joins the left 
 bank near Hoddesdon, has a soil of gravel and chalk ; and 
 some of the lower tributaries come over clay and even 
 mud. Fielde's Weir is taken as the dividing line for 
 geological purposes. There the unadulterated chalk- 
 ends ; and the purity of the water, and essentially the 
 higher quality of the fish, commence to change. This 
 accounts for the dingy and gloomy shade of the Lee, which 
 has fallen into bad company, as it enters London proper. 
 
 The Lee rises in the form of a spring at Leagrave 
 (formerly Leagrove), a grove in which the river is born. 
 This is in Bedfordshire, about three miles north-west of 
 the town now designated Luton. At this point our object- 
 lesson deals with nomenclature. 
 
 What's in a name ? Sometimes much that is profound 
 and subtle ! The public persist in spelling the name of 
 this river Lea perhaps fora woman's reason, paraphrasing 
 Shakespeare" they think it so, because they think it so." 
 The official orthography is " Lee," and in that form it 
 appears in deeds relating to property, although the 
 Ordnance Survey Maps favour the common method of 
 spelling the name, " Lea." In Saxon times it was spelt 
 " Lyzan," then " Luy," " Leye," and " Ley." It is not 
 improbable that the Saxon word ledh, meaning a meadow, 
 may be responsible for the adoption of the modern spell- 
 ing, with a dash of romance in it ; and this may be helped 
 out by the introduction of the Danish word lei untilled 
 ground when we remember that the Danes invaded the 
 district, and that probably many remained there and loft 
 their mark on the language, as incursionists usually do. 
 In the reign of Edward II. the legal documents spelt 
 the name variously as " Luye," "Leye," and "Ley";
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 and in the time of Elizabeth it took the form of " Lee," 
 which form is retained in all the documents of the Lee 
 Conservancy Board, and in Acts of Parliament. Wherefore, 
 " Lee " let it remain ! And this reminds us that Luton 
 takes its name from this river. It was once known as 
 Luyton; the letter "y " has since dropped out, and the 
 name remains as Luton, meaning the town on the Luy. 
 The stream travels nearly to Hertford, about forty miles, 
 with no accession of consequence other than soakage from 
 the banks. After passing Hatfield, and almost reaching 
 Hertford, it is joined by Bayford Brook on the right bank, 
 and two pretty trout streams (the Mimram and the Beane) 
 on the left. And here we bid adieu to the Upper Lee. 
 
