Thames Path Archives - Remote London https://www.remotelondon.com/tag/thames-path/ Wild spaces & solitude on the edges of London Tue, 03 Oct 2023 17:40:21 +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 Thames Path Archives - Remote London https://www.remotelondon.com/tag/thames-path/ 32 32 179982959 Barking Riverside & Footpath 47, a wild riverside path with an uncertain future https://www.remotelondon.com/barking-riverside-footpath-47/ Wed, 17 Jun 2020 13:25:05 +0000 https://www.remotelondon.com/?p=986 East London’s riverside landscape is changing fast, but amid the ongoing redevelopment there are still good places to enjoy London’s quiet…

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East London’s riverside landscape is changing fast, but amid the ongoing redevelopment there are still good places to enjoy London’s quiet side. The footpaths at Barking Riverside won’t stay empty for much longer, so now is a good time to walk these wild Thameside paths.

Welcome sign at Barking Riverside

Footpath 47

Footpath 47 is a public right-of-way leading from Renwick Road, next to Barking Riverside. The path doesn’t look promising, the entrance poised between heaped landfill and dominated by construction works.

Nearby, the new Barking Riverside Overground extension resembles a half-built motorway, a monument to reinforced concrete. The rail tracks rear up to meet the terminus, providing plenty of space for retail chains and franchised coffee shops below.

Wild flowers, grassland and saltmarsh line the Thames at Barking Riverside
Wild flowers, grassland and saltmarsh line the Thames at Barking Riverside

Ripple Level

This area used to be known as Ripple Level, an expanse of low fields protected from the worst of the Thames tides by walls and embankments. This area would once have been extensive saltmarsh, but river walls are likely to have gone in during the 14th century, perhaps even earlier, and the marshes drained for the grazing of sheep and cattle.

The former Ripple Level, looking west towards Renwick Road
The former Ripple Level, looking west towards Renwick Road

This description from 1883 gives an impression of the landscape at the time: “Beyond Barking Marsh, immediately abutting the Thames is mostly dreary marsh, crossed and intersected with straight dykes and sluggish pools, but further in land are broad stretches of pasture land, serving as an admirable grazing ground for cattle” [Walford 1st. pub. 1883].

The river foreshore at Barking Riverside, looking west and upriver

The old field patterns could still be seen in 1950, their outlines delineated by drainage ditches, but times were changing. The land around the River Roding had been heavily industrialised in the early 1900s, along with the construction of the original Barking Power Station at Creekmouth (since demolished). Development stalled on the edges of the Ripping Levels, probably because the land was too prone to flooding, but another use beckoned.

From livestock to landfill

Post-war London needed to rebuild, and to do that it needed to remove huge quantities of Blitz and slum-clearance rubble. The subsequent dumping grounds now surround London, especially to the east and west. Between the mid-sixties and the 1980s, the Ripple Levels all but vanished under landfill and tipping.

The low-lying fields are now piled high with broken brick and buried domestic rubbish. On a June day, these low, undisturbed hills of waste bloom with colourful wildflowers, and skylarks sing overhead.

Waves of landfill at Barking Riverside, colonised by wildflowers and wildlife
Waves of landfill at Barking Riverside, colonised by wildflowers and wildlife

Barking Riverside

Footpath 47 tracks a riverside route, between the fenced-off landfill and the River Thames. Inland, the new apartment blocks of Barking Riverside are being pulled skywards by huge cranes. Tracks lead down to the river and the falling tide reveals wide mudflats. Small squadrons of bulky shelduck patrol the river’s edge, and seals are often seen here, lounging close to the water’s edge.

Distance construction with tall cranes, behind a tall wire fence, with a crow perched on top
Barking Riverside apartment blocks will soon reach this fenceline

The footpath was closed without notice in 2014, leading to a campaign by local walkers to reopen their right-of-way. The developers eventually did so in 2015, having fenced off the landfill they will be developing. Soon, densely piled apartment blocks will overlook this fenceline, and the wild solitude of Footpath 47 will be lost.

