Already in Elizabethan times there was a vigorous river trade between towns on the River Lea and the City of London, but watermen had to await the tides and row round the Isle of Dogs.
 Thus in 1588 (wrote G. B. G. Bull): 
A fleet of 44 barges, bearing such names as Maltsack, Ramshead, Greyhound, Pheasant, Primrose, Hind and Cock, with a total capacity of 1100 quarters were engaged in transporting wheat and malt from the Hertfordshire markets of Ware and Hoddesdon to Queenhythe in London.
Barges were loaded at Ware on Saturday, reached Bow Lock on Monday, and awaited the opening of the gates with the turn of the tide.
Brisk rowing on the Thames brought the barges to London within four hours of clearing the Lea.
 The return journey, with passengers or with a load of coal, pig-iron or salt, began on the ebb tide.
When the tide changed, Bow Lock opened once more.
From thence to Waltham took six hours, and to Ware six hours more.

  The goods came from even further afield:  by 1663 the road from Huntingdon and Cambridge was worn out "by reason of the great Trade of Barley and Mault, that cometh to Ware, and so is conveyed by water to the City of London".
 In 1739, 25,000 tons of malt and "all sorts of Grain, Flower, and other Commodities" went by the Lee.
 When the Limehouse Cut was built this traffic had increased to 36,000 tons—about a quarter of London's grain supply.
Already in Elizabethan times there was a vigorous river trade between towns on the River Lea and the City of London, but watermen had to await the tides and row round the Isle of Dogs.  Thus in 1588 (wrote G. B. G. Bull): 
A fleet of 44 barges, bearing such names as Maltsack, Ramshead, Greyhound, Pheasant, Primrose, Hind and Cock, with a total capacity of 1100 quarters were engaged in transporting wheat and malt from the Hertfordshire markets of Ware and Hoddesdon to Queenhythe in London. Barges were loaded at Ware on Saturday, reached Bow Lock on Monday, and awaited the opening of the gates with the turn of the tide. Brisk rowing on the Thames brought the barges to London within four hours of clearing the Lea.  The return journey, with passengers or with a load of coal, pig-iron or salt, began on the ebb tide. When the tide changed, Bow Lock opened once more. From thence to Waltham took six hours, and to Ware six hours more.
  The goods came from even further afield:  by 1663 the road from Huntingdon and Cambridge was worn out "by reason of the great Trade of Barley and Mault, that cometh to Ware, and so is conveyed by water to the City of London".  In 1739, 25,000 tons of malt and "all sorts of Grain, Flower, and other Commodities" went by the Lee.  When the Limehouse Cut was built this traffic had increased to 36,000 tons—about a quarter of London's grain supply.
Limehouse Cut