Vange Well #5

View of the sky from Well #5

Up in the hills of Langdon Hill Country Park in Essex, tucked away in the woodlands, lies a ruin. A relic, a building which housed Well Number 5 of the Vange Water Company. The metalwork of the domed roof creates an interesting frame for the sky, and for the encroaching woodland which is reclaiming the site.

Read more about the building and "Farmer Cash's Famous Medicinal Vange Water" at the Basildon History website.

Greenwich Reedbeds

Taken last November, the winter sunshine bathes the Thames in this photo taken from the Greenwich peninsula, looking North and East out over the reed-beds. The Thames Barrier can be seen in the distance.

This photo was taken in North Greenwich from the Thames Path, near the delightful little oasis that is the Greenwich Ecology Park (and not far from the O2 arena, formerly the Millenium Dome). At one time wetlands (marsh, reed-beds and ponds) would have covered much of the the peninsula; the peninsula was actually known as Greenwich Marsh! Green space here has disappeared and reappeared since then, with the rise of industry in the 1880's and its subsequent decline. The Ecology Park's wetland habitats sit on the site of an old steelworks, and were created in 2000 when the peninsula was regenerated. The Ecology Park and the reed-beds nearby are artificial, but are still true reflections of what was once the natural landscape here by the Thames. The wildlife that has since colonised these habitats attests to their value.