Live stream: mobile_walthamstow_marshes.ogg
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Walthamstow Marshes, London, Uk
Martyn Riley
Latitude: +51.5690236°
Longitude: -0.0476944°
Walthamstow Marshes, one of the last remaining floodplain marshlands in London
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History of the site "Walthamstow Marshes is an area of wetland bordering the River Lea and nestled between Hackney and Waltham Forest. It’s one of the last remaining examples of London’s once vast and widespread floodplain grasslands. From Saxon times until well into the 20th century the marsh was used as “Lammas land”, a place for local people to cut hay and graze their livestock. In 1909, the pioneer, Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe became the first Englishman to fly an all-British made triplane (The Yellow Terror) on Walthamstow Marshes. A blue plaque commemorating his efforts is located at the western end of the viaduct where he built his machine. During the industrial revolution, the land retained its agricultural use, though increasingly hemmed in by surrounding developments. The impact of aggressive industrial urbanisation pressured local agricultural communities into relinquishing the ancient traditions of hay making and grazing. As a consequence the local council acquired the site with plans to develop it for recreational use, proposals which were hindered by the onset of World War II and the resulting period of austerity. WWII left its scars on the landscape across the Lee Valley, signs of anti-landing trenches and the impacts from shelling are still visible today.
In 1965, Walthamstow Marshes was acquired by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority as part of its plans to acquire the land which now forms the Lee Valley Regional Park. What would now be considered as a programme of rewilding was ushered in across many of the sites still under management by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, however, the focus here at Walthamstow was on the preservation of the marshes as they existed then. Pressure from local campaigners to stop development from encroaching on the site means that Walthamstow Marshes has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1985"
Text from https://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/walthamstow-marshes
Personally, for me as a local of 15+ years, in the warehouse district, in itself with an echo to the past of makers & industry, now sadly past, the Marshes have been a place & space that kept me a) sane b) energised c) connected to the non-human (and human).
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