Cock Marsh is an area of flat water meadows and steep chalk hillsides near Cookham

Cookham

Cookham is a village and civil parish in the north-easternmost corner of Berkshire in England, on the River Thames, notable as the home of the artist Stanley Spencer. It lies north of Maidenhead close to the border with Buckinghamshire...

 village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 and civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the north-eastern corner of Berkshire in England, on the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

. It covers 46 acres (19 ha) and has been common land used for grazing since 1272. It was bought by local villagers and given to the National Trust

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

 in 1934.

It has four burial mounds that are scheduled monuments. One has a height of 2m, three others around 0.2-0.8m. When they were excavated between 1847 and 1877 by two local men, Cocks and Napier, several cremated bodies were found, together with parts of a shield and a possible Saxon age knife. It is thought likely that the barrows were constructed in the early Bronze Age with secondary Anglo-Saxon use. In 2007, a resistivity survey was carried out by Chiltern Archeology which confirmed the existence of four barrows and one other feature.

Cock Marsh is now a designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

. It is home to many rare plants, notably Cyperus fuscus

Cyperus fuscus

Cyperus fuscus is a species of sedge known by the common name brown galingale, or brown flatsedge. This plant is native to temperate Eurasia but it is an introduced species in much of North America, where it is naturalized in some areas. This is a plant of wet areas, particularly disturbed places...

(Brown Galingale), which is found in only a handful of sites in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

.

The railway line to Marlow

Marlow, Buckinghamshire

Marlow is a town and civil parish within Wycombe district in south Buckinghamshire, England...

 and the Thames Path

Thames Path

The Thames Path is a National Trail, opened in 1996, following the length of the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier at Charlton. It is about long....

 run through Cock Marsh and a footbridge cantilevered from Bourne End Railway Bridge

Bourne End Railway Bridge

Bourne End Railway Bridge is a railway bridge carrying the Marlow Branch Line, and a footpath over the River Thames in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, England. It crosses the Thames on the reach between Cookham Lock and Marlow Lock....

 over the river links it with Bourne End

Bourne End, Buckinghamshire

Bourne End is a village predominantly in the parish of Wooburn and Bourne End, but also in the parish of Little Marlow, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated close to the border with Berkshire, near where the River Wye meets the River Thames...

 in Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

where the path continues towards Marlow.