Brownfield Archives - Remote London https://www.remotelondon.com/tag/brownfield/ Wild spaces & solitude on the edges of London Tue, 04 Aug 2020 21:15:32 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://www.remotelondon.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Greater-London-outline-favicon.png Brownfield Archives - Remote London https://www.remotelondon.com/tag/brownfield/ 32 32 179982959 Elmley Cement Works and a lost village on the Isle of Sheppey https://www.remotelondon.com/elmley-cement-works-and-lost-village/ Tue, 04 Aug 2020 17:24:13 +0000 https://www.remotelondon.com/?p=1206 Elmley Island is nestled within the belly of the Isle of Sheppey, an island within an isle. Although no longer a…

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Elmley Island is nestled within the belly of the Isle of Sheppey, an island within an isle. Although no longer a true island, Elmley is still a remote and wild spot. Elmley Nature Reserve is well worth a visit, but I was drawn to the remote riverside path. An abandoned wharf was my target, rather than the inland grazing marshes.

I parked my car at the end of Ferry Road, a heavily rutted lane which leads to the old Kingsferry crossing. Now home to landfill and dumping, this was once the principle way on and off the island. A ferry ran here until 1860, when the first bridge was built to the mainland.

A metal gate blocks a dusty road on Elmley Island
Ferry Road leads to this welcoming sight at Kingsferry. There is a public right of way here.

Two bridges now span the channel, a lifting bridge dating from 1959 and the much higher, sweeping Sheppey Crossing, which opened in 2006. The end of the road is gated, but there is public access and you can walk around the gate.

An old sign warns of soft mud on Elmley Island
The path is good, but this is a wet landscape

Following the Swale

A public footpath heads east, following the river wall and the flow of the Swale. Inland, sturdy beef cattle browse the wet grazing marshes, dwarfed below huge pylons. Scraps of saltmarsh and wide mudflats lead down to the Swale, the tideway which separates Sheppey from the mainland.

Cattle grazing on Elmley Island

Pockets of heavy industry line the mainland side. The sound of birdsong is occasionally interrupted by the roar of jet skis, blithely ignoring the eight knots speed limit.

The path cuts around the mouth of the Dray. This channel was once tidal, flowing around Elmley to meet with Windmill Creek, creating a true island.

A muddy creek leads to the Swale, with industry beyond
The former mouth of The Dray. This channel once curved around Elmley Island, meeting Windmill Creek to create a true island

Overhead, an intolerant gull was noisily harassing a larger marsh harrier. The harrier drifted higher over the island, before lazily swooping away towards the mainland.  

A white gull annoying a larger, darker marsh harrier high in the sky, on Elmley Island
Birds of prey, such as this marsh harrier, are often pestered by other birds, who want them off their territory

Elmley Cement Works

The track curves past remnant saltmarsh and comes to the ruins of an old wharf. This was the Elmley Cement Works, also known at the Turkey Cement Works. Little still stands, but for almost fifty years this crumbling wharf supported a small industrial village and a riverside pub called The Globe, with a nearby church and school.

The old wharf at Elmley Cement Works. One side is broken concrete, the other wooden. The dock is full of mud.
The old wharf at Elmley Cement Works. The modern building in the distance is a biomass power plant

Elmley Cement Works operated between 1854 and 1901, apparently starting at a site a short distance to the south, before settling here. The cement was produced using local clay, dug from the surrounding saltmarsh and mudflats. This stretch of the Swale is marked on maps as Clay Reach, an echo of the area’s history. The other vital ingredient, chalk, was shipped in from other Medway wharves.

A short-lived brickworks also operated here, prior to the cement works. Again, the main ingredient would have been the local clay.

Ruins of the Elmley Cement Works
Ruins of the Elmley Cement Works
A large standing wall and pit at Elmley Cement Works
A large standing wall and pit at Elmley Cement Works

The wharf and foundations have been heavily warrened by rabbits, but larger tunnels exist. These are probably ventilation flues, providing an updraft of air to the twelve cement kilns which operated here. The flues extend a long way out into the landscape, mostly hidden below the grass. 

A low brick arched tunnel heads into darkness
Probable ventilation flue at the Elmley Cement Works
Inside the arched flue, with rubble extending into darkness
The flue would have drawn air for the fires in the cement kilns

Ghosts of Elmley Village

There is no obvious sign of the lost Elmley Village, although intriguing foundations dot the surrounding landscape. More than 200 people once lived here, in 30 homes. Glimpses of their lives and deaths are recorded in old newspaper clippings and census information, but today, it is hard to imagine a community living in this remote spot.

