Crouch and Roach Estuaries

Blue House Farm is a 242.8-hectare (600-acre) nature reserve and farm in North Fambridge, on the north bank of the River Crouch between Burnham-on-Crouch and South Woodham Ferrers in Essex. It is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. Most of the site is in of the Crouch and Roach Estuaries Site of Special Scientific Interest.This site has been grassland for the last 100 years, and it is grazed by cows and sheep. The site has ponds, creeks and ditches, and a 20 hectare field is flooded during the winter, providing feeding grounds for large numbers of wildfowl and wading birds, including around 2000 Brent geese. Other winter birds include lapwings, golden plovers and dunlins, while there are spring migrants such as green sandpipers and spotted redshanks, and breeding birds such as skylarks and meadow pipits. Mammals include water voles and hares, and many butterflies.There is access only to a footpath through the farm, which has three bird hides along it. The footpath runs from Blue House Farm Chase to a footpath along the river bank.

North Fambridge railway station is on the Crouch Valley Line in the East of England, serving the village of North Fambridge, Essex. It is 37 miles 27 chains (60.09 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between South Woodham Ferrers to the west and Althorne to the east. The Engineer's Line Reference for the line is WIS; the station's three-letter station code is NFA. The southern (westbound) platform has an operational length for eight-coach trains while the northern (eastbound) platform can accommodate nine coaches.The line and station were opened for goods on 1 June 1889 and to passenger services on 1 October 1889 by the Great Eastern Railway. Facilities then included two platforms, both provided with buildings and linked by a footbridge; a goods yard including cattle pens; and a 30-lever signal box, reduced to 10 after 1966. The signal box was taken out of use on 1 December 1985 and demolished in February 1986. The original footbridge was replaced with a higher one prior to the electrification of the line in 1986. Electrification using 25 kV overhead line electrification (OLE) was completed on 12 May 1986. North Fambridge station is currently managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates all trains serving it. The typical off-peak service is of one westbound train every 40 minutes to Wickford and one eastbound train every 40 minutes to Southminster, with additional services at peak times. Some peak services continue to or from Shenfield and/or London Liverpool Street via the Great Eastern Main Line. As North Fambridge is at the midpoint of this single-track line, its double-track configuration provides a passing loop to allow two trains to run on the line at any one time. The station was originally called Fambridge (with the code FAM) but this was changed to North Fambridge on 20 May 2007.

South Fambridge is a village in Essex, England. It is located about 300 yards (0.17 miles) from the River Crouch. The village lies within the Rochford district and the parliamentary constituency of Rayleigh. Surrounded by farmland, it is reached by the Fambridge Road, approximately 1.5 miles from the main Ashingdon Road.

The 7th Cruiser Squadron (also known as Cruiser Force C) was a blockading force of the Royal Navy during the First World War used to close the English Channel to German traffic. It was employed patrolling an area of the North Sea known as the Broad Fourteens in support of vessels guarding the northern entrance to the Channel. The Squadron had been part of the Third Fleet of the Home Fleets. The squadron came to public attention when on 22 September 1914, three of the cruisers were sunk by one German submarine while on patrol. Approximately 1,460 sailors were killed and there was a public outcry at the losses. The incident eroded confidence in the government and damaged the reputation of the Royal Navy, at a time when many countries were still considering which side they might support in the war.

North Fambridge is a village and civil parish on the Dengie peninsula in the English county of Essex. North Fambridge is on the north bank of the River Crouch opposite South Fambridge and is served by North Fambridge railway station on the Crouch Valley Line. Administratively, North Fambridge forms part of the ward of Purleigh in the district of Maldon.Adjoining the village is Blue House Farm, a 605-acre (2.45 km2) Site of Special Scientific Interest and nature reserve owned by the Essex Wildlife Trust.In the Domesday Book, North Fambridge was known as 'Fanbruge'. North Fambridge is home to the Fambridge Yacht Haven Middle Distance Triathlon. The first event took place on 24 July 2011 and was the first Half Ironman Triathlon in Essex and the wider region.