Mounds of landfill look like dunes, with long grass growing on them. Tall cranes in the distance.
Looking back at dunes of landfill, from a path down to the foreshore

The Gores

The rough, rutted track heads east, patrolled by the occasional security car and few others. The path eventually heads back inland where a waterway, the Gores, meets the Thames. The Gores is an old drainage channel, now protected from incoming Thames tides by a large one-way sluice complex.

The Gores sluice, allowing the land to drain into the Thames, but keeping the tides at bay.
The Gores sluice, allowing the land to drain into the Thames, but keeping the tides at bay. In the background, a large cargo ship is moored off Dagenham. The sluices prevent flooding, but also stop migratory fish, such as the endangered European eel, from reaching the inland waterways where they once thrived.

On the other side of the Gores the Dagenham Cement and Ash Terminal provides a noisy counterpoint to the tranquillity of the river path. And yet the Gores itself is beautiful, two channels threading along a narrow, green valley, banked with landfill on one side, industry on the other.

The Gores valley

The valley is fenced, and signs proclaim it a Wildlife Concern Area, with no public access. Bird song drifts up from the waterways and reedbeds.  The Gores itself used to track a different course, meeting the Thames farther east. The waterway’s original course was beyond the cement plant, feeding an area of old marshland called Horse Shoe Corner. 

Wildlife Concern Zone and the Gores. The industry in the background stands on the former marshland of Horse Shoe Corner

Horse Shoe Corner

Horse Shoe Corner resisted taming until the mid-20th century, when it was infilled and reclaimed for coal storage and railway sidings, which then gave way to industry. The Gores was pushed west, into a new, man-made channel. The re-routed waterway may also have played a part in removing the polluted waters draining from the council tip, funnelling foul water into the Thames.

The path follows the Gores away from the Thames and to Choats Road. The route, raised relatively high on landfill, gives good views of the surrounding, changing landscape. On a warm June day, with wildflowers on all sides, one could almost be in a pocket of deep countryside.

Many people, including at least one influential conservation charity, argue that landfill and brownfield are only fit for building on. In truth, such sites can be far better for wildlife than much of our countryside

At Choats Road, a tricky barrier makes an effective guard against off-road bikers, but you can wiggle a bicycle through if you are wheeling one beside you.

Tall spiked railings with a narrow gap, partially blocked by metal posts
Choats Road entrance to Footpath 47

The Gores continues north, and on my visit, I could clearly hear a cuckoo calling from within this fenced and hopefully protected slice of urban countryside. A map of 1915 marks this stretch of the Gores as bordering a sewage works and filter beds, now lost under landfill and partially used as an industrial estate.

Overhead, a kestrel scanned the Barking Riverside landfill, hovering on tremulous wings, perfectly focussed on the wildlands below.

The river Gores flows between green banks towards a large, distant pylon. More pylons can be seen on the horizon
The Gores valley north of Choats Road

The future of Barking Riverside

As Barking Riverside develops, much of the current wildlife will probably be squeezed out. The shoreline shelduck are wary of movement on the bank, and the cuckoo and kestrel will lose their hunting grounds. Without the wildflower meadows of old landfill, the skylarks will have nowhere to nest, and no seeds or insects to feed their young.

The seals may still visit, having become accustomed to the busy River Thames, but it won’t be the same. The many thousands who come to live at Barking Riverside won’t miss the song of the skylark or the call of the cuckoo. They won’t even know such wildlife lived here before them.  

Distant cranes over half-finished buildings at Barking Riverside. In the foreground, a crow perches on a wire fence
Lots of grey buildings seen from above
How Barking Riverside is likely to look when finished. Click on the image to visit the Barking Riverside website. The developers claim that “preserving and enhancing the rich ecological diversity of the area is a priority for the development”

More information

Barking & Dagenham Local History – https://www.barkingdagenhamlocalhistory.co.uk/barkingreachhistory.htm

Edith’s Streets – http://edithsstreets.blogspot.com/2011/05/thames-tributary-goresbrook-dagenham_30.html

Satellite view of Barking Riverside, showing construction, landfill and river path
Google satellite view of Barking Riverside © Google 2020. Footpath 47 mostly borders the development to the south, along the Thames, and to the east, heading up to Choats Road

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]]> 986 Purfleet to Grays, exploring the Thames Path https://www.remotelondon.com/purfleet-to-greys-exploring-the-thames-path/ Wed, 19 Feb 2020 22:22:40 +0000 http://www.remotelondon.com/?p=530 Walking the Thames path from Purfleet to Grays and exploring this wild & ragged edge of London. Nature flourishes along this…

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Walking the Thames path from Purfleet to Grays and exploring this wild & ragged edge of London. Nature flourishes along this riverside corridor, alongside colourful aerosol art, derelict jetties and heavy industry.