 Heave O ! " The anckor's weighed." We are nearly 
 thirty miles (by water) from London ; our homely barge 
 steams gently on, and we pass Dicker Mill, in sight of 
 some richly-clpthed heights, on the left bank, known as 
 Port Hill. History lends enchantment to the place, for 
 here Alfred the Great is said to have fought his last battle 
 with the Danes ; and our host produces for our gratification 
 a time-worn, corroded, double-edged sword, and an 
 equally quaint dagger, which had been dredged from the 
 river bed at this part, the belief being that they were 
 weapons of warfare used in the struggles between Saxon 
 and Dane a thousand years ago. We have passed a lock 
 and two bridges, and gazed joyously on the gamboling 
 roach and dace in the transparent stream, when we reach 
 the Balance-engine, which plays an important part in 
 contributing to the comfort of two-fifths of the population 
 of London. On the right bank we see the birthplace 
 of the New River (at Chadwell Springs), or New 
 River Head, and lower down the Amwell Springs, 
 the channel of which river was dug and fashioned in 
 the reign of James I., to supply the inhabitants of North 
 London with water. For garden-like banks, and purity 
 of water, along a course of about seventeen miles' 
 crowfly and over forty miles in its windings this 
 New River is unsurpassed. This is one of the most 
 remarkable enterprises of the country. The financial 
 circumstances connected with the formation of the com- 
 pany are somewhat hazy. Various published accounts have 
 stated the original subscription to have been 100 a share. 
 Whether such was actually the case or not, is, in the Scotch 
 sense, " not proven." If it were so, the company was 
 probably re-constructed, and the shares were re-grouped, 
 inasmuch as they are now described as of limited 
 number, and divided into King's Shares and Adventurer's 
 Shares, which former represent a certain number of 
 shares given to the Mr>g in acknowledgement of the 
 royal favour of granting a charter (an old form of 
 levying taxes), and the latter investments entered into 
 by subscribers. One of the directors informs me that 
 the old books were all burned in a fire which occurred 
 many years ago, so that the original constitution is a matter 
 of conjecture. The shares dwindled in value till, at one 
 time, they were offered at a very few pounds; they have, 
 owing to increased demand for water by a rapidly-growing 
 population, and by augmented value of estates in which the
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 funds hare been invested, swollen in value so that a King's 
 Share is now worth about 110,000, and an Adventurer's 
 Share 125,000 ; and each latter share yields a dividend 
 of about 2650 a year. The Balance-engine referred 
 to tests the quantity of water passed, from the Lee 
 to the New River. The Chadwell Springs (the source of 
 the New River) soon failed to supply the needs of the 
 growing population of the Metropolis, and an Act of 
 Parliament secured the right to draw from the Lee. 
 The Bast London Water Company have also secured 
 the privilege of drawing from the Lee ; and the two 
 companies are now dependent upon the resources of 
 Walton's favourite stream for about 55,000.000 gallons of 
 water per day, for which the New River Company pays 
 1500 a year for, say, 22,000,000 gallons daily supply, and 
 tke East London Company 2000 for the remainder. 
 Multiplying this daily supply by 365 (as the number of days 
 in the year) we find that the Lee is denuded of 
 20,075,000,000 gallons a year for drinking purposes. 
 It is fair to state that they have paid large capital 
 sums (the New River 42,000) in connection with 
 improvements at different times ; besides, they pay 
 1000 a year for the purpose of " protection of water." * 
 As three-fourths of the New River supply is from Walton's 
 favourite river, we may term it the Lesser Lee. 
 
 We come to Ware Lock, which reveals (close to the left 
 bank) a well-kept garden, doubtless rich in phosphates, 
 owing to the site being that of an old Roman cemetery. 
 Time was when the Romans made a road which cut across 
 (as a ford) the river. Here we take on a new experience, 
 leaving the old river for navigable purposes for awhile to 
 steam along a cut into which enters the Manifold Ditch, 
 which appears " manifold " enough in respect of different 
 impurities conveyed from the sewage works of the town of 
 Hertford. Fish were not visible here, whether owing to the 
 density of the water, or the inability of fish to thrive in it, 
 deponent sayeth not. No scientist is needed to declare this 
 water as impure, although in a trial initiated by the Con- 
 servancy, to compel^ the contributory authorities to purify 
 their sewage, scientific authorities appeared on both sides 
 of the question ; some of them averred that impurity 
 would right itself in a course of seven miles in a swift 
 stream. Over 6000 was spent in this trial. We are now 
 approaching the town of Ware, and rejoining the river. 
 On the left bank is a mansion, which was formerly a 
 priory established by Benedictinft monks; there is also 
 the Priory Mill. Across the old river, where we rejoin it 
 at the end of the cut, the owner of the grounds keeps a 
 bar of wood across the stream, as an assertion of private 
 rights against intrusion ; but the conservators, on the 
 occasion of their annual survey, remove this bar, and 
 proceed up the stream as an act of asserted sovereignty, 
 which fact is annually recorded as evidence to be used in 
 case of future litigation. 
 
