Hornchurch Marshes is an area of the

London Borough of Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham. The ...

, adjacent to the north bank of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. Susceptible to flooding from three adjacent rivers, it was the southernmost marshland section of the ancient parish of Hornchurch. It was used for cattle grazing from the 16th to the 19th century and became industrialised by the

20th century The 20th (twentieth) century began on January 1, 1901 ( MCMI), and ended on December 31, 2000 ( MM). The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: Spanish flu pandemic, World War I and World War II, nuclear ...

. The eastern part of the

Ford Dagenham Ford Dagenham is a major automotive factory located in Dagenham, London, operated by the Ford of Britain subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. The plant opened in 1931 and has produced 10,980,368 cars and more than 39,000,000 engines in its histo ...

estate extended into the Hornchurch Marshes and it is now an area of regeneration that includes

Beam Reach Beam Reach is a redevelopment area in London, England and part of the London Riverside section of the Thames Gateway. It is an industrial area adjacent to the new neighbourhood of Beam Park. Geography It is located in the southern part of the L ...

and part of

Beam Park Beam Park is a new neighbourhood in the south of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the London Borough of Havering. It is named after the River Beam which forms the boundary between the boroughs. It will be served by Beam Park railway ...

. Two of the

Dagenham wind turbines The Dagenham wind turbines are two high Enercon E-66 and one E-82 wind turbines located on the Ford Dagenham assembly plant, Dagenham estate of the Ford Motor Company in East London, England. The first two turbines were completed in April 2004 a ...

are located there and the

Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence The Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (CEME) is a not-for-profit education and skills organisation at Rainham, London in the London Borough of Havering. The centre was developed as part of the Beam Reach area of the Thames Ga ...

History

The prehistoric vegetation was

alnus Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few spec ...

carr woodland,

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

and

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

swamp. The name is recorded as 'Markedich' around 1260 in

Hornchurch Priory Hornchurch Priory was a hospital or priory in Hornchurch, now in the London Borough of Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal t ...

documents. Hornchurch Marshes were also known as Havering Marsh, reflecting Havering and Hornchurch occupying the same area from an early time. By the

16th century The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The 16th cent ...

there were 500 or 600 acres of

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

land adjacent to the River Thames in the south of the parish of Hornchurch, with around 100 acres as

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

and the rest privately owned. The marsh was used for cattle grazing and became popular with butchers,

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

owners and others in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

and by the 19th century it had become famous for the quality of the cattle sent to the London meat market. It was bounded by three rivers and required constant attention to keep it from flooding. Increasing ownership of the land by people who lived outside of Havering meant that the costs of maintenance of drainage systems and marsh walls fell to those who were locally resident. Flooding of the marsh in 1591 caused by the negligence of William Ayloffe caused a protracted dispute. Repairs following flooding in September 1621 were supervised by Dutch engineer

Cornelius Vermuyden Sir Cornelius Vermuyden (Sint-Maartensdijk, 1595 – London, 11 October 1677) was a Dutch engineer who introduced Dutch land reclamation methods to England. Vermuyden was commissioned by the Crown to drain Hatfield Chase in the Isle of Axholme, ...

. New Road was built towards the northern limit of the marshes in 1810 by the Tilbury Turnpike Trust, to shorten the distance troops would have to travel to the

Tilbury Fort Tilbury Fort, also known historically as the Thermitage Bulwark and the West Tilbury Blockhouse, is an artillery fort on the north bank of the River Thames in England. The earliest version of the fort, comprising a small blockhouse with artill ...

during the Napoleonic War. The

London, Tilbury and Southend Railway The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , T ...

was built through the north of the area in 1854 with a level crossing at Manor Way and the nearest station at Rainham. Waste arriving by barge from central London and dredging of the River Thames in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was disposed in the marshland and consequently the land is at risk of contamination.

Romford Rural District Council Romford Rural District was a local government district in southwest Essex, England from 1894 to 1934. It surrounded, but did not include, Romford which formed a separate urban district.Vision of Britain �Romford RDDagenham Urban District Council when Hornchurch and Dagenham were split off from the rural district in 1926. The works were expanded in the 1960s by Dagenham Borough Council. Hornchurch Marshes were part of

Hornchurch Urban District Hornchurch was a local government district in southwest Essex from 1926 to 1965, formed as an urban district for the civil parish of Hornchurch. It was greatly expanded in 1934 with the addition of Cranham, Great Warley, Rainham, Upminster and We ...

from 1926 to 1965. In the 1950s a foundry was built as part of the

plant land in Hornchurch, covering 200 acres. The area was flooded during the

North Sea flood of 1953 The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm surge that struck the Netherlands, north-west Belgium, England and Scotland. Most sea defences facing the surge were overwhelmed, causing extensive flooding. The storm and flo ...

. Land ownership consolidated as the marshes industrialised, with the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

and the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

, who now operated the sewage works, owning most of the land in the early 1970s. It became an area of regeneration by the early 21st century and was included in the

London Riverside The London Riverside is a redevelopment area on the north side of the River Thames in East London, England and part of the larger Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The London Riverside area forms part of the Green Enterprise District, a project ...

section of the

Thames Gateway Thames Gateway is a term applied to an area around the Thames Estuary in the context of discourse around regeneration and further urbanisation. The term was first coined by the UK government and applies to an area of land stretching east from ...

redevelopment zone. Local planning powers were held by the

London Thames Gateway Development Corporation The London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC) was a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Communities and Local Government, with directors appointed by the Secretary of State, including some democratically elect ...

from 2004 to 2013.

Geography

The area is bounded by the

River Ingrebourne The River Ingrebourne is a tributary of the River Thames 27 miles (43.3 km) in length. It is considered a strategic waterway in London, forming part of the Blue Ribbon Network. It flows through the London Borough of Havering roughly from ...

to the east, the

to the south and

River Beam The River Rom, also known as the River Beam below its confluence with the Ravensbourne, is a tributary of the River Thames in England that flows through east London suburbs surrounding the metropolitan centre of Romford, part of it forming a sec ...

to the west. In the north the A1306 New Road marks the beginning of the residential area of

South Hornchurch South Hornchurch is a locality to the south of Hornchurch in London Borough of Havering, east London. It is a suburban development situated 13.6 miles (21.8 km) east of Charing Cross. The area is a relatively recent addition, compared with t ...

. It is the location of two of the

. Frog Island is located at the southeastern extremity. Extending into Dagenham is the new residential neighbourhood of

to the northwest. South of there is the

commercial regeneration area and the

(CEME). To the east is the town of Rainham and the

Rainham Marshes Rainham may refer to: *Rainham, Kent, Medway, England **Rainham railway station (Kent) *Rainham, London, London Borough of Havering, England **Rainham railway station (London) Rainham railway station is on the London, Tilbury and Southend line, ...

. The Hornchurch Marshes and most of South Hornchurch form part of the Rainham post town for postal addresses. There is a Hornchurch Marshes Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA) for Census recording. It extends some distance north of the New Road. The population of this area at the

2011 United Kingdom census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

was 8,831 in 3,604 households. The area is vulnerable to tidal flooding from the River Thames should an extreme flood event occur. Aside from the boundary rivers there are a number of smaller watercourses, including Pooles Sewer and the Havering New Sewer, that ultimately flow into the Thames at Havering Sluice. The Beam and Ingrebourne are also protected from tidal flooding by Beam Sluice and Frog Island Sluice at their outfall. Sections of Thames tidal defence walls also provide flood mitigation.

Economy

The

Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the executive Mayoralty (currently led by Sadiq Khan) and the ...

has designated the whole area as a strategic industrial location, where proposals for development should not compromise accommodating industrial activities. The Fairview Industrial Estate is occupied by over 100 businesses. The area, with the exception of land owned by the Ford Motor Company, is part of the London Riverside business improvement district.

References

{{LB Havering Districts of the London Borough of Havering Areas of London Districts of London on the River Thames Marshland in London