Mardyke (river)

Rainham Marshes is an RSPB nature reserve in the east of London, adjacent to the Thames Estuary in Purfleet, Thurrock and the London Borough of Havering. In 2000, the area of land was bought from the Ministry of Defence, who used it as a test firing range. With no activity for several years, the nature reserve was officially opened to the public in 2006. It has maintained much of its medieval landscape, and is the largest area of wetland on the upper parts of the Thames Estuary. The reserve is home to a diverse range of bird species, wetland plants and insects. It also has one of the densest water vole populations in the country. In December 2005, the site was visited by a sociable lapwing; over 1,700 people visited the reserve to see this bird. Late in the bird's stay, four penduline tits were also found at the site. Entrance to the site is free to residents of Thurrock and the London Borough of Havering.The site is home to an environmentally friendly visitor centre which features solar panels, rainwater harvesting, natural light and ventilation and a ground heat exchange system. This visitor centre, completed in 2006 at a cost £2 million, was designed by van Heyningen and Haward Architects The building won six awards for its BREEAM sustainable design, including a Green Apple Award, Regeneration and Renewal Award and a Royal Institute of British Architects National Award.The site is part (77% according to a BBC article) of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) called Inner Thames Marshes, and the part which is in the London Borough of Havering has been designated by the council as a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation called Wennington, Aveley and Rainham Marshes. The area west of a drain running south from Brookway is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR), as well as being part of the SSSI. South of the A13 road the LNR is part of the RSPB reserve, while the northern part is managed by Havering Council. Before the site was protected as a nature reserve, it was considered as a candidate location for a Universal theme park in the 1990s, but a site in Paris was eventually chosen. This project failed to materialize

Ensignbus is a bus and coach operator and bus dealer based in Purfleet, Essex. As of March 2023, it is a part of the FirstGroup.

The Darent is a Kentish tributary of the River Thames and takes the waters of the River Cray as a tributary in the tidal portion of the Darent near Crayford, as illustrated by the adjacent photograph, snapped at high tide. 'Darenth' is frequently found in the spelling of the river's name in older books and maps, Bartholomew's "Canal's and River of England" being one example. Bartholomew's Gazetteer (1954) demonstrates that Darent means "clear water" and separately explains the other name. Considering the River Darent runs on a bed of chalk and its springs rise through chalk, this is not surprising. The original purity of the water was a major reason for the development of paper and pharmaceuticals in the area. Darenth Parish (through which the river flows) derives from a Celtic phrase 'stream where oak-trees grow' (Irish: "dair" = 'oak-tree', "abha" = river ) (compare e.g."Derwent"). The landscapes of the valley were painted in a visionary manner by the Victorian artist Samuel Palmer during the mid 1800s. Fed by springs from the greensand hills south of Westerham in Kent and below Limpsfield Chart in Surrey it flows 21 miles (34 km) east then north by Otford and Shoreham, past the castle and the ruined Roman villa at Lullingstone, then by Eynsford, Farningham, Horton Kirby, South Darenth, Sutton-at-Hone, Darenth, and eventually to Dartford whence it proceeds a final two miles as a tidal estuary until it drops into the Thames at Long Reach.North of Dartford the Darent is tidal and, just before entering the Thames, receives the waters of the River Cray at Dartford & Crayford Marshes where the rivers form administrative boundaries between Greater London and Kent, (specifically, the London Borough of Bexley and the Kentish borough of Dartford). The Darent enters Thames Long Reach to the East of Crayford Ness.Kent County Council has signposted a 19-mile (31 km) walking route along the Darent between the Greensand Hills above Sevenoaks and the Thames and named it the Darent Valley Path. The route receives no obvious attention from councils or 'focus' groups although all or part is used by joggers, cyclists, walkers, dog walkers and curious adventurers, availing themselves of the Darent Valley Path to access or view the river's amenities, such as they are. This lack of attention is being addressed in the tidal section by a group of concerned locals, the "Friends of Dartford and Crayford Creeks". As of mid-2016 a trust is being formed to promote regeneration and give formal recognition to the protection of this valuable public amenity.