 And now we come to Ware itself the old-fashioned 
 
 * Vide address of Major Lamorock Flower (Sanitary Engineer 
 to the Conservancy) to the members of Parkes' Museum.
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 town of maltkilns, and all that pertains to the baking of 
 grain and the manufacture of the staple drink of old 
 England. Along the left bank we have a- number of 
 demesnes, each of which has a summer-house overhanging 
 the river. The .town occupies both banks, and has a cosy 
 looking bridge, which constitutes part of the High-street, 
 leading towards Cambridge. Formerly this was the 
 premier town for malting ; it is now put in the background 
 by Wakefield and Burton. Prior to the abolition of the 
 malt tax, there were 150 excisemen constantly engaged 
 in the town ; but that was when the malt had to be taxed 
 before being brewed, which secured that beer should be 
 made of malt. Now that the tax is imposed on the hogs- 
 heads of beer produced, the constituents of the beer are- 
 well, let us draw the veil, and view the town in other 
 respects ! The former name of the town was Quare, 
 meaning a weare, or dam, which was constructed on the 
 river, and strongly fortified by the Danes in 894, as a 
 means of protecting their vessels. The wily Alfred is said 
 to have drained the bed of the Lee near this pkce, there- 
 by stranding the vessels and enabling him to destroy the 
 fort. The great Bed of Ware was once a feature of the 
 town ; it is alluded to by Shakespeare in the Twelfth 
 Night, in which Sir Toby Belch advises Sir Andrew 
 Aguecheek to write as many lies as would cover a sheet of 
 paper, " although the sheet were big enough for the Bed 
 of Ware." The bed was made to hold twelve persons, was 
 honoured by royal sleepers, and said to have been sold to 
 the late Charles Dickens in 1864. It is no longer at 
 Ware, but is on show at the Rye House, just below ; the 
 landlord having purchased it. The fish are sporting freely 
 at this place, unconcerned about Roman roads, Danes and 
 Saxons, malting, or history ; nor are they much startled at 
 the approach of even the conservancy barge. 
 
 We pass the wharf and crane below Ware Bridge, and 
 try a little pleasant banter with an antique specimen of 
 humanity, whose portly frame of 20st. weight suggests 
 that the breezes from the Lee are not inimical to 
 the development of the human corpus; but, re- 
 membering the close proximity of malt and hops, 
 and the product therefrom, we may perhaps endorse 
 local gossip^ which avers that the man starts out 
 in the morning as a beer barrel and finishes the day as 
 a barrel of beer. However, this is a detail to be treated 
 lightly. We come to the Tumbling Bay, where fish are 
 abundant, and whence" (or thereabouts) commences a 
 stretch of about two miles (more or less) of fishery, rented 
 by the Amwell Magna Angling Association (who have a 
 handsome clubhouse on the river bank), a veritable 
 dreamland for anglers, the smiling woods on the 
 adjacent heights giving a tone to the scene which 
 gladdens the heart of every man who casts a line. 
 Hard by, the river Ash, close to the road which runs 
 to Buntingford, empties its tolerably clear waters into 
 the river Lee. Here we come upon the pretty village 
 of (Amwell, which derives its name from Emma's Well. 
 Amwell Springs yield an extra supply to the New River, 
 as before stated.
 
 Scott (a local Quaker poet) is a name of pious memory. 
 Here is a quotation from one of his poems : 
 
 " Am well ! perpetual be thy stream, 
 
 Nor ere thy springs be less ; 
 Thousands who drink them never dream 
 Whence flows the boon they bless." 
 
