Interesting Places
Here are some random sample locations of interest in Essex. Also take a look at sites shown on our sites map, geology site map and brownfield site map, with the site account and locate site facility.
locate Brickbarn Wood
Taken to include Combe Wood to the east. This area is not all woodland, despite its name. The site has many excellent Sarsen Stones and an astonishing array of rare or scarce plants. Access by foot from Davy Down Country Park
locate Chalkney Wood
Essex County Council and Forestry Commission ancient woodland with the greatest concentration of Small-leaved Lime trees in the county.
locate Blue House Farm, North Fambridge
Essex Wildlife Trust coastal grazing marsh reserve. Situated along the banks of the River Crouch at North Fambridge. It is bordered by the river to the south, Wild and Ulens Farms to the north (beyond the Wickford-Southminster railway line), Bridgemarsh Island (saltings) to the east and Fambridge village and Fleet Farm to the west.
locate Heydon Roadverge
Calcareous grassland verge with rich flora, a small oasis in an arable landscape. A nearby small chalk pit is also important at approx. TL432409. Although in modern Cambridgeshire, these are both in Vice County 19 (North Essex).
locate Chigborough Lakes nature reserve
One of a number of worked-out mineral extraction sites on terrace sands to the north of the River Blackwater.
locate Rainham Marshes
Formerly a Ministry of Defence firing range, much of the original medieval land-form and marshland wildlife has been preserved and this RSPB reserve is now the largest remaining expanse of wetland bordering the upper reaches of the Thames Estuary.
locate Hutton Country Park
Managed as an area of conservation value in what is otherwise an area of vast intensive arable land and urban expansion. Situated on Wash Road Hutton - car parking available.
locate The Dell, built by Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace was elected an honorary member of the Essex Field Club at the inaugural meeting of the Club in 1880. He lived in The Dell between 1872 and 1876. See also The Alfred Russel Wallace Memorial Fund website and Thurrock Local History Society website for more information.