{"id":1160,"date":"2016-04-16T01:46:15","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T00:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=1160"},"modified":"2016-04-11T11:07:36","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T10:07:36","slug":"coalhouse-fort-and-mucking-marshes-essex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=1160","title":{"rendered":"Coalhouse Fort and Mucking Marshes, Essex"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=840,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/>\nFirst published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('CoalhouseFort.gpx');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1479\/25721063671_70ba455baf.jpg\" title='river wall path near Coalhouse Fort 3'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1479\/25721063671_70ba455baf_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1552\/25515484170_21e0658d60.jpg\" title='ship going down the invisible Thames'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1552\/25515484170_21e0658d60_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1689\/25515486980_9df4611764.jpg\" title='London Gateway port seen across the reedbeds'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1689\/25515486980_9df4611764_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1516\/25721071101_18dd8dc30a.jpg\" title='grass, reeds, sky - the landscape of Mucking Marshes'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1516\/25721071101_18dd8dc30a_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1704\/25721074831_0f84539f4d.jpg\" title='river wall path near Coalhouse Fort 2'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1704\/25721074831_0f84539f4d_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1459\/25695223762_112695966d.jpg\" title='landscaping of spoil heaps near Coalhouse Fort'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1459\/25695223762_112695966d_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1640\/25790106996_69723c57c3.jpg\" title='river wall path near Coalhouse Fort 4'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1640\/25790106996_69723c57c3_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1583\/25790109386_d2886ac241.jpg\" title='Coalhouse Fort Great War memorial'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1583\/25790109386_d2886ac241_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1680\/25721085081_88e6062fd9.jpg\" title='WW2 bunker at Coalhouse Fort'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1680\/25721085081_88e6062fd9_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1534\/25816186595_08250c3ef0.jpg\" title='river wall path near Coalhouse Fort 5'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1534\/25816186595_08250c3ef0_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1682\/25189579833_bf7be07277.jpg\" title='river wall path near Coalhouse Fort 6'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1682\/25189579833_bf7be07277_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=1160\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=1160','pwin','height=700,width=1000,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nCoalhouse Fort lay low and ominous under a grey, rain-speckled sky. Any damned Frenchie coming up the Thames to burn London would be blown out of the water before he&#8217;d even spotted the bastion at the bend of the river; that was what General Gordon of Khartoum surmised when he built the fort out here in the marshy wastelands east of the capital. The French never came; it was the Dutch, 200 years before, who had burned East Tilbury church tower in a daring raid, and they were the last foes to get so far upriver until the German airmen of the 20th century.<\/p>\n<p>We passed the grim old stronghold and set out north along the seawall path where large lilac-coloured flowers of salsify bloomed among the grasses. Across the river lay the ghostly outline of Cliffe Fort, where Charles Dickens sent poor little Pip in &#8216;Great Expectations&#8217; on a foggy Christmas morning with stolen &#8216;wittles&#8217; and a file for escaped convict Magwitch. This is all moody country hereabouts, looking downriver over bird-haunted marshes and mudflats to the giant skeleton cranes at the new container port of London Gateway.<\/p>\n<p>All the marshes hereabouts have for centuries been the dumping ground for London&#8217;s rubbish. Now they&#8217;ve finished land-filling the giant tip on the appropriately named Mucking Marshes, and a phoenix from the ashes is arising there &#8211; Thurrock Thamesside Nature Park, a big reserve of reedbeds and grasslands, woods and lakes, already up and running even as it expands and consolidates.<\/p>\n<p>The senior warden gave up some precious time to show us around. Reed buntings chattered, invisible among ten thousand stems, a cuckoo called, shelduck hoovered the mud flats, a brown hare scampered off. We mounted the spiral ramp to the roof of the Visitor Centre and had a wonderful 360o view over the sullen grey river, the cranes like giraffes at a waterhole, the greened-over hills of the landfill, and floating on the western skyline the towers and spires of London, as strange and distant as a dream.<\/p>\n<p>Start: Coalhouse Fort, Princess Margaret Road, East Tilbury, Essex RM18 8PB (OS ref TQ 690769)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Train\/bus &#8211; train to East Tilbury; bus 374 to Coalhouse Fort. Walk ends at Stanford-le-Hope station; return to East Tilbury by rail.<br \/>\nRoad (2 cars) &#8211; A13, A1013, minor road to Mucking; follow signs to Thames Thurrock Nature Park\/visitor centre. Leave 1 car here, drive other to Coalhouse Fort (&#8216;East Tilbury&#8217;, then &#8216;Coalhouse Fort&#8217;).<\/p>\n<p>Walk (5\u00bd miles, Coalhouse Fort to Stanford-le-Hope station; 5 miles, car to car; easy, OS Explorer 163. Online maps, more walks at christophersomerville.co.uk): Follow seawall path north from Coalhouse Fort for 1\u00bd miles till fence blocks path (695792). Left along fence for 1 mile. Through metal gate (684793); right through kissing gate (&#8216;Essex Wildlife Trust\/TTNP&#8217;) into Thurrock Thamesside Nature Park. Left along path for \u00bd mile to lakes; right (679799) along path beside railway. In \u00be of a mile, path bends right just before Mucking road (683810); in 400m, bear right by Warden&#8217;s house (687810, &#8216;Visitor Centre&#8217; fingerpost). If doing 2-car walk, follow roadway to Visitor Centre. If station-to-station, left at roadway in 100m (arrow) along path; in 350m, left through gate; cross sluice (691808). In 200m, fork left past metal gate (694809) to road (693812); left for 1 mile to Stanford-le-Hope station (682823).<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: Inn on the Green, Stanford-le-Hope SS17 0ER (01375 400010, <a href=\"http:\/\/innonthegreen-stanfordlehope.co.uk\">innonthegreen-stanfordlehope.co.uk<\/a>); TTNP Visitor Centre caf\u00e9<\/p>\n<p>Accommodation: Bell Inn, Horndon-on-the-Hill (01375-642463; <a href=\"http:\/\/bell-inn.co.uk\">bell-inn.co.uk<\/a>) \u2013 friendly, well-run stopover<\/p>\n<p>Thames Thurrock Nature Park: 01375 643342, <a href=\"http:\/\/essexwt.org.uk\/reserves\/thurrock-thameside\">essexwt.org.uk\/reserves\/thurrock-thameside<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Coalhouse Fort: 01375 844203, <a href=\"http:\/\/coalhousefort.co.uk\">coalhousefort.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/visitengland.com\">visitengland.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/satmap.com\">satmap.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/ramblers.org.uk\">ramblers.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coalhouse Fort lay low and ominous under a grey, rain-speckled sky. Any damned Frenchie coming up the Thames to burn London would be blown out of the water before he&#8217;d even spotted the bastion at the bend of the river.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}