The post The Dartford Marshes – a remote landscape on the edge of London appeared first on Remote London.

The post Joyce Green Farm – the Dartford Marshes appeared first on Remote London.

The surrounding marshland and fields lie several metres below the maximum tidal height of the river. The vulnerable floodplain stretches into the nearby towns of Dartford and Crayford (along the River Cray tributary).

Upriver, the much larger Thames Barrier protects central London. On the north bank, the Barking Creek Barrier, a similar (but larger) drop-gate barrier, protects the floodplain of the River Roding.

The Environment Agency usually closes Dartford Creek Barrier when high ‘spring’ tides (which occur roughly once a month) combine with stormy weather. In 2019, the Dartford Creek Barrier closed about 12 times. 2018 saw seven closures and 2017 saw eight. The barrier closed 12 times in 2016 to prevent flooding.

Around the barrier

The Darent here is one of the last remaining natural tidal creeks in London. Silting and reduced flow mean that very few boats now disturb the wildlife, but this was once an important trade artery for industry, with river traffic recorded as far back as pre-Roman times.

The Long Reach Tavern once stood close to this isolated point. Demolished in the late 1950s, all traces of the tavern were finally lost during the construction of the barrier (which opened in 1982) and the associated flood defences. The low-lying fields behind the river wall were once home to Joyce Green Airfield, which saw action in the First World War.

Although the Dartford Creek Barrier looks as though it might provide a useful footbridge across the Darent, there is currently no public access. Instead, the river path heads inland, along the Darent and Cray rivers. This creates a lengthy, but interesting, detour for walkers of the Thames Path.

The Dartford Creek Barrier – useful links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Darent

https://www.layersoflondon.org/map?record=3697

The post The Dartford Creek Barrier appeared first on Remote London.

The footpath that traces the edge of the River Darent towards the Thames passes several of these overgrown, derelict concrete structures. Others can be seen in the adjoining fields, but some of these may soon be lost to the Joyce Green Farm aggregate works.

The windowless structures are understood to be WW2 ammunition stores. They are heavily buttressed, but all are now roofless and crumbling. Brambles, nettles and small trees grow where explosive shells were once stored.

Two of the concrete structures have already gone, replaced by ponds and islands. This new habitat is probably designed as a refuge for wildlife displaced by the coming quarrying, which is expected to extract 670,000 tonnes of sand and gravel from the reclaimed marshland here.

The post Derelict WW2 ammunition bunkers on the Dartford Marshes appeared first on Remote London.

The post The Wells Firework Factory, disused & overgrown – the Dartford Marshes appeared first on Remote London.

The post The Long Reach hospital ships – ghosts of the Dartford Marshes appeared first on Remote London.

Joyce Green Hospital and Long Reach were isolation hospitals, built on the Dartford Marshes in the early 20^th century.

The remote nature of the Dartford Marshes made them ideal for isolation hospitals. Contagious smallpox patients were already being treated in the Long Reach hospital ships, moored just off the marshes in the Thames. However, numbers of patients were rising, and the ships were in poor condition.

As numbers of smallpox patients threatening to overwhelm the three hospital ships, construction began on Joyce Green Hospital. The hospital opened on former agricultural land in December 1903.

The hospital was of impressive size and layout, an eye-catching outline on maps of the time. Joyce Green Hospital was first used as an isolation hospital, and then as a training hospital. The hospital was demolished in 2000 and almost all trace is now lost beneath modern housing. The hospital’s cemetery still exists, just south of the A206 dual carriageway.

The hospital was served by a tramway which connected it to the Thames. This tramway still partially exists, as part of Route 125 of the National Cycle Network. On Google Maps the tramway is currently labelled as Marsh Street North.

Long Reach

As construction began at Joyce Green Hospital, temporary buildings were erected just inland of the hospital boats. These temporary hospital units were known as Long Reach. The location is now overgrown with tangled woodland, and it is unlikely that much survives following demolition in 1974. The route of the tramway clearly divides here, with one line breaking away to the northwest, parallel to the Thames and towards Long Reach. However, the path is quickly engulfed in brambles and is currently unpassable.

Another, larger complex of temporary buildings to the north west of the main hospital was known as The Orchard. The remains of the Orchard are accessible via unofficial paths leading from Joyce Green Lane, and from the tramway shortly before it joins Binnie Road.

Joyce Green Hospital – useful links

https://dartfordhospitalhistories.org.uk/joyce-green/joyce-green-introduction/

workhouses.org.uk/MAB-JoyceGreen/

Long Reach – useful links

https://dartfordhospitalhistories.org.uk/long-reach/long-reach-introduction/

workhouses.org.uk/MAB-LongReach/

The post The lost Long Reach & Joyce Green Hospitals on the Dartford Marshes appeared first on Remote London.

The post The Orchard Hospital, exploring a lost ghost of the Dartford Marshes appeared first on Remote London.

Looking across the Dartford Marshes towards the QE11 Bridge. These fields were once part of Joyce Green airfield.

The airfield’s buildings and hangers were located close to the Long Reach Tavern. The nearby fields were used as runways, their drainage ditches covered over with wooden boards.

This quote from Air Vice Marshal Arthur Gould Lee, taken from his book ‘Open Cockpit’ (1969), sums up not just the danger of Joyce Green, but also the industrial nature of the area at the time.

“To use this waterlogged field for testing every now and then was reasonable and to take advantage of it as an emergency landing ground for Home Defence forces was credible, but to employ it as a flying training station was folly and as a Camel training station was lunacy.

A pupil taking off with a choked or failing engine had to choose, according to wind direction, between drowning in the Thames (half a mile wide at this point), or crashing into the Vickers TNT works, or hitting one of their several high chimney stacks, or sinking into a vast sewage farm, or killing himself and numerous patients in a large isolation hospital, or being electrocuted in an electrical substation with acres of pylons and cables; or trying to turn and get back to the aerodrome. Unfortunately, many pupils confronted with disaster tried the last course and span to their deaths.”

Records back up the Vice Marshal’s opinion, with many young pilots spinning out, before crashing to the earth, or into the Thames or Darent. Several mid-air collisions were also recorded, as pilots practiced for combat.

Nothing remains of the airfield, not even a plaque to the men who died here.

The RFC abandoned the site in 1917, moving to a much more suitable location at Biggin Hill, later made famous as an important fighter base during the Battle of Britain.

Joyce Green Airfield – useful links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Joyce_Green

https://airbornerambler.wordpress.com/2018/07/29/joyce-green-a-passing-shadow/

https://www.crayfordhistory.org.uk/projects/wilfred-salmon/wilfred-salmon-online-exhibition/history-joyce-green-airfield

The post The ghost of Joyce Green Airfield, an ill-fated WW1 aerodrome on the Dartford Marshes appeared first on Remote London.

The post The Long Reach Tavern – the lost pub of the Dartford Marshes appeared first on Remote London.