Purfleet

Purfleet feels like an end-of-the-line station. The nearby newsagent’s shop and the Tandoori restaurant are boarded shut, as is much of the short terrace that faces the station car park.

The Thames footpath has meandered inland here, skirting an old wharf site, and now dips back towards the river. A tilting signpost points the way past a burnt-out house, shielded by wire mesh fencing and a sign warning of security dogs.

When I visited someone was still holding on here, a few bicycles outside a front door bringing a warm touch of family life. The footpath skirts the battered terrace and heads left towards the river. The path squeezes through an overgrown fence line before opening onto a wide expanse of brownfield, thickly carpeted with small, yellow flowers. (Update: the terrace has now been demolished)

 

Derelict terrace at start of walk in Purfleet

The footpath cuts diagonally across this patch, tracking the ghost of a railway line towards a disused pier. This shoreline saw rapid industrial expansion from the late 19th century onward, the busy wharves served by rail lines which cut across the drained marshes.

The Anglo American Oil Company at Purfleet

Heading downstream, the next pier serves a small, active oil depot. This dates back to 1888, when it was owned by the Anglo American Oil Company. This was the company’s first depot, storing paraffin shipped from New York for use in lamps throughout England. The Anglo American Oil Company eventually became Esso, then ExxonMobil. It all started here! (1)

Thames Path at Purfleet looking west
Thames Path at Purfleet looking west

Every 100 metres or so, steel ladders provide access over the wall and to the river beyond. It’s generally safe to walk on either side, although in places one side may be barred by security fencing or vegetation.

Wildlife and spray art

Nature is happily reclaiming much of this narrow, riverside corridor. On a warm August afternoon the wildflowers were still in bloom, with swathes of wild carrot punctuated by spikes of teasel and yellowing stalks of fennel. The first blackberries were ripening on the brambles and occasional blackthorn bushes bore heavy offerings of sloes.

In many places the high concrete river wall is a rolling canvas of spray paint art. The graffiti is colourful and cheerful; cartoon characters and complex tags. Where salt wind and sun have peeled the paint, it lies in drifts of multi-coloured flakes along the edges of the path.

Graffiti along the Thames Path at Purfeet
Graffiti along the Thames Path at Purfeet

The Dartford Bridge and Tunnels

The route passes under the Dartford Bridge, the heavy thump of traffic audible from below. The neighbouring piers and jetties are echoes of the mineral railways which once ran here, arteries joining the Thames to the inland Thurrock Chalk Works. The chalk industry is long gone and the rail lines have been replaced by cement and aggregate works.

Thames Path passes below Dartford Bridge near Purfleet
Thames Path passes below Dartford Bridge near Purfleet

A white, cone-like structure is a ventilation shaft for the eastern section of the Dartford Tunnel, which runs roughly 80 feet below.

Dartford Bridge ventilation shaft from Thames Path
Dartford Bridge ventilation shaft from Thames Path

Stone Ness and WWII pillboxes

Beyond a series of oil depots the river path skirts what is left of the West Thurrock Marshes. The river curves sharply around Stone Ness, where a metal framed lighthouse (established 1885) guides night-time river traffic. Two WWII pillboxes gaze out at the river here, one on either side of the Ness.

WWII pillbox on Thames Path near Purfleet
WWII pillbox on Thames Path near Purfleet
WWII pillbox overlooking the Thames near Stone Ness
WWII pillbox overlooking the Thames near Stone Ness

A low, graffitied square of concrete above a drainage sluice roughly marks the route of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, as it tunnels below the Thames.

The massive pylon which rises ahead carries power lines to a similar pylon on the south bank at Swanscombe. With a height of 190 metres these are believed to be the tallest electricity pylons in the UK.

