Mardyke (river)
Encyclopedia
The Mardyke is a small river, mainly in Thurrock
, that flows into the River Thames
at Purfleet
, close to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge
. In part, it forms the boundary between the Essex hundreds of Barstable and Chafford
. The river gives its name to the Mardyke Valley—a project aimed at increasing appreciation and usage of recreational land around the Mardyke.
and Little Warley
. It flows roughly 11 miles (17.7 km) from the source to the Tideway
of the Thames at Purfleet
, close to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge
. There are two tributaries flowing south from Thorndon Country Park, in the grounds of Thorndon Hall
. One of these flows south from Old Hall Pond. The pond has a sluice gate that could be opened to allow the water to flow over artificial waterfall - the sort of water feature popular with landscape gardners such as Lancelot "Capability" Brown who landscaped the grounds of Thorndon Hall
in the 18th century, although the pond itself dates from the 13th century. Another tributory flows west from Dunton Plotlands
section of the Langdon Nature Reserve in Langdon Hills
and another flows east from Upminster
.
. This name appears as "celta" in a 7th century charter (S 1246). Celta may be the pre-Saxon name for the ditch which flows into the Mardyke and may also be an early name for the Mardyke itself. In part, the river forms the boundary between the Essex hundreds of Barstable and Chafford
.
There is a substantial bridge over the Mardyke at Stifford
. A medieval stone bridge was built in 1487, although this has subsequently been replaced more than once. Various archaeological objects have been found in the Mardyke close to Stifford Bridge. These include a hammerstone
, a small sword and a Pilgrim badge
.
There was a water mill on the Mardyke at Purfleet in the 14th century, that was owned by the Knights Templar
. From about 1760, sluice gates protected the lowlying land through which the Mardyke flows from the tidal and saline Thames.
In the 19th century and earlier, the Mardyke was navigable to Bulphan. Using a network of drainage ditches, manure from London was brought to local farms and agricultural produce taken to market. In the 18th century, when the river was still tidal, it may hav been navigable as far as Orsett Hall
at high tide.
. The project includes a seven mile riverside walk known as the Mardyke Way, running from Ship Lane, Aveley
to Orsett Fen. In 2005, the project received a grant of over £600,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)
. The Mardyke Way passes through Davy Down, a 32 acres (12.9 ha) riverside park between Lakeside Shopping Centre
and South Ockendon
that was opened in 1993. The park includes the Victorian Stifford viaduct and the pumping station which is open to the public on Thursday afternoons and at other times wen the warden is present. The flow of the Mardyke is very sluggish at this point, allowing the growth of bur reed and common reed.
To the north of the Mardyke Way close to Stifford, the river also gives its name to Mardyke Woods, although these are actually a combination of three ancient woods—Brannet's Wood, Millard's Wood and Low Well Wood.
To the north of the river at Stifford is the Mardyke Valley Golf Club, an 18 hole (par 70) course set in the grounds of Ford Place and opened in 2002.
In 2010, Andrew Mackinlay
MP opened a new bridge over the Mardyke at Purfleet. This bridge - named the Veolia Mardyke Bridge - links Purfleet to the Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve
.
Thurrock
Thurrock is a unitary authority with borough status in the English ceremonial county of Essex. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The local authority is Thurrock Council....
, that flows into 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,...
at Purfleet
Purfleet
Purfleet is a place in the Thurrock unitary authority in Essex, England. It is situated south of the A13 road on the River Thames and within the easterly bounds of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater London boundary. It was within the traditional Church of England parish of West Thurrock...
, close to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge
Queen Elizabeth II Bridge
The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge is a high and long cable-stayed road bridge across the River Thames in south east England. It was opened in 1991 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II....
. In part, it forms the boundary between the Essex hundreds of Barstable and Chafford
Chafford (hundred)
Chafford was an ancient hundred in the south west of the county of Essex, England. Its area has been partly absorbed by the growth of London; with its name reused for the modern housing development of Chafford Hundred...
. The river gives its name to the Mardyke Valley—a project aimed at increasing appreciation and usage of recreational land around the Mardyke.