Purfleet railway station is on the London, Tilbury and Southend line serving the town of Purfleet, Essex. It is 16 miles 2 chains (25.8 km) down the line from London Fenchurch Street and it is situated between Rainham to the west and Grays to the east. Its three-letter station code is PFL. It was opened in 1854 by the London Tilbury and Southend Railway and initially trains ran from Tilbury to Stratford where the train split for either Spitalfields or Fenchurch Street. The station and all trains serving it are currently operated by c2c. Although outside London fare zone 6, the station became part of the Oyster card pay-as-you-go network in 2010.

Thames Board Mills Sports Ground was a cricket and rugby ground in Purfleet, Essex. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1956, when the Essex Second XI played the Surrey Second XI in the Minor Counties Championship.Essex played their first List-A match there against Kent in the 1969 Player's County League. Essex played 4 List-A matches there between 1969 and 1972, playing their final List-A match there against Glamorgan in the 1972 John Player League.Thames Board Mills rugby club started there and was based there for many years. The ground is no longer used for cricket, but is used for football. The ground was previously owned by the London Fire Brigade, but is today owned by a private social club which retains its link to the Fire Brigade. There has also been speculation about Grays Athletic F.C. building their new ground there.

Harris Academy Riverside is a sixth-form entry coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in the Purfleet in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. Purfleet is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater London boundary. As its name suggests, the school is on the riverside, but separated from the water by a railway line. The school was established in 2017 but moved into a new dedicated building in 2019.

Purfleet Road, Aveley is a 4 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Aveley in Essex.The site was exposed as a result of excavations for building the A13 road in 1997. It dates to the interglacial period, MIS7, around 200,000 years ago. The site has yielded mollusc insect and mammal fossils, including the first jungle cat discovered in Britain. It is described by Natural England as a "site of national importance for the study of Quaternary environments and climates".There is access to the site from Purfleet Road, but no geology is visible as the excavations have been filled in.

The Circus Tavern is an entertainment venue in Purfleet, Essex, England which hosts functions, cabaret acts and is also a nightclub venue. First opened in 1974, it is most famous as having been a long-time venue of the PDC World Darts Championship. Its capacity is 1100 seated.

The Long Reach sewage treatment works is located in Dartford, Kent adjacent to the River Thames. It treats the sewage from a population of 837,000 in a catchment area of 518 km2 (200 sq mi) in south and south east London and west Kent. The treatment capacity of the works is 346 million litres per day (Ml/d).

Purfleet Chalk Pits is a 10.7-hectare (26-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Purfleet in Essex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.The chalk pits expose sands and gravels which are associated with the ancient course of the River Thames. They have yielded varied animal, mollusc and plants remains which throw light on the environmental and fluvial conditions at the time when they were deposited. The site is over 280,000 years old, and laid down when this section of the Thames was flowing westwards. There also broken flints in several layers, showing occupation by early humans at several different periods. MIS9, between about 335,000 and 280,000 years ago, is often informally called the Purfleet interglacial, and the mammalian assemblage on the site is the type for the Purfleet Mammalian assemblage zone.The site consists of Greenlands Quarry, Bluelands Quarry, Botany Pit and Esso Pit. Most of it has been filled in and is covered by a housing estate. A section of Greenlands Quarry has been created for research, but this is closed to the public.

Wennington is a small village in the London Borough of Havering, in east London. It is situated 14.8 miles (23.8 km) east of Charing Cross. Wennington was an ancient parish in the county of Essex that was abolished for civil purposes in 1934. It is peripheral to London, forming a ribbon development extending from the eastern edge of the urban sprawl and surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt. Wennington was added to Hornchurch Urban District in 1934 and has formed part of Greater London since 1965.

The Wennington wildfire was a wildfire that took place in Wennington, east London, on 19 July 2022 during the 2022 United Kingdom heatwave. No-one was killed, but the wildfire destroyed about 18–19 houses, including all the possessions of many residents. One resident said her house burned down "within two minutes".The wildfire began when a compost heap spontaneously combusted. It took place on the hottest day since British records began, and has been described as an indication of the threat posed by global warming in the UK, a country in which wildfires have historically been rare and mostly seen on isolated grassland and moorland areas rather than in urban areas.