The London/Kent boundary - the Cray meets the Darent

The London/Kent boundary - the Cray meets the Darent
The confluence of the Darent and the Cray and some of the industrial area around Thames Road.
TQ 5325975720

The boundary is at last nearing a world of industry, housing and people - and, having left the Darent and the Cray, it follows the tiny Stanham stream.

Post to the north Crayford Marshes
Post to the west Barnes Cray
Post to the south Dartford

The London (Bexley)/Kent Boundary
The boundary  leaves the river Darent and follows the River Cray; it then leaves the Cray it to follow the Stanham River.

On the boundary

River Cray
The Cray not a river but a persistent stream. It is tidal here.
Until the 1970s it was still used by barges to Allied Mills, Century Oils and Dussek Campbell Oils and barges of 400 tons were still using the creek in the 1980s.
The footpath is on an embankment, which was raised and widened to its present level as part of the Thames flood defences in the 1970s.
The river wall was probably first constructed in the 14th and has been maintained and rebuilt since.

River Wansunt joins the Cray joined just below the Iron Mill. There is an automatic sluice gate. It comes from Dartford Heath, has gone under the site of the Vickers works site in pipes, and is seen east of Maiden Lane Bridge where it runs alongside the Cray to Thames Road and joins the creek.

Stanham River
West Kent Main Sewer. Steel tubes where the sewer crosses the river A sluice controls the flow of the Stanham into the Cray. The river is flanked by reed-beds, and at low tide is reduced to a stream with mudflats exposed.

Across the boundary
Railway Line. The North Kent Railway between Dartford and Slade Green stations crosses between 5277 and 5375

London/Bexley side of the boundary

Crayford Marshes
Landfill site.
Trench Warfare Railway. A light railway for taking munitions workers to Thames Ammunition Works. In 1918 became Hudson's Refuse Works Line and closed in 1924.
Rutter's Sidings. Went to a brickworks.

Sources
Bygone Kent
Carr. A Spot that is Called CrayfordDenny. Lets Explore the River Darent
Hamilton . The Industries of  CrayfordLondon Borough of Bexley. Web site
Spurgeon. Discover Erith and CrayfordStanham River. Web site

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