 Shortly afterwards we come to the smiling village of 
 Stanstead, its banks decorated by pollard willows. The 
 scene reminds us of many that are peculiar to Dutch 
 villages. Here we approach, near Hoddesdon, the historic 
 Rye House, which has been converted into an hotel, to 
 which beautiful gardens are attached. The contemplative 
 angler, in the pursuit of his gentle art, may muse upon a 
 great ^ historic event, the Eye House plot, which marked 
 the time of Charles II. It was no vulgar attempt at 
 murder and plunder, but an organised political effort to 
 overturn the throne and change the form of government. 
 The merry monarch travelled that way by coach to and 
 from Newmarket races to back the favourite or the field, 
 or whatever was the humour of that roystering monarch. 
 The plot was to overturn a cart on the highway which 
 should obstruct the King's coach, and, when sovereign 
 majesty should^ come to a halt, some of the conspirators 
 should fire at him from the hedges and escape through the 
 woods and along bye-paths. The plot was revealed; 
 some guilty minds sought to save their own necks by 
 giving evidence against the others. Even members of the 
 aristocracy (Lord Russell, who offered 100,000 for a free 
 pardon), colonels in the army, an ex-sheriff of London, 
 many prominent politicians, merchants, and tradesmen 
 were among the conspirators. By the_aid of Jeffries (the 
 butcher judge), some juries, the machinery of the Tower 
 of London, and a scaffold erected in Lincoln's Inn Fields, 
 the incident was ultimately closed. Rumbold was put to 
 death without trial, his limbs were dispersed as a warning 
 to different parts of the kingdom, and his head was stuck 
 on a spike at the top of the spiral staircase in Rye House, 
 from which it fell in recent years. , The present proprietor 
 of the hotel will show the Bed of Ware; also some 
 mysterious dungeons to explain the playful methods 
 adopted in days of old to beguile the time of unfortunate 
 captives dungeons into which sun, moon, and stars have 
 never peeped durgeons which tradition asserts to reach 
 Nether Hall, a fortified baronial dwelling a mile away. 
 
 A bridge was erected some years ago below the Rye 
 House, in the place of one which had stood from the time 
 of Charles, the _ timber of the old bridge being black as 
 ebony. This is just above Fielde's Weir, which is so 
 named from its being constructed by a family named 
 Fielde, the owners of Rye House. Here the river Stort 
 (on which the malting town of Bishops Stortford stands) 
 enters the Lee. Next comes Dobb's Weir and Tumbling 
 Bay. I have never fished this district, but am tempted to 
 visit the place some day, as it has a most inviting appear- 
 ance, and hoists a public announcement that anglers may 
 obtain tickets at the neighbouring hostelry the Fish and 
 Eels on the bank, which we noticed in passing. Next
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 comes Garthagena Bay, the reason for which Spanish 
 cognomen appears to be unknown. Here (a spot to crush 
 out all memories of business anxiety) I have spent many 
 days with rod and line, and remember a once familiar 
 angler, the late Charles Bradlaugh, M.P., whose name 
 and angling skill will not be forgotten while so many 
 specimens of his sportive success grace the walls of the 
 hostelry just below, viz., the Crown, at Broxbourne. A 
 change has come over the Crown so far as ownership is 
 concerned. Change is a law of nature, if law and change 
 do not form an anachronism. Laws are immutable, and, 
 in this respect, mutability is immutable. Anglers Vave 
 for years known a distinctive figure, Mrs. Benningfield, 
 whom probably they will know no more as hostess of the 
 Crown, for, although continuing to reside in the 
 neighbourhood, the lady has sold her interests in the house 
 and gardens, and the fishing arrangements. 
 
 King's Weir attracts us, and calls for a halt. We step 
 on to the bank, and find an old friend and well-known 
 angler drinking in the breezes of this healthful place, and 
 in the closing act of struggling with a 31b. bream. There 
 are several chub flaunting their bright backs before we 
 leave. The pool here is rented by some half-dozen London 
 anglers, who appear to have in hand what is commonly 
 described as " a good thing." Eels are said to abound ; 
 chub and bream, too. Let us ponder on the scene ! It is 
 very cheerv. 
 
 Wormley, with its aqueduct, followed by Hollyfield 
 Marsh Bridge, and then Cheshunt, which is supposed to 
 occupy the site of a Roman station on the Roman i oid 
 Ermin-street the manor of which was _once held by 
 Cardinal Wolsey. At some short distance inland is Theo- 
 balds, owned by Sir Henry Meux, and once the favourite 
 residence of Lord Bur leigh, and afterwards of James I., 
 who died in the house. It became the occasional resi- 
 dence of Charles I., and was the place where he received 
 the petition from both Houses of Parliament, in 1642, a 
 short time before he placed himself at the head of the 
 Army. There is a house here in which Richard Crom- 
 well, after resigning the Protectorate, lived in retirement, 
 under the assumed name of Clark, till his death in 1712. 
 