The jetty here, with its distinctive bulk uploader, was built to serve West Thurrock Power Station. Built between 1957 and 1965 on unspoilt marshland, the station was decommissioned in 1993 and had been completely demolished by 1999. The jetty now serves a chemical works supporting the nearby Procter & Gamble works.

Chemical works jetty Thames Path
Thames Path and bulk uploader in distance

West Thurrock Marshes

Pulverised Fuel Ash from the station had been stored in lagoons on West Thurrock Marshes and this, surprisingly, led to their survival as a wildlife habitat. As the ponds dried up, the grey sandy ash was colonised by a wide range of species, including many of the rare and endangered species which live locally.

The conservation charity Buglife fought a long, hard and eventually successful battle to save the marshes, which are now protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and are home to more than 1,300 different species of invertebrates, bird and reptiles.

St Clement’s Church

Before passing the astonishing Procter & Gamble factory it is worth a short detour inland to check out St Clement’s Church. This pretty church dates back (in places) to the early thirteenth century, and makes an incongruous neighbour to the huge chemical factory which towers over it. If you watched the film Four Weddings and a Funeral you may remember this church from the funeral scenes. The church owes its survival to Procter & Gamble, the company funding the church’s renovation in the late 80s.

Grays and the Tilbury Grain Terminal

As the river path enters Grays, modern housing replaces the cement and engineering works which once lined the river. The Wharf pub dates back to at least 1780, when it was known as the Sailor’s Return.

The decaying wooden wreck next to Thurrock Yacht Club is The Gull, a lightship built in 1860. The ship’s mast and lantern were saved and still stand in the club, but the boat was lost to decay, vandalism and arson.

The river path finishes next to the Riverside Park, but it is possible, with care, to follow the river wall down towards the towering silos of Tilbury Grain Terminal. The path is very overgrown and the shore becomes very muddy, before a security fence bars progress.

Grays railway station is only a short walk away and will whisk you back to Purfleet in just five minutes, a quick finish to a long walk.

Sunset over the River Thames at Grays
Sunset over the River Thames at Grays
  1. https://www.exxonmobil.co.uk/en-gb/company/about-us/uk-history/esso

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]]> 530 From Swanscombe Peninsula to the Dartford Marshes, a Thames Estuary walk https://www.remotelondon.com/swanscombe-peninsula-dartford-marshes-walk/ Fri, 04 Oct 2019 17:13:09 +0000 http://www.remotelondon.com/?p=538 Swanscombe is a small Kentish town, poised on a chalk ridgeline overlooking the River Thames. Home to the first ‘British Cement’…

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Swanscombe is a small Kentish town, poised on a chalk ridgeline overlooking the River Thames. Home to the first ‘British Cement’ works back in 1825, quarrying has since gnawed away at the river-facing hillside. From the station it’s a short walk to the London Road, which now borders a vertical drop to the quarry below.

Directly across the London Road, next to the George and Dragon, a public footpath traces a narrow chalk spine down towards the Swanscombe Peninsula and the river. Glimpses through fencing and vegetation provide a view down to the industrial units which have repurposed the quarries on either side.

The Swanscombe Peninsula

As the path flattens out it crosses Manor Way and continues alongside a drainage canal. Not far to the right, unseen and unheard, Eurostar trains surface and dive beneath the marshes, tracing a route below the Thames.

Wildlife-rich brownfield and pylons at Swanscombe Peninsula
Wildlife-rich brownfield and pylons at Swanscombe Peninsula

An abandoned sewer works on the right has left little trace, while huge electricity pylons dominate the skyline.

After passing a large drainage pond on the left, the path reaches a T-junction. There is also an unmade road here, one of several tracking across the Swanscombe Peninsula. The tracks serve an isolated and ramshackle community of stilted shacks and boats at Broadness Harbour, but also the regular security patrols that guard this area. It’s not the muddy creek at Broadness they’re protecting, or the pylons, but the interests of a company called London Resort Company Holdings.

A derelict WW2 bunker on Swanscombe Peninsula, with a very tall electricity pylon in the background.
A derelict WW2 bunker on Swanscombe Peninsula, with a very tall electricity pylon in the background.

