Riverside - south bank east of the Tower. Broadness

Riverside south of the river and east of the Tower  Broadness

A stretch of open marshland containing some useful instrumentation and an isolated community of boats and sheds,  It is however about to become Disneyland (honest!)

Post to the east Northfleet terminal
Post to the north Grays
Post to the west West Thurrock Terminal



Broadness
Broad Ness Lighthouse. This is to guide vessels from St. Clement's Reach into Northfleet Hope and is 23 miles from London Bridge. It was established in 1885 but the current tower was erected in 1975 and converted to electricity in 1981. It is 43 feet high with a light visible for 12 miles,
Navigation beacon on a buoy near to the northern tip of the Swanscombe Peninsula. The beacon emits light and radio waves to vessels using the river to assist with navigation.


Broadness Creek
Broadness Creek is a tidal inlet full of moorings, old boats, jetties and semi-permanent buildings .
It is the outfall of a number of streams, ditches and dykes through the marshland
Wooden stake and brushwood trackway on foreshore near the mouth of Broadness Creek . This may be prehistoric. Erosion of the foreshore on which the trackway lay showed a layer of flint
Anti-tank blocks. There is a possible Second World War tank trap, made up of 24 large concrete blocks in the river channel

Broadness salt marsh,
This area of marshland is said to be reclaimed land which has had extensive tipping from the cement and the waste industries,
Ferry from West Thurrock.  It is not known where on the Broadness peninsula that the ferry ran to – the point itself seems unlikely given the distance and difficulty of travelling from there.  The site of Bell Wharf may be a good alternative site and several footpaths converge there.
White’s Jetty. White’s Swanscombe works dated from 1825 and at some time a railway was built from here to a jetty in the marsh. Clearly the semi derelict jetty with an arm extending into the river and with rail line embedded in it is more modern and has been rebuilt.  It is however known that the railway line was very early
Radar Scanner – this is a navigational aid belonging to the Port of London Authority
Pylon. This 670 foot tower carries power lines across the river, linking with another on the north bank.  They date from the mid 1960s and are probably the tallest electricity pylons in the UK
Broadness weather station. This belongs to the Port of London Authority and monitors temperature and other weather conditions. It includes an anemometer.


Sources
Dartford Council. Web site
London Paramount. Web site
Stoyel and Kidner. The Cement Railways of Kent
Swanscombe Project., Web site
Tucker. Ferries of the Lower Thames
Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide. Web site

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