Riverside east of the Tower and north of the River. Great Coldharbour

Riverside east of the Tower and north of the River
Great Coldharbour
TQ 52021 78844

Post to the west Coldharbour Point (north bank) and Erith (south bank)
Post to the east Crayfordness
Post to the south Erith Anchor Bay


A bleak area of reclaimed marshy riverside surrounded by landfill.with some freight and industrial actvities

Ferry
The ferry is sometimes said to date from the Romans and Roman bricks have been found here. It was reached by a path called Manor Way used as a drove road for cattle until the 1950s and the ferry is said to have been used for these cattle, fattened on the marshes. There is also speculation that this was the ‘Pilgrim Ferry’.

Great Coldharbour,
The name probably points to the bleakness of the location and dates from the 16th. There are several other examples of the name Coldharbour, all with the same origin and it is sometimes speculated that the name is Roman.  Little Coldharbour was slightly upstream. .The area is also said to have been an island, reclaimed in the late 17th by inning. In 1906 William Cunis Ltd. established a lighterage and dredging business here and from 1929 the company extracted gravel and ballast filling the worked-out pits with refuse from London. In the 1950s they were still operative and providing warehousing facilities here.  There are plans to turn the area into a Riverside Conservation Park.
Great Coldharbour Farm. This was a farmhouse demolished in 1920 and said to have been on the riverside.
Freightmaster Terminal. This is an industrial and warehousing estate.

Sources
British History. On line. Wennington. Web site
Field. London Place Names
Historical Houses. Web site
London Government. Web site
Tucker. Ferries of the Lower Thames

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