Learning from the marshland: The North Kent Marsh

Much of the Thames riverside in North Kent is characterised by marshland, as can be seen in the map above of the Thames Valley from 1807.

Historically there were few defined routes across these marshes, although the 'Manorways'  provided routes across Swanscombe Marshes, and one of these actually led out to a ferry across the Thames to Grays. This was used from medieval times as a pilgrim’s route to Swanscombe Church and the shrine of St Hildefirth. The ferry finally ceased operation in the mid19th century. 

‘... The dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea...’

The vivid description of the Thames Marshes in Dickens’ Great Expectations is an image that has characterised this area for Centuries. This landscape although now sometimes reclaimed, was until the early 20th Century a water logged marsh typical of the East Coast - vast areas of which are now protected as vital wetland habitat. 

A study of aerial images of Cliffe Marshes identifies numerous farm buildings located on islands in the marshes.

‘There was a reasonably good path now, mostly on the edge of the river, with a divergence here and there where a dyke came with a miniature windmill on it and a muddy sluice-gate.’ Great Expectations