Ashingdon is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. It is located about 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Rochford and is 13 miles (21 km) southeast from the county town of Chelmsford. The village lies within Rochford District and the parliamentary constituency of Rayleigh. Ashingdon has a Parish Council. It is a rural parish, one of 14 parishes in Rochford District. The Parish is approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Rochford, and continues to the bank of the tidal River Crouch; the Parish includes the villages of Ashingdon and South Fambridge. Parts of Ashingdon Parish are within the village community of Hockley, and the northeast part of Hawkwell Parish is within the Ashingdon village community; they face each other along the length of Ashingdon Road, a Roman Road that is still used to this day. Ashingdon and South Fambridge have been in existence for more than one thousand years and both appear in the Domesday Book of 1086, along with the Manor of Beckney within Ashingdon Parish. According to the 2001 census, updated in 2004, the parish had 1222 dwellings and a population of 3165, increasing to 3,634 at the 2011 Census.

Bridgemarsh Island is in the tidal part of the River Crouch in the English county of Essex, three miles upstream from Burnham-on-Crouch. The main river channel runs to the south between the island and Canewdon, and it is separated from the mainland to the north by Bridgemarsh and Althorne Creeks, channels of the estuary. Following a flood in 1736 Bridgemarsh Island was enclosed by a sea wall and a causeway was built giving access at low tide. Farming was supplemented by industry with the island used as a source of clay. This led to the construction of a brickworks of which the chimney (at grid reference TQ890967) survives. A tramway linked these works to a quay that was used by Thames barges. Shortsightedly, no serious effort was made to maintain the sea wall. The flood of 1953 caused the end of regular occupation of the island, which is now a haven for wildlife and salt marsh flowers. It is owned by the Bridgemarsh Island Trust.

Rayleigh and Wickford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Mark Francois, a Conservative.

Magnolia Fields or Magnolia Park is a 9.7 hectare Local Nature Reserve in Hawkwell in Essex. It is owned by Rochford District Council and managed by Hawkwell Parish Council.The site is a former brickworks and evidence of its former activity is still visible, including a pond. There is a wide variety of birds, including bullfinches.There is access from Magnolia Road.

The King Edmund School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Rochford, Essex, England. It is a specialist BEC and applied learning college. It teaches a variety of subjects including: modern foreign languages, hospitality, technology, performing arts, business studies, humanities, social sciences, law as well as the core subjects including: Maths, English and Science. The Sixth Form is mixed with Year 12 and 13 students.

Cold Norton railway station served the village of Cold Norton, Essex. It was opened on 1 October 1889 by the Great Eastern Railway on a single-track branch line (Engineer's Line Reference WFM) from Woodham Ferrers to Maldon West. The station was 3 miles 31 chains (5.45 km) from Wickford Junction and had a single platform on the west side of the running line and a passing (goods) loop, a station building, a parcels shed, goods sidings, and a 30-level signal box which was reduced to a ground frame in 1939. The station name was originally Cold Norton for Purleigh and Stow Maries this was later changed to Cold Norton for Latchingdon.There was a fatal railway accident near Cold Norton in 1899.The station was closed to passengers in September 1939 but the line remained in use for goods traffic until 1959.

Latchingdon is a village situated in the Dengie Peninsula in Essex, England, south of the city of Chelmsford. The parish was at one time called Latchingdon-cum-Snoreham, and Snoreham Hall still exists to the south of Latchingdon. The place-name 'Latchingdon' is first attested in 1065 in a charter later published in the Diplomatarium anglicum edited by Benjamin Thorpe, where it appears as Laecedune. It appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Lacenduna, Lachenduna and Lessenduna. The name may derive from an unrecorded Old English word *læcce from the verb læccan to catch, meaning a trap, and related to the modern word 'latch'. The name would then mean 'hill with a trap', presumably to catch animals.