The Swanscombe Peninsula has a long history of industrial use, with aggregate, cement and gas works, as well as waste tipping. But, as industry declined, this remote, marshy landscape has been rapidly reclaimed by nature, and the drainage canals are now home to endangered water voles, while kites hover overhead.

‘Pre-used’ sites like this are known as brownfield, and while often dismissed as valueless, they are often home to some of our most endangered wildlife species.

Brownfield site at Swanscombe Peninsula looking upstream during a very high tide
Brownfield site at Swanscombe Peninsula looking upstream during a very high tide

However, London Resort Company Holdings want to build a huge theme park here, with 747,000 square metres of buildings, 14,000 parking spaces and 15m visitors every year. Currently they have the support of Paramount Pictures, the BBC and ITV. So their security firm patrols the Peninsular, accompanied by aggressive Alsatians, and will firmly redirect you if find you on the ‘wrong’ path.

Heading upriver

Heading west, towards the distant Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, Greenhithe can be seen, already biting into the Peninsula’s vulnerable flanks with new builds. Across the Thames, riverside chemical works are dwarfed by distance.

Looking across the Thames from Swanscombe Peninsula towards chemical works at Thurrock.
Looking across the Thames from Swanscombe Peninsula towards chemical works at Thurrock.

Once in Greenhithe, the path dips back and forth along the riverside, confusing the walker with dead-ends and U-turns. It’s better to keep to the surprisingly well-preserved High Street, and then skirt the Asda supermarket and Johnsons Wharf, to regain the river. A slightly more direct, narrow footpath nudges around the back of the supermarket before squeezing out into a petrol station.

Now back at the riverside it is possible to scramble down to the Thames foreshore, where shingle and sand slope down to the more familiar gloop of river mud. Edible samphire and sea beet grow here, but with Longreach Sewage Treatment Works discharging into the river upstream, it’s best to leave the plants unharvested.

A decaying Thames jetty near Greenhithe
A decaying Thames jetty near Greenhithe

The path passes under a concrete pontoon, currently used for car imports/exports, and heads towards the towering support columns of the QEII Bridge. Across the river, ranks of white oil storage tanks sit next to West Thurrock Marshes. The marshes were once used for ash-dumping from the nearby West Thurrock Power Station, now demolished. As at Swanscombe Peninsula, wildlife reclaimed the site and it is now protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, home to more than 1,300 different species of invertebrates, bird and reptiles.

Passing below the QEII Bridge the thump and bump of traffic can be heard some 60 metres (200 feet) above.

View below the QEII Bridge as a large ro-ro (roll-on, roll-off) ferry passes below.
View below the QEII Bridge as a large ro-ro (roll-on, roll-off) ferry passes below.

Littlebrook Power Station once dominated the riverside path beyond the bridge, but is currently being demolished. Only the 215 metre (705 feet) chimney remains intact for now. The oil and coal-fired station was unable to meet EU pollution legislation and shut down in 2015.

The aforementioned Longreach Sewage Treatment Works comes next. New technology and recent investment means there is little or no odour here, and the discharge into the Thames is much cleaner than it used to be. However, the warm, nutrient-rich flow continues to attract gulls, which float downstream of the upwelling waters, searching for potential snacks.

Dartford Marshes

The river path now skirts the flat expanse of Dartford Marshes, which lie inland, beyond the river embankment. Unexpected gunfire indicates an unseen but nearby shooting club, hunkered down on the marshes, but otherwise this is a remote, little-visited path.

The River Thames, seen from Dartford Marshes at dusk.
The River Thames, seen from Dartford Marshes at dusk.

The wide, flat landscape ahead is broken only by a large concrete, box-like structure, which squats over the unseen River Darent. This is the Dartford Creek Barrier, which, along with the Barking Creek Barrier and the Thames Barrier, holds back Thames tidal surges and prevents flooding.

The Dartford Creek Barrier, over the River Darent

The River Darent

The path heads inland here, away from the Thames and following the sinuous weaves of the tidal Darent. As the tide drops the Darent slips lower, revealing muddy banks, a feeding ground for winter wildfowl. After about 1.5km the River Cray flows into the Darent from the opposite bank.

