One Stop

Beam Valley Country Park

Dagenham · 1.2 miles

Spanning 74 hectares, Beam Valley Country Park lies in Dagenham within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, bordering the River Beam and the Wantz Stream. The site is split between two Local Nature Reserves: the main Beam Valley area and a narrow strip south of Western Avenue that falls under the Environment Agency’s remit. Both sections are also recognised as Grade 1 Sites of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, one positioned north and the other south of South Dagenham Road. Visitors encounter a mosaic of habitats, including mixed woodland, open grassland, and the remnants of former gravel pits that give the landscape a varied character. The ground that now hosts the park was once derelict, yet archaeological traces reveal human activity back to the Stone Age and a Roman pottery kiln, indicating long-term use of the area. A range of birdlife inhabits the waterways and surrounding scrub, with species such as kingfishers, reed warblers, reed buntings and skylarks regularly recorded. In 2014 a pedestrian and cycling bridge, erected by Sustrans, linked Beam Valley to the neighbouring Bretons Manor across the River Beam, improving access for walkers and cyclists. The nearest town is Dagenham, and the park is reachable via local road networks that skirt the River Beam. Admission is not specified, and facilities are not detailed in the available material.

Crossness Pumping Station

Belvedere · 1.9 miles

A rare example of Victorian engineering, the former Crossness Pumping Station stands at the eastern terminus of the Southern Outfall Sewer within the Crossness Sewage Treatment Works, alongside the Ridgeway path in the London Borough of Bexley, close to Belvedere. Designed by architect Charles Henry Driver for the Metropolitan Board of Works under chief engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette, the complex was built between 1859 and 1865 by William Webster. Its ornamental cast-ironwork attracted the description of Nikolaus Pevsner as a “masterpiece of engineering – a Victorian cathedral of ironwork”. The station was decommissioned in 1956, later listed at Grade I and placed on the Heritage at Risk Register. Visitors can view the four massive steam-driven beam engines—Victoria, Prince Consort, Albert Edward and Alexandra—originally supplied by James Watt & Co. The engines, each equipped with 52-ton flywheels and 47-ton beams, are among the largest surviving rotative beam engines worldwide. The Crossness Engines Trust, which operates the site as a museum, runs the restored Prince Consort engine on open days, allowing a glimpse of the 11-revolution-per-minute operation that once lifted 6 tons of sewage per stroke. Adjacent Erith Marshes and the northern Crossness Nature Reserve provide a habitat for moths, small amphibians and water voles, adding an ecological dimension to the industrial heritage. Admission is subject to a charge and opening times are published by the Crossness Engines Trust. The museum is managed by the Crossness Engines Trust, a registered charity responsible for the ongoing restoration and public presentation of the historic complex.

Crossness Nature Reserve

Belvedere · 1.9 miles

Covering 25.5 hectares on the historic Thames floodplain, Crossness Nature Reserve lies in the Crossness area of the London Borough of Bexley, close to Belvedere. The site forms part of the Erith Marshes Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation and represents one of the few remaining grazing marshes in London. Its landscape includes the borough’s largest reedbeds, a network of ponds and ditches, scrub and rough grassland. Recorded wildlife comprises around 130 bird species, a notable water-vole population, several rare invertebrates such as five water-beetle species and the nationally scarce Shrill Carder bee, together with plants like Borrer’s saltmarsh grass and frog rush, which was once thought extinct in Kent. The reserve was created in 1994 under a Section 106 planning agreement and is owned and managed by Thames Water, with day-to-day stewardship provided by the RSPB. A Friends of Crossness Nature Reserve group assists with the care of protected zones that are not publicly accessible. The western perimeter abuts the Crossness Sewage Treatment Works and the northern edge borders a Cory-operated waste-management facility. Between 2005 and 2011 the Belvedere Green Links project invested one million pounds in restoring the southern marsh and related infrastructure, funded by the Homes & Communities Agency, the European Regional Development Fund and the Greater London Authority, with Bexley Council as a key stakeholder. In the early 2020s a proposal by Cory for a carbon-capture installation covering roughly 11 % of the reserve was approved in November 2025 despite local opposition.