Location, source and tributories
The main source of the Mardyke is in Holden's Wood between Great WarleyGreat Warley
Great Warley is a village in the Brentwood borough of Essex, England. It is situated to the far south west of the county and near to the Greater London boundary and the M25 motorway.Consecrated in 1904, the Grade I listed parish church, St...
and Little Warley
Little Warley
Little Warley is a parish in Brentwood, Essex. It is situated south of Thorndon Country Park.The first outbreak of the 2001 foot and mouth UK crisis occurred here....
. It flows roughly 11 miles (17.7 km) from the source to the Tideway
Tideway
The Tideway is a name given to the part of the River Thames in England that is subject to tides. This stretch of water is downstream from Teddington Lock and is just under long...
of the Thames at Purfleet
Purfleet
Purfleet is a place in the Thurrock unitary authority in Essex, England. It is situated south of the A13 road on the River Thames and within the easterly bounds of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater London boundary. It was within the traditional Church of England parish of West Thurrock...
, close to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge
Queen Elizabeth II Bridge
The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge is a high and long cable-stayed road bridge across the River Thames in south east England. It was opened in 1991 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II....
. There are two tributaries flowing south from Thorndon Country Park, in the grounds of Thorndon Hall
Thorndon Hall
Thorndon Hall is a Georgian Palladian country house within Thorndon Park, Ingrave, Essex, England, approximately two miles south of Brentwood and from central London....
. One of these flows south from Old Hall Pond. The pond has a sluice gate that could be opened to allow the water to flow over artificial waterfall - the sort of water feature popular with landscape gardners such as Lancelot "Capability" Brown who landscaped the grounds of Thorndon Hall
Thorndon Hall
Thorndon Hall is a Georgian Palladian country house within Thorndon Park, Ingrave, Essex, England, approximately two miles south of Brentwood and from central London....
in the 18th century, although the pond itself dates from the 13th century. Another tributory flows west from Dunton Plotlands
Dunton Plotlands
The Dunton Plotlands was an area of small rural plots of land in southern Essex inhabited from the 1930s to the 1980s.The 'plotlands' consisted of small plots of land sold in the first half of the 20th century to people who built weekend cottages, holiday bungalows or smallholdings there...
section of the Langdon Nature Reserve in Langdon Hills
Langdon Hills
Langdon Hills is a town located in the Basildon district of Essex, England. It is contiguous with the Basildon continuous urban area.It is located south of Laindon railway station on the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. It is the location of the Langdon Hills Country Park, which is in the...
and another flows east from Upminster
Upminster
Upminster is a suburban town in northeast London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. Located east-northeast of Charing Cross, it is one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan, and comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential...
.
Name
The name means "boundary ditch". It is mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter dated 1062 (S 1036) as part of the boundary for Upminster, although this charter is probably a post-conquest forgery. It has also been called "the Flete" (flete is derived from fleot, an Old English word for river) and more simply "the brook". One of the Mardyke's tributaries flows from ChilderditchChilderditch
Childerditch is a parish in the borough of Brentwood, Essex. It forms part of the Warley borough council ward....
. This name appears as "celta" in a 7th century charter (S 1246). Celta may be the pre-Saxon name for the ditch which flows into the Mardyke and may also be an early name for the Mardyke itself. In part, the river forms the boundary between the Essex hundreds of Barstable and Chafford
Chafford (hundred)
Chafford was an ancient hundred in the south west of the county of Essex, England. Its area has been partly absorbed by the growth of London; with its name reused for the modern housing development of Chafford Hundred...
.
History
Between Stifford and the Rainham marshes where the Mardyke enters the Thames, the river flows through a relatively steep sided valley formed by an earlier position of the Thames. There is ancient woodland on the valley slopes and the land close to the river was used for grazing. Pollen evidence from the Mardyke valley shows that there was woodland regeneration at the end of the Roman period and into the early Anglo-Saxon period.There is a substantial bridge over the Mardyke at Stifford
Stifford
Stifford is a place in the unitary authority of Thurrock, Essex. The traditional parish of Stifford is divided by the A13 trunk road into two communities known respectively as North and South Stifford.-Origin of name:...