A small, battered tree grows from between concrete blocks, in an empty landscape, on Elmley Island
Little evidence of the cement works and Elmley Village remain
Black and white photograph of homely looking cottages, with the Swale in the background. On Elmley Island.
An undated photograph of Seaview Cottages close to the cement works. No trace now remains.

Elmley Village School and St James’s Church

Walking inland towards the ruins of Elmley Village School, I was stopped in my tracks by half-a-dozen yellow wagtails, gracefully chasing insects across the dusty path. They are astonishingly yellow, a bird I’ve never seen before. They are only here for the summer, shining brightly, before overwintering in Africa. Nearby, small groups of cautious linnets were flying low, the males displaying blushes of crimson across their chests. 

The village school is about half a kilometre inland, and are can be seen from the public footpath. The dangerously dilapidated structure is fenced off. The school was built in 1885, after rising class numbers at the nearby church made lessons there impractical. Fifty children once attended classes here, walking this same track.

The ruined Elmley Village School, with a tall chimney, amid a few trees and wildflowers
The derelict Elmley Village School lies just off the track

The church which stood next to the school has completely gone, wiped from the landscape. Incredibly, a church had stood here from roughly 1247, surviving rebuilds, centuries of disuse and fluctuating congregations.

The demise of the cement works proved the final nail in the coffin, and the church had become derelict by the 1950s, used as a cattle barn and for general farm storage. Some of the structure may have been taken to rebuild the river wall, following the infamous North Sea floods of 1953. The final ruins of St James’s Church were demolished in the early 1960s.

Trees grow where Elmley Church once stood
St James's Church stood to the left of the school in this photograph, closer to the river. Nothing visible remains
Sepia photograph showing Elmley Church
Undated photograph showing St James's Church beyond the school building.

Of the 160 burials recorded at the church since 1834, not even a headstone remains. Local resident Derek Faulkner has written extensively about Elmley, and his account of this lost church is worth reading.

Kestrels and hares

Heading back, two kestrel caught my eye, poised on fence posts and overlooking a recently harvested field. Every now and then, one would flick down to the stubble, swooping on small prey. In another field, a long-limbed hare, exposed amid the stubble, took flight towards the horizon.

In the far distance, the Kemsley waste-to-energy facility sits boldly on the horizon, a modern addition to an ancient landscape. 

A large, distant, futuristic-looking, blocky building, with several high chimneys
The Kemsley waste-to-energy facility on the mainland side of the Swale, beyond the remains of the cement works and village

Curious to see the earlier site of the cement works, I followed the shoreline a little way south. I suspect all trace may have been lost to later river wall enforcement, but there are some significant chunks of concrete and brickwork here. Wind-battered, twisting crack willow grows amid the remains.

Crack willow grows alongside a few massive concrete blocks, next to the Swale, on Elmley Island
Crack willow grows alongside a few massive concrete blocks, next to the Swale

Walking back to Kingsferry, small flocks of starlings took to the sky, twisting in formation. The moon rose pale in the east, beyond the pylons. A short walk, but a good one.

The moon rising over Elmley Island, with two huge pylons to the right of the landscape. The sky is pink.
The moon rising over Elmley Island

Public transport

This walk is best accessed by buses, which stop on Sheppey Way, close to the junction with Ferry Road. Walking along Ferry Road to Kingsferry takes about 20 minutes.

Alternatively, trains stop at Swale, and you can walk over the Lift Bridge. A footpath on the left of the road leads down towards the riverbank. However, it is only possible to walk under the Lift Bridge at low tide levels, and the alternative detour inland to Ferry Road is a long one on foot.

Useful information

Derek Faulkner’s local blog:  http://lettersfromsheppey.blogspot.com/2011/08/another-side-of-elmley.html

The Globe pub and Elmley Village http://www.dover-kent.com/2015-project/Globe-Inn-Elmley.html

Elmley Cement Works https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cement_kiln_elmley.html

Other walks on the Isle of Sheppey https://www.remotelondon.com/?s=sheppey

More pics

Not far from the cement works, this broken wind pump rises above ruined brickwork on Elmley Island
Not far from the cement works, this broken wind pump rises above ruined brickwork.
The wharf’s mud-choked dock contains the skeletal remains of a wooden barge
The wharf’s mud-choked dock contains the skeletal remains of a wooden barge
Parallel grooves in broken concrete, with wildflowers growing in cracks
Grooves show where a travelling crane once moved alongside the dock.
There isn't much standing brickwork at Elmley Cement Works