Dartford Marshes at dusk
Dartford Marshes at dusk

The path wiggles a few more times towards the A206, a fast and noisy dual carriageway. There are at least seven WW2 concrete structures around here, probably used for the storage of anti-aircraft ammunition. These are now roofless, crumbling and overgrown.

The route now leads to the dual carriageway and a metal kissing gate, but also drops unsurely towards the river and into the gloom below the road. This section is often flooded and too deep to wade, but it is possible to carefully walk or shuffle along the top of a low concrete wall to get past.

The path now traces past Dartford Fresh Marshes, although the opposing bank is now built up. A supermarket warehouse and modern housing stand where factories and wharves once faced the river. After a derelict and easily overlooked lock, industrial estates move in on both sides. The path crosses the river via a footbridge and joins Hythe Street. Dartford Railway Station is about seven minutes’ walk from here, with regular trains back to London.

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]]> 538 Marsh walking from Higham to Cliffe Fort and back https://www.remotelondon.com/thames-estuary-higham-to-cliffe-fort-and-back/ Sun, 23 Jun 2019 18:01:01 +0000 http://www.remotelondon.com/?p=547 A circular walk from Higham, Kent, including wildlife-rich marshes, views of the Thames, Cliffe Fort & Cliffe Pools The road that…

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A circular walk from Higham, Kent, including wildlife-rich marshes, views of the Thames, Cliffe Fort & Cliffe Pools

The road that follows the disused Thames and Medway Canal from Higham leads nowhere. It dead-ends in an industrial estate and a gated rail yard, and it has been many years since a road sweeper has visited its dusty, litter-choked verges. I was walking out to the Shorne and Higham Marshes, east of Gravesend, but the trail of plastic and fly-tipping was getting me down. This wasn’t why I’d taken a weekend train out of London.

Pausing to check my map I noticed a sign for a public footpath, the overgrown entrance hidden, squeezed between a small industrial estate and the steep banks of a rail line. This wasn’t my planned route, but I wanted to get off that road.

Initially unpromising, the path opened into an unspoilt oasis of green, leaves brushing close on all sides. A large bird of prey took flight from the path in front of me, shifting location with lazy flaps. Clouds of small blue damselflies drifted with me as I walked, and countless bees rummaged across the bramble blossom.

Wet grazing meadow, great for wildlife
Wet grazing meadow, great for wildlife

The path followed the railway line before reaching a foot crossing, where it T-junctioned back to Higham or out onto the marshes and towards the River Thames. These rough, wet grazing meadows are cared for by the RSPB, their conservation work highlighted by the constant song of skylarks, dark feathered pin-pricks in the sky above.

The Saxon Shore Way and Cliffe Fort

At the river, I followed the banked river wall and Saxon Shore Way out to the disused Cliffe Fort and the modern-day Brett Aggregates jetty, seeing hardly a soul. Vocal lapwing and redshank patrolled the muddy river banks, the breeze carrying a constant backdrop of birdsong. A small squadron of terns flew past in close formation, vanishing into the river dazzle.

The remains of the Dutch-built Hans Egede.
The remains of the Dutch-built Hans Egede. This three-masted, wooden vessel took on water while under tow in the Thames before being deliberately beached and abandoned at Cliffe, perhaps as late as the early 1960s.

From the abandoned fort (off-limits, but it does get visitors) I headed inland, past looming concrete structures, their purpose lost and forgotten beneath lichen and leaves. At Cliffe Pools, flooded quarries now support important numbers of birdlife throughout the year. In June, nesting black-headed gulls are in ascendance, noisily dominating the islands and sky, although a cuckoo was doing a good job of making himself heard from the wooded fringes.

View over Cliffe Pools nature reserve

Salt Lane, West Court Farm and a public right of way through the aggregates site got me back to the marshes, where I got lost trying to make my way along the edge of Timber Lake. Paths intertwined amid the reeds and ditches and I was forced to retreat to find the correct route, which got me back, high and dry, through the marshes to St Mary’s Church, scattering rabbits as I approached the final field gate. From the church it’s a simple 20 minute walk got me back to Higham railway station, with weekend trains back to London every 30 minutes.

Cliffe Creek at low tide
Cliffe Creek at low tide
Broken path marker
A broken path marker

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