With the growth of the malt trade in Bishop's Stortford in the early eighteenth century, attention turned to providing better transport facilities.

Work began on 24 September, under the direction of Thomas Yeoman, who was also the surveyor for the Lee Navigation, and was completed in autumn 1769.

[4] Because the navigation was privately funded, there is no record of the actual cost, but Jackson, speaking in 1812 and by then named Sir George Duckett, stated that it had not been a good business proposition.

However, this involved passing in front of Audley End, the home of Lord Howard de Walden, who vehemently opposed the scheme.

[6] John Phillips was next to revive the plan in 1785, although it was a small part of a grand scheme to link London to Kings Lynn.

He hoped to avoid the opposition experienced previously by routing his Bishop's Stortford to Cambridge link to the west of the Shotgrove and Audley End estates.

George Jackson proposed a route to the Thames and Canal Committee in 1788, which passed behind Audley End and through Saffron Walden.

In 1789, a line proposed by John Rennie was considered, which would have passed through Saffron Walden to join the River Little Ouse near Wilton Ferry.

[9] In May 1842 the Northern and Eastern Railway opened a line to Bishop's Stortford, which followed the valley of the Stort, and had stations almost on the banks of the navigation.

obtained by them in 1868 and 1874 included powers to authorise the acquisition, but surveys were made, and the amount of repairs and dredging that would be required persuaded them to only offer a small sum, which was rejected.

Bishop's Stortford Urban District Council offered £170 towards its purchase, on condition that other local authorities should also contribute.

Another assessment by the Lee Conservancy Board estimated that £10,800 was needed to put it back into good order, and noted that income had dropped from £927 to £319 between 1901 and 1907.

[11] Prior to the takeover, the Lee Conservators had applied for a loan under the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act 1909, and were granted five annual payments of £2,500, to be repaid when profits were made.

It resumed when the war ended, and the navigation was reopened on 4 July 1924, the ceremony being performed by Harry Gosling, the Minister of Transport.

[13] It was devised by the West Essex Group of the Ramblers Association, as a way to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

It receives its water supply from the upper River Stort, which rises as a series of streams near Langley, some 11 miles (18 km) to the north.

Nearby and to the east is Bishop's Stortford railway station, on the London Liverpool Street to Kings Lynn line.

South Mill lock marks the start of the descent,[15] and beyond it are watermeadows[16] and Rushy Mead Nature Reserve, an 11.5-acre (4.7 ha) site run by Essex Wildlife Trust which was the location of a sewage pumping station prior to 1950.

[21] Sawbridgeworth Lock is located on the northern edge of the town, where both the timber-framed and weatherboarded mill house, and the nearby grain store, date from the 18th century and are Grade II listed.

As it does so, it forms the eastern edge of the Pishiobury Estate, a country house and landscaped park containing gardens from the 16th century and later.

The Grade II listed grounds include formal canals, and the landscaping is attributed to Capability Brown.

Roydon railway station is very close to the navigation, although its attractive timber-framed and plastered buildings dating from 1844 face away from the river.

[32] The navigation now enters the Lee Valley Regional Park and threads its way between flooded gravel pits and Rye Meads sewage treatment works to the north.