. A medieval stone bridge was built in 1487, although this has subsequently been replaced more than once. Various archaeological objects have been found in the Mardyke close to Stifford Bridge. These include a hammerstone
Hammerstone
In archaeology, a hammerstone is a hard cobble used to strike off lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone during the process of lithic reduction. The hammerstone is a rather universal stone tool which appeared early in most regions of the world including Europe, India and North America...
, a small sword and a Pilgrim badge
Pilgrim badge
A pilgrim badge is a badge typically made of base metal such as lead alloy or pewter from the medieval period worn by Roman Catholic pilgrims who had travelled to sites of Christian pilgrimage, such as in England Canterbury Cathedral, the site of the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket...
.
There was a water mill on the Mardyke at Purfleet in the 14th century, that was owned by the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
. From about 1760, sluice gates protected the lowlying land through which the Mardyke flows from the tidal and saline Thames.
In the 19th century and earlier, the Mardyke was navigable to Bulphan. Using a network of drainage ditches, manure from London was brought to local farms and agricultural produce taken to market. In the 18th century, when the river was still tidal, it may hav been navigable as far as Orsett Hall
Orsett Hall
Orsett Hall was a 17th century grade 2 listed building in Orsett, Essex . It was set in of parkland and was the centre of the Orsett Hall agricultural estate. The house was destroyed by fire on 11 May 2007 and rebuilt in the same style and on the same footprint as the original building in 2009...
at high tide.
Recreational area
The river gives its name to the Mardyke Valley—a project aimed at increasing the appreciation and usage of recreational land around the Mardyke—which is a part of the Thames Chase Community ForestThames Chase
Thames Chase is a community forest of 9842 hectares located in 47 sites in London and Essex, England. Its stated aim is...to renew and regenerate the landscape at the edge of East London and South Essex by creating Thames Chase, the Community Forest: a varied wooded landscape for local people to...
. The project includes a seven mile riverside walk known as the Mardyke Way, running from Ship Lane, Aveley
Aveley
Aveley is a place in the Thurrock unitary authority in Essex, England and one of the traditional parishes in Thurrock. It is a suburban development located 16.3 miles east of Charing Cross in London and within the eastern bounds of the M25 motorway.-Location:Aveley is roughly bounded to the north...
to Orsett Fen. In 2005, the project received a grant of over £600,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
. The Mardyke Way passes through Davy Down, a 32 acres (12.9 ha) riverside park between Lakeside Shopping Centre
Lakeside Shopping Centre
The Lakeside Shopping Centre is a large out-of-town shopping centre located in West Thurrock, in the borough of Thurrock, Essex just beyond the eastern boundary of Greater London...
and South Ockendon
South Ockendon
South Ockendon is settlement and Church of England parish in the Thurrock borough and unitary district in Essex in the East of England, United Kingdom.-History:...
that was opened in 1993. The park includes the Victorian Stifford viaduct and the pumping station which is open to the public on Thursday afternoons and at other times wen the warden is present. The flow of the Mardyke is very sluggish at this point, allowing the growth of bur reed and common reed.
To the north of the Mardyke Way close to Stifford, the river also gives its name to Mardyke Woods, although these are actually a combination of three ancient woods—Brannet's Wood, Millard's Wood and Low Well Wood.
To the north of the river at Stifford is the Mardyke Valley Golf Club, an 18 hole (par 70) course set in the grounds of Ford Place and opened in 2002.
In 2010, Andrew Mackinlay
Andrew MacKinlay
Andrew Stuart MacKinlay is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Thurrock from 1992 until he stepped down at the 2010 general election.-Early life:...
MP opened a new bridge over the Mardyke at Purfleet. This bridge - named the Veolia Mardyke Bridge - links Purfleet to the Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve
Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve
Rainham Marshes is an RSPB nature reserve to the east of London, adjacent to the Thames Estuary in Purfleet, Thurrock and Havering. In 2000, the area of land was bought from the Ministry of Defence, who used it as a test firing range. With no activity for several years, the nature reserve was...
.