 We are approaching Waltham, which will end our 
 pleasant royage. For quiet sylvan beauty these last few 
 miles are not the least attractive. In the distance we view 
 groves of trees, behind which (as explained by our War 
 Office expert, Mr. Renshawe) are some extensive works 
 for the manufacture of gunpowder, cordite, &c., which 
 stimulate our martial pride in this age of actual wars and 
 rumours of war. We arrive at Waltham, where the 
 barge is domiciled. Waltham is noted for its neighbour- 
 ing old-time convents, its former line of twenty-seven 
 abbots and numerous monks, and the famous Abbey, 
 which had held its own for centuries. Tradition ascribes 
 the first thoughts of the Reformation to have been hatched 
 in the mind of Henry VIII. when at this place, pursuing 
 his favourite private amusement (please interpret lightly), 
 respecting which latter Fuller, the last Abbot of Waltham, 
 and church historian, sneeringly refers to the monarch to
 
 f 8 ) 
 
 whom he surrendered his estates, saying, " Wai tham balls 
 told no tales when the king came there. 
 
 Below this town, most places on the Lee are familiar 
 in your mouths as household words Bammey Marsh, 
 Newman's Weir, Enfield Lock, Enefelde (so named 
 from its being situated among fields) ; Tottenham, one 
 of the places where the corpse of Queen Eleanor 
 rested, and in memory of which a cross was erected. 
 The famous cross of wood, covered with lead, as it 
 existed in the time of our great master Izaak Walton 
 and at which he at times rested when journeying to the 
 river Lee in pursuit of his favourite pleasure, is described 
 by him as, a " sweet shady arbour, interwoven of woodbine, 
 sweetbriar, jessamine, and myrtle," where he used to 
 refresh himself, and drink sack, milk, oranges and 
 sugar, which, all put together, make a drink like nectar ; 
 indeed, too good for any but us anglers." Some anglers 
 have enlarged upon this practice, and added other sweets. 
 The river runs on by Clapton, Bow, Hackney, and 
 Stratford (the old river), to discharge, via Bow Creek, 
 into the Thames near the Isle of Dogs so named from 
 the dog kennels of Henry VIII. being placed on that small 
 isle, north of the river opposite the King's palace at Green- 
 wich, from which palace the barking of the dogs was some- 
 times audible. The other entrance to the Thames is at 
 Limehouse, by a new cut made in 17G7. 
 
 We have traversed a great portion of the stream at those 
 parts which our great master so frequently visited and 
 referred to with so much tenderness. However interest- 
 ing may be the events connected with past history in 
 relation to this river, there are none which appeal to our 
 hearts with greater force than the fact that Izaak Walton's 
 classic work, " The -Compleat Angler," records in charm- 
 ingly simple language numerous visits to its waters made 
 by that dear old fellow, who trudged many weary miles to 
 its banks before steam engines or steam-boats were known, 
 and when even the means of being helped partly on the 
 road by horse or any kind of vehicle must have been 
 practically non-existent. This is a paper, not on Walton, 
 but on the stream frequented by him. That the prince of 
 anglers, and the greatest of angling authors, should hare 
 fished the Lee so persistently, and described it so affection- 
 ately in his happy dialogues, has given fame to the stream, 
 and justifies, I submit, the choice of title to this paper 
 " Walton's Favourite River." 
 
 Having dined sumptuously in the saloon of the barge 
 during the day, and partaken of tea in the grounds of our 
 host's residence in Waltham, we are conducted to the engine 
 works of the East London Water Company, and are shown 
 the magnificent engines which pump a thousand gallons of 
 Lee water per minute to High Beach, a height of 4(X(ft. 
 Another hour in the grounds, and we have to share in that 
 " parting " which, vide " Juliet," is such sweet sorrow " ; 
 and vote our appreciation of the Lee Conservancy and 
 their clerk ; " for they are jolly good fellows."
 
 ;