Tottenham_Marshes

Tottenham Marshes is just one of the many fantastic and varied places we have in the Lee Valley Regional Park. The whole Regional Park is 26 glorious miles long and stretches from Ware in Hertfordshire, down through part of Essex to the River Thames at the East India Dock Basin. The Regional Park’s unique natural features have been shaped by a mosaic of countryside areas, urban green spaces, heritage sites, country parks, nature reserves and lake and riverside trails, plus some excellent sports and recreation centres.

If you enjoy wildlife, walking, cycling, countryside and great places to stay the Lee Valley Regional Park is the place for you!

Contact us For full details about anything in this leaflet please call our information service on 01992 702 200, visit www.leevalleypark.org.uk or email info@leevalleypark.org.uk

Our map highlights some of our key sites and their locations.

Details correct as of May 2008

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Park

• Rye Meads Nature Reserve (SG11) • Rye House Gatehouse (EN11) • Dobbs Weir (EN11) • Lee Valley Boat Centre (EN10) • Lee Valley Leisure Pool (EN10) • Old Mill & Meadows (EN10) • Lee Valley Park Farms (EN9) • Fishers Green (EN9) • YHA Lee Valley Cheshunt (EN8) • Cornmill Meadows Dragonfly Sanctuary (EN9) • Waltham Abbey Gardens (EN9) • Gunpowder Park (EN9) • Lee Valley Campsite (E4) • Myddelton House Gardens (EN2) • Lee Valley Athletics Centre (N9) • Lee Valley Golf Course (N9) • Lee Valley Camping& Caravan Park (N9) • Tottenham Marshes (N17) • Waterworks Nature Reserve & Golf Centre (E10) • Lee Valley Riding Centre (E10) • Lee Valley Ice Centre (E10) • Walthamstow Marshes (E10) • Three Mills Island (E3) • Bow Creek Ecology Park (E16) • East India Dock Basin (E14)

River Lee Cou ntry

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Where to find us

Urban Oasis

Tottenham Marshes Lee Valley Regional Park Area Map

History Originally part of the natural floodplain of the River Lee, Tottenham Marshes have a diverse history.

A changing landscape Under the ownership of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority Tottenham Marