The Maplin Sands are

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal ...

s on the northern bank of the

Thames estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinit ...

, off

Foulness Foulness Island () is a closed island on the east coast of Essex in England, which is separated from the mainland by narrow creeks. In the 2001 census, the usually resident population of the civil parish was 212, living in the settlements of ...

Island, near

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, though they actually lie within the neighbouring borough of

Rochford Rochford is a town and civil parish in the Rochford (district), Rochford District in Essex, England, north of Southend-on-Sea, from London and from Chelmsford. At the 2011 census, the Civil parishes in England, civil parish had a population ...

. They form a part of the Essex Estuaries

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

due to their value for nature conservation, with a large colony of dwarf eelgrass ('' Zostera noltei'') and associated animal communities. Walker on the Broomway

To the northeast, the Maplin sands are contiguous with the Foulness sands, which are bordered to the north by the Whitaker Channel; the seaward continuation of the River Crouch. To the south runs the Swin Channel.

History

Maplin Sands is crossed by the ancient trackway known as The Broomway. A

screw-pile lighthouse A screw-pile lighthouse is a lighthouse which stands on piles that are screwed into sandy or muddy sea or river bottoms. The first screw-pile lighthouse to begin construction was built by the blind Irish engineer Alexander Mitchell. Constructi ...

was built on the sands in 1838 by Messrs. Mitchel and Sons (sic- more often Mitchell and Sons) on the recommendation of James Walker of

Trinity House The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House (and formally as The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St Clement in the ...

. It was the first screwpile lighthouse ever to be designed. Although construction of the Maplin Sands Light had started before the

Wyre Light (Fleetwood) The derelict Wyre Light in 2007 The Wyre Light was a tall iron screw-pile lighthouse marking the navigation channel to the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. History The lighthouse was designed by Alexander Mitchell, an Irish enginee ...

the latter was completed first, as it was built in a much shorter period of time. Excessive scouring of the Thames by the strength and direction of the tidal streams caused the lighthouse to become undermined and it was completely swept away in 1932. Faro Maplin Sand

In the later part of the 19th century John I. Thornycroft & Company and

Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also o ...

used the sands for the measured mile speed trials of their

destroyers In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

. The shallow waters resulted in a flow of water that could add up to a knot to the ship's speed. When

the Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of its h ...

found out they required that all future trials be carried out in deep water. Following the report of the 1968

Roskill Commission The Roskill Commission (formally the Commission on the Third London Airport) was a UK government commission charged with looking into finding a site for a new airport for London. Chaired by High Court judge Sir Eustace Roskill, it sat from 1968 ...

, in 1973 plans were proposed and approved for a third airport for

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, the Thames Estuary Airport, but were abandoned in 1974 in the wake of the

1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...

. The project would also have included a deep-water harbour suitable for the

container ships A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

then coming into use, a high-speed rail link to London, and a new town for the accommodation of the thousands of workers who would be required. The Maplin Sands were at that time, and remain, a military testing ground belonging to the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

, as is

Foulness Island Foulness Island () is a closed island on the east coast of Essex in England, which is separated from the mainland by narrow creeks. In the 2001 census, the usually resident population of the civil parish was 212, living in the settlements of ...

References

External links

* {{coord, 51.56, N, 0.90, E, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(TR009888), display=title Nature Conservation Review sites Coastal environment of Essex Sandbanks of the North Sea Landforms of England Shoals of the United Kingdom

History

See also

References

External links