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Visit Our Centre

EFC Centre at Wat Tyler Country ParkOur centre is available for visits on a pre-booked basis on Wednesdays between 10am - 4pm. The Club’s activities and displays are also usually open to the public on the first Saturday of the month 11am - 4pm.

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Dragonfly Project

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Bluelands Quarry Facts

Purfleet on Thames

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Antherophagus pallens underside Copyright: Robert Smith
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Graham Roger Ward 1944 to 2025 Geologist
J Francis Steam Printer Rochford Advert
Hunting Recollections Miss Augusta Tawke 1911 Advert
Anticipation and Result Sketch
Mrs Benson on Bully Sketch
Charles Tabor and Treacle Sketch
Mrs Tawke Aged 93 Portrait
Crouch Cold Bath Cartoon Sketch
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Great Run of Mr Offin Finish
Augusta Saumarez Tawke 1856 to 1947 Photograph
Hunting Recollections Miss Augusta Tawke 1911 Title Page
Aplotarsus incanus
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Purfleet-on-Thames

Purfleet-on-Thames. Gravel and shelly beds in the walls of these huge chalk quarries show us that a very large river once flowed here towards the west. This was the River Thames that 340,000 - 300,000 years ago flowed north of its present course. It had to loop its way round the chalk hills at Purfleet. Its left bank was at North Road and its right bank was where Ship Lane crosses the A13. During cold periods of the Ice Age, it was a wide, braided river with many channels, much bigger than the River Thames today. A modern river similar to the past River Thames. Bank of ancient River Thames cut into shattered chalk in Bluelands Quarry. People living on the banks of the river left evidence in the form of stone tools. The shapes of the tools tell us that different groups of people came and went. They lived here during a warm period between two cold glacial periods. This is called the ‘Purfleet’ Interglacial. Unio shell Corbicula shell. Beds of gravel, sand and clay with bones and flint tools. Temperatures during the latest part of the Ice Age. Purfleet Commercial Park (Bluelands). Ancient River Thames. River Thames today. The course of the River Thames 320,000 years ago. There is much more to tell about this site, find out at: geoessex.org.uk essexfieldclub.org.uk erms.org Purfleet Commercial Park (Bluelands) is part of the Purfleet Site of Special Scientific Interest. The support of Goodman is gratefully acknowledged for its improvement to and maintenance of this Site of Special Scientific Interest. Content and design: Peter Allen, Ros Mercer, Ian Mercer, Trevor Johnson; hunting scene © Oxford Archaeologynext page

Click on the image or this link to download all the Bluelands Quarry Fact Sheets.