The Chase Local Nature Reserve

Rush Green · 2.5 miles

The Chase lies on the edge of Dagenham, straddling the River Rom which marks the boundary between the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the London Borough of Havering. Most of the site falls within Barking and Dagenham, with a smaller portion in Havering, and both councils own the land. Management is carried out by the Barking & Dagenham Parks & Countryside Ranger Service, and each borough has classified its part as a Local Nature Reserve. Together with the adjoining Eastbrookend Country Park the area is recognised as a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. Formerly a gravel-extraction pit, the reserve now contains a mixture of wetland, grassland and woodland habitats. Birdlife is diverse: the River Rom supports kingfishers and a recorded total of 190 species, including skylarks, little ringed plovers and lapwings. Around three hundred green parakeets are resident, their calls becoming prominent at sunset. Mammals such as water voles, badgers and slow worms are also present, alongside great crested newts in the aquatic zones. The reserve holds six of the roughly six hundred female black poplars, Britain’s rarest native tree, and the dry acid grasslands support several uncommon plant species. Parts of the site are grazed by horses, contributing to habitat variation. Visitors can reach the wooded strip north of The Chase road via a footpath that runs from Roneo Corner, opposite Rom Valley Way, across the Havering side of the river. A second footpath follows the west bank from Dagenham Road to The Chase road. The southern, lake-rich area borders Eastbrookend Country Park and connects to Beam Valley Country Park by a footbridge over a railway line. Access is on foot; no admission charge is mentioned.

Eastbury Manor House

Thames View · 2.5 miles

A substantial Elizabethan residence survives in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, where Eastbury Manor House stands as a Grade I listed museum. The building occupies land that once formed part of the demesne of Barking Abbey and lies close to the Thames View area of Greater London. Ownership rests with the National Trust while day-to-day management is provided by the borough council; the house welcomes visitors for ten months each year. Construction began in the 1570s after merchant Clement Sisley acquired the former abbey lands. Contemporary records note brickwork bearing the dates 1572 and 1573, and dendrochronology places the timber roof in 1566, indicating a rapid build-up. The house was probably the first brick structure locally, featuring glass windows that may have been imported from Italy and unusually high chimneys, both signs of its original wealth. A later tradition links the house to the Gunpowder Plot, although no documentary evidence supports the claim. Following a period of decline from the late eighteenth century—during which the Great Tower Staircase was removed by 1814 and original flooring and fireplaces disappeared in the 1830s—only the west wing remained habitable by the nineteenth century’s end. The National Trust purchased the property in 1918, restored it, and opened it as the Museum of Barking in 1931. After being listed in 1954, the house benefited from Heritage Lottery Fund-backed restorations, the most recent completed in 2010, which added a permanent exhibition detailing the building’s architectural evolution and succession of owners.

Ingrebourne Marshes SSSI

South Hornchurch · 2.5 miles

The largest stretch of freshwater marsh within Greater London extends along both banks of the River Ingrebourne in Hornchurch, forming a 74.8-hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. Managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust, the site contains extensive reed sweet-grass, common reed swamp, wet neutral grassland and tall fen, supporting a notable range of invertebrates and breeding birds. Sixteen nationally scarce species of flies, beetles, dragonflies and crickets have been recorded, together with two Red Data Book species – the hoverfly *Anasimyia interpuncta* and the scarce emerald damselfly *Lestes dryas*. Sixty-one bird species breed regularly, including common redshank, northern lapwing and reed-warbler, while common cuckoos are known to parasitise reed-warbler and sedge-warbler nests. Havering Council has intervened by raising water levels and re-introducing grazing to maintain the wetland’s condition. Public entry is limited to the eastern strip that runs from the river to Berwick Pond Road, where the reservoir at Berwick Pond is open for fishing and can be viewed from Hornchurch Country Park. The remainder of the marshes is largely closed to visitors, although sections are observable from the park’s perimeter. Access points are provided from Hornchurch Country Park and from Berwick Pond Road; no admission charge is mentioned, and facilities are confined to the existing park infrastructure.