Maps of Elmley Island

Old map, showing Elmley Island as green.
Bartholomew’s 1904 map shows Elmley Island as a true island. The Inn is marked and a cross marks the location of the church. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
An 1865 map of Elmley Island
An 1865 map of Elmley shows the cement works, former cement works and church. The school has yet to be built. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

Position of Elmley Cement Works

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]]> 1206 Walking the wild side of Canvey Island https://www.remotelondon.com/walking-the-wild-side-of-canvey-island/ Mon, 27 May 2019 15:30:00 +0000 https://www.remotelondon.com/?p=817 Canvey Island offers a remote, wild walk, an easy 45 minutes away from London by rail. The top, western half of…

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Canvey Island offers a remote, wild walk, an easy 45 minutes away from London by rail. The top, western half of the island is a patchwork of low-lying fields and marsh, protected from the sea by a high river embankment. This is West Canvey Marsh, a nature reserve cared for by the RSPB.

A path follows the sea wall, tracing the outline of the island. You can walk all around if you wish, or walk out and back, keeping to the wild side.

From Benfleet station, take the road bridge over the creek. The low, green slope of the river embankment appears on the right, the path marked by a stilted, wooden signpost.

East Haven Creek, Canvey Island
East Haven Creek, Canvey Island

The grassy path overlooks saltmarsh and the creek. Wildflowers and scrub grow along the embankment. For a while, the unwanted noise of traffic competes with bird song, but then the path turns away from the road.

The sea wall follows the creek, ducking under the busy Canvey Way road bridge. Occasional paths lead down from the river wall and onto West Canvey Marshes.

Bowers Marshes and landfill

On the other side of the creek, another RSPB reserve, Bowers Marshes, supports rich wildlife. As so often with Thameside marshes, there is also landfill here, the huge Pitsea Landfill Site. Each year 800,000 tonnes of waste are heaped and landscaped across the former saltmarsh.

The marsh may have been lost, but a new RSPB nature reserve will be created here once the landfill has been capped and rendered safe.

East Haven Creek, Canvey Island
East Haven Creek, Canvey Island

The creek changes throughout the day, filling and draining with the tides. The flow changes with the tides and the skies, drifting from a tempting, sparkling blue to a sullen, murky brown.

Canvey Island and flooding

The path passes the East Haven Creek Barrier, part of a robust, local flood defence system. The area is very susceptible to flooding and homes need protecting. During 1953’s North Sea Flood, 58 people lost their lives on Canvey Island, drowning as the sea defences crumbled.

Holehaven Creek and the Coryton Refinery
Holehaven Creek and the Coryton Refinery

The embankment wall now follows Holehaven Creek towards the Thames. Looking across the creek, salt marsh gives way to Coryton Refinery, a sprawling complex of gas and oil cylinders, chimney stacks, and refinery equipment. The refinery is largely decommissioned, awaiting a new future. You can hire it for dystopian film shoots if your pockets are deep enough.

Canvey Wick

Back on Canvey Island, the path approaches the site of a would-be refinery. Construction began in the 1960s but was abandoned during the oil crisis of 1973, amid embargoes and rocketing oil prices.

A skeletal pier reaches out across the creek towards the deep water anchorages of the Thames. The pier is almost a mile long but was never used. Kayaking here, I once met a couple of stoners, happily adrift in cheap inflatables, seemingly unconcerned by the tides or breeze. They said it was better than watching TV, and I’d have to agree.

Canvey Wick Pier
Canvey Wick Pier, almost a mile long

The abandoned refinery is now a fabulous brownfield nature reserve called Canvey Wick, designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its environmental value. The wildlife is wonderful, rare, and also small, as this reserve is especially rich in invertebrates. Surveys have shown Canvey Wick to have more biodiversity per square foot than any other site in the UK.

Canvey Wick, nature reclaiming asphalt
Canvey Wick, nature reclaiming asphalt
Soldier beetles (Cantharis rustica) mating
Soldier beetles doing their thing at Canvey Wick Nature Reserve

You can wander around Canvey Wick and it is free to visit. The oil tanks were never built, but their huge, circular foundations can be found across the site, like abandoned rocket pads. The dark asphalt is slowly succumbing to nature and soaks up the sun’s heat, creating drowsy pools of warmth amid the scrub and wildflowers.

From the Canvey Wick nature reserve, busy main roads lead back to Benfleet, but it is preferable to retrace your steps, enjoying the salty views from a new angle.

Looking back at Holehaven Creek, the Coryton Refinery and the distant cranes of London Gateway Port.
Looking back at Holehaven Creek, the Coryton Refinery and the distant cranes of London Gateway Port.

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