Walthamstow Marshes, is a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It was once an area of lammas land – common land used for growing crops and grazing cattle.

In aviation history

In 1909, the aero-designer

Alliott Verdon Roe Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe OBE, Hon. FRAeS, FIAS (26 April 1877 – 4 January 1958) was a pioneer English pilot and aircraft manufacturer, and founder in 1910 of the Avro company. After experimenting with model aeroplanes, he made flight tr ...

made the first all-British powered flight across the marsh in a

Roe I Triplane The Roe I Triplane (often later referred to as the Avro Triplane) was an early aircraft designed and built by A.V. Roe which was the first all-British aircraft to fly.Jackson 1990 p.6 (Roe's previous biplane had a French engine). Backgrou ...

(his earlier

Roe I Biplane The Roe I Biplane (often later referred to as the Avro Biplane) was the first powered aircraft to be designed, built, and flown in England. Designed in an attempt to claim a prize offered by the Brooklands Automobile Racing Club, it was desig ...

had been fitted with a French motorcycle engine). He went on to found the

Avro AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

Company, with his brother, in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. A

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

records his achievement, on the railway arch in which he had his workshop.

Geography

The

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of t ...

forms the boundary with the

London Borough of Hackney London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, and the marshes lie within the Lee Valley Park. South of the Walthamstow Marshes lie the

Leyton Marshes Leyton Marsh is an open space in the Lower Lea Valley, located in Leyton in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Geography The marsh is bordered by the Walthamstow Marshes to the north, and by Coppermill Fields, the Lee Navigation and the ...

, and to the north the remains of

Tottenham Marshes The Tottenham Marshes are located at Tottenham in the London Borough of Haringey. The marshes cover over and became part of the Lee Valley Park in 1972. The marsh is made up of three main areas: Clendish Marsh, Wild Marsh West and Wild Marsh Ea ...

, parts of which are now the

Banbury Reservoir Banbury Reservoir is located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest at Walthamstow. It is one of the storage reservoirs in the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain. The reservoir is owned by Thames Water. History The reservoir, which was completed in 1 ...

. North of Coppermill Lane, are the linked set of

Lockwood Reservoir Lockwood Reservoir is located in Walthamstow in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is one of the ten Walthamstow Reservoirs, which are part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain. The reservoirs supply drinking water to London and are owned ...

High Maynard Reservoir High Maynard Reservoir is located in Walthamstow in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The storage reservoir is one of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain and supplies drinking water to London. History The reservoir was built in the mid-19th cen ...

Low Maynard Reservoir Low Maynard Reservoir is located in Walthamstow in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The storage reservoir is part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain and supplies drinking water to London. History The reservoir was constructed in the mid 19t ...

, Walthamstow Reservoirs,

East Warwick Reservoir East Warwick Reservoir is located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest at Walthamstow. The storage reservoir is part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain and supplies drinking water to London. The reservoir is owned by Thames Water. History Th ...

and West Warwick Reservoirs. The area of Walthamstow Marshes south of these escaped both development and use for gravel excavation, remaining a relatively untouched refuge for wildlife, crossed only by the railway lines in 1840 and 1870. Springfield Marina

The

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 ...

es are one of the last remaining examples of semi-natural wetland in

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

. They contain a variety of plant communities typical of a former flood plain location, such as a range of neutral grassland types, sedge marsh, reed swamp, sallow scrub and areas of tall herb vegetation. Associated with this diversity of habitat are several species of plant and insect which are uncommon in the London area.

Wildlife

The marshes contain several species of insect with a restricted distribution in the London area such as the Essex skipper butterfly '' Thymelicus lineola'', an uncommon Parasite fly '' Ligeria angusticornis'', a pyralid moth ''Shoeribius micronellus'' and the sporadic breeding by the nationally endangered

marsh warbler The marsh warbler (''Acrocephalus palustris'') is an Old World warbler currently classified in the family Acrocephalidae. It breeds in temperate Europe and the western Palearctic and winters mainly in southeast Africa. It is notable for incorpora ...

. The breeding bird community contains several species typically associated with marshland habitats such as

reed bunting The common reed bunting (''Emberiza schoeniclus'') is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name ''Emberiza'' is from Old German ''Embritz'', a ...

, and

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...

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

willow warbler The willow warbler (''Phylloscopus trochilus'') is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strongly ...

s. A variety of wintering birds visit the marshes and neighbouring reservoirs while in autumn flocks of finches are to be found feeding on the seeds of the tall herbs.

''Split Leaf''

''Split Leaf'', a sculpture by Jon Mills, marks the formal entrance to the marshes. The sculpture was made in spring 2003 by Jon Mills in conjunction with pupils from Coppermill Primary School and Mission Grove Primary School, as part of the "Take pART" programme. It was intended to form a gateway to the park and to the marshes beyond.

References

External links