 |
|
In 2012 various botanical surveys of Lea Marshes were compared. To view this comparison table click this link. | |||
| Walthamstow Marshes |
WALTHAMSTOW MARSHES
These marshes lie in east London, still real marsh and wild, even though surrounded by the densely populated and industrialised districts of Hackney and Walthamstow. It is bounded on the west by the River Lea. This river, which flows into the Thames at Canning Town, once had other real marshes on its banks: Tottenham Marsh, Leyton Marsh and the Hackney Marsh. Tottenham Marsh has been filled in and levelled and is now mainly used by motorbikes; Leyton Marsh was used to dump rubble in after the East End Blitz and is now half playing fields and a fair ground; the Hackney Marsh are now the largest football pitch area in east London. Walthamstow Marshes alone remains as real marsh. The desire of the Lea Valley Regional Park Authority is to quarry it for gravel to a depth of some 38 feet; its southern half will then be filled in for more playing-fields (even though those on Leyton and Hackney Marsh are under-used) and the northern half will be turned into a large lake for motor boats and motorised water sports.
The northern boundary of the Marsh is formed by the Warwick Reservoir, with the slender Copperimill Stream (also known as the Silk Stream) flowing between the reservoir banks and the marsh into the Lea. The playing fields of Leyton Marsh form its southern boundary; and the Clapton-Chingford/Hertford railway line runs on an embankment across it. It is this line which doubtless has protected it in the last hundred years from despoliation; the line made access difficult. The total area of the marsh is some 88 acres.
In this publication, contributors who are experts on botany, ornithology and entomology will demonstrate to the reader what an immense treasure of plant life, birds, small wild animals, insects and butterflies the marsh is. Their contributions will make those of us who use the marsh for such pastimes as walking, picnicking, jogging, enjoying the fresh air, taking the dog for a walk, seeking out peace and quiet, really sit up in amazement, in astonishment that the open marsh we have enjoyed in a simple way is so rich and valuable. In this chapter our intention is to show how the marsh has been used by people who are not devoted naturalists, but who simply find the marsh a wonderful, open, wild place to be in.
The River Lea, as has been said, forms its western edge. The western bank of the Lea at this point is very high, forming the steep slopes of Springfield Park. The visitor to the marsh approaching from the Hackney side will descend to it down Spring Hill, or Harrington Hill, or Big Hill or Bakers Hill and cross the river over High Bridge or Horseshoe Bridge. If you come to the marsh from Walthamstow you come down Coppermill Lane past the modern and the old waterworks and under the low railway bridge beside the stream; and if you come on to the marsh from its southern end, from the Leyton side, you cross over Leyton marsh and along the tow path of the river on either side and past the timber yards.
The finest view of the marsh can be obtained from the top of Springfield Park. This Park runs down to the river and to the eye seems to run on into the marsh. It is the hundreds and thousands of people who use Springfield Park year in, year out, who benefit most from the open aspect of Walthamstow Marshes. They benefit from the great acreage of openness and peace the park and marsh combine to bestow upon the area. People, old and young, walk from one to the other as one natural extended walk; joggers run from one to the other; youngsters play in both in the course of any one afternoon or evening. Nothing threatens the Park so much as the threat to the Marshes. The conversion of the Marshes into a lake for motorised water sports will destroy the park with the dreadful noise and whine of engines echoing and thundering across the total area. Already the peacefulness of the area is sometimes destroyed by the roar of motorbikes, which scramble on the towpath, illegally and dangerously. The intentions of the LVRPA will now institutionalise that noise and disturbance.
Only those sort of planners who do not live in a place and can only visualise it on a piece of paper can create such schemes. Quarrying will bring in a constant stream of 20-ton lorries for the next five years, as many as 150 a day. A lake for motorised water sports will thereafter bring in cars with trailers on all roads leading to the Marshes (by then a marsh no longer). Indeed, the LVRPA has drawn up a plan to build a road through the valley itself and has allotted parking areas for future use. It is not without sadness and a sense of irony that one reflects upon the significance of the symbol of the LVRPA: the three-leaf clover. In the Authority's own words: 'The Authority's symbol is designed to express the concept of Man's re-creation in nature' (official brochure 1968).
Any day of the week and at all hours, people use the marsh. The night-watchman at Latham Timber Yards, which face on to it from the Hackney side, has stated how he enjoys the sight of ducks, which roost by night on the marsh, rising in the early hours. Joggers and athletes use the paths across it and the tow path along it before a day's work and at weekends and in the evenings. People walk their dogs at all times of the day. The marsh is simply an open piece of countryside, in which it is delightful to walk with a dog, or indeed a companion.
Parents use it to take their children on little local picnics. It is possible to be completely hidden in the tall reeds, in the high grass or in the comfrey. Indeed, the reeds in large clumps are sometimes over six feet high, and any attempt to walk through them takes on the character of a trek through the heavy undergrowth of a forest. Kids mess about in it. People pick flowers in it. The people living in the houses and GLC flats that overlook it from the Hackney side enjoy it. It is safe to play in. And a gentleman with bagpipes has been spotted using it as a safe place for him to play in!
It is a favourite local haunt of bird watchers. Not just the experts but also the amateurs in great numbers. Its value to the bird-watcher is very varied. The Warwick reservoirs, its northern boundary, house the second largest heronry in the country and are inhabited by many different species of waders and ducks, by gulls and other fowl. They use the marsh for feeding and roost on it by night. The reed and sedge provide a habitat for warblers, the grasses for larks, pipits and wagtails, the willows and bushes for finches, wrens, thrushes and blackbirds. The list is indeed long. It is part of the local scenery to see bird-watchers in and around the marsh with binoculars strung over their shoulders.
Similarly, it is a haunt for botanists. Over 340 different species of wild plants have been identified on the marsh. The reed beds are both ancient and rare. In other parts of the country preservation orders have been placed on reed beds and in some parts they are being re-introduced. Yet here, we have an ancient and natural reed bed threatened with destruction through quarrying! It is a haunt for people who enjoy the sight of butterflies, moths and insects, feeding, living, breeding, in genuine wild surroundings. There are small mammals: foxes, rabbits, ferrets, moles.
When will the planners and those people empowered to provide 'leisure' for us come to understand that the vast majority of people still like real things, natural wild things, and do desire at least a section of their lives and their environment to be spared concrete, engines, tarmac and noise?
Artists use the marsh. It has clear open sky above it. It has river on one side of it. It is countryside. Water-diviners have been known to use it. As it is a marsh, they are sure to be successful! People from the LVRPA riding stables on the edge of Leyton Marsh gallop and trot over it. Schools use it for educational purposes, and Harrington Hill Primary School make regular, frequent use of it to educate their children. This is an aspect of the marsh which must be pursued.
It is an area that costs not one penny to use or to maintain. It is an area of quiet and peace. People come to it for the freedom and peace it gives them. It is not an area of created artificial 'leisure'. It has not been designed and set out by any of those modern organisations which can be termed 'leisure-makers'. It has been created by nature over the course of many centuries.
Walthamstow Marshes has spiritual value. It ministers to people's need for peace, openness, freedom, wildness and space. These things can be taken away and destroyed, but they cannot be artificially created or laid on. The marsh is unique to East London; it is the last of the Lea Marshes. It is simply irreplaceable.
| Click to go to next section |