©Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Hertfordshire County Council, LA 076678, 2001
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©Crown
Copyright. All rights reserved. Hertfordshire County Council, LA 076678, 2001
Area around junction of rivers Lea and Stort, south of Stanstead Abbotts and east of the northern part of Hoddesdon.
©Crown
Copyright. All rights reserved. Hertfordshire County Council, LA 076678, 2001
A curious mix of utilities such as sewage works, leisure activities (marina) and the quasi-rural character of nature reserves and historic artefacts in partly restored former mineral workings, around highly important remnant floodplain grazing grasslands.
Rye Mead gatehouse (P. Shears)
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Geology and soils. Stoneless clayey soils, in places calcareous, over river alluvium (Fladbury 1 series).
Topography. Flat river valley.
Degree of slope. 0.
Altitude range. 30m throughout.
Hydrology. The Lower Lea flows from Feildes Weir south to the Thames, a distance of approximately 34km. This gives an average gradient of 1 in 1300, which is very shallow, but unsurprising given the low-lying floodplain catchment. The river lies on the London clay and demonstrates the typically 'flashy' nature of urban and clay run-off rivers. Much of the fluvial gravel has been extracted and the redundant workings now form lakes, many of them connected to the Flood Relief Channel. Below Stanstead Abbotts the Stanstead Mill Stream joins the river Lea Navigation, the canalised river, which then splits into several channels south of the A414 road bridge. At Glen Faba the Lea Navigation splits to provide an additional Flood Relief Channel.
Land cover and land use. The dominant land cover in this area is a mix of utilities/industry and open water and wetland vegetation associated with former mineral workings. There is a rail-served aggregates depot, an ancillary asphalt plant and consent for a ready-mix concrete plant as well as extensive sewage works at Rye Meads. These contrast with leisure uses, such as the marina south of Stanstead Abbotts and the stadium near Rye House railway station, on the edge of the residential area of Hoddesdon. On the eastern edge of this area there are also nurseries and glasshouses, a relic of a once more extensive industry.
Vegetation and wildlife. Much of the Rye Meads area has SSSI status and forms part of the proposed Lea Valley Special Protection Area (SPA) under the EC Birds Directive. The meadows are the last substantial remnants of ancient flood meadows in the Lea valley and support one of the largest areas of tall fen vegetation in the county, a valuable habitat for wet grassland plants and birds, including over-wintering bittern and breeding colonies of common tern and tufted duck. The 17 shallow sewage treatment lagoons are highly significant for breeding and wintering wildfowl and form an integral part of a large and rich complex of wetland habitats, including fen/mire communities, sedge swamp and sweet-grass swamp. The RSPB/HMWT reserves at Rye Meads/Rye House Marsh accommodate the largest area of reedbed in the county. The tree cover in this area is very extensive, part planted and part natural regeneration, consisting of water-related species, such as willow, poplar and alder and reclamation species such as silver birch and aspen. Other species are ash, oak, hazel, sycamore, downy birch and Lombardy poplar. Scrub regeneration includes hazel, elder, hawthorn and sallow.
The Lea valley is a very disturbed area that has been transformed more than once. The river was used to transport produce from the Hertfordshire area to London and began to be canalised in Elizabethan times, when the structure of which Rye Gatehouse is the last remaining part was built. The earliest record of a deer park here is 1443. The original grazing meadows within the river valley have been largely destroyed, having given way in the 19th century to nurseries and allotments to feed the increasing London population. In turn the Lea Valley became the focus for the development of utilities to service the continuing expansion of London and sand and gravel expansion began in the northern part in the early 20th century to serve the London construction industry. A scheme to beautify the Rye Meads area in the mid 19th century has also been and gone (see below).
Field pattern. The original field pattern no longer exists and the landscape scale has been considerably enlarged.
Transport pattern. Within the northern edge of this area the B181 crosses the river at Stanstead Abbotts, while the A414 road bridge is a dominant feature further south above the valley and with extensive views out. There is also a minor toll road linking Stanstead Bury and Rye Park, a curious lane that provides a link between the many disparate features that make up this area.
Settlements and built form. There are no settlements within this part of the Lee valley, although Stanstead Abbotts, on the northern edge, lies partly within it and completely blocks any perception of the river valley extending northwards. Rye Common Pumping station is Italianate yellow brick, erected in 1882, and visible from the A414. Rye Mead gatehouse (SAM) dates from 1443 and is a red brick rectangle with blue brick diapering, standing on a moated site beside the river. Nearby is the Rye House Inn, part of a Victorian scheme of 1864 to convert the Rye House neighbourhood into a pleasure garden a la Vauxhall and Ranelagh.
Pevsner, N., rev. Cherry, B., Hertfordshire, Penguin (2000).
Lee Valley Management Plan.
Lee Valley Regional Park Park Plan: Part Two.
Environment Agency LEAP for North London
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The strongest impression here is the contrast between industrial and nature conservation land uses. Despite the A414 road bridge overhead it is a surprisingly tranquil area and the ongoing restoration projects provide a dynamism that contrasts with the static nature of the sewage works. It is not unified, being a jumble of contrasting land uses, but is fascinating. The river, wedged between the urban edge and the industrial area, is a less dominant landscape feature than the waterbodies of the former mineral workings.
Rarity and distinctiveness. Designation as a proposed SPA denotes the special nature and national importance of this area for nature conservation - the bittern is now a rare and endangered species. It is also regionally important for its breeding bird colonies and as a focal point for bird migration routes, recognised in Rye Meads Ringing Station, one of the oldest bird-ringing stations in the UK. In landscape terms this is certainly a most unusual area at present, although it is likely that, as restoration proceeds, it will more resemble the Regional Park areas south of Dobb's Weir. Rye Gatehouse is unique.
The impact of urban and industrial development, the transport corridor and utilities is especially apparent. Within this there are gems, such as Rye Gatehouse.
Noted recreational land uses include walking, bird watching and boating.
In some places the condition of footpaths is poor
This landscape is significantly valued (C).
'The locality is pleasant but it is the resort of too many vulgar Londoners to be desirable', B.Moran in The Journal of Benjamin Moran 1857-65, Gillespie, Chicago (1868), quoted in So that was Hertfordshire, M Tompkins, (1998).
SSSI and part of Lea Valley pSPA/pRamsar site.
The Lea Valley is recognised as a High Biodiversity Area (HBA) for its wetlands.
Landscape Development Area
| CONDITION | |
|---|---|
| Land cover change: | widespread |
| Age structure of tree cover: | mixed |
| Extent of semi-natural habitat survival: | fragmented |
| Management of semi-natural habitat: | good |
| Survival of cultural pattern: | declining |
| Impact of built development: | high |
| Impact of land-use change: | high |
| ROBUSTNESS | |
| Impact of landform: | prominent |
| Impact of land cover: | prominent |
| Impact of historic pattern: | relic |
| Visibility from outside: | concealed |
| Sense of enclosure: | contained |
| Visual unity: | incoherent |
| Distinctiveness/rarity: | unusual |
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Rye Meads Nature Reserve (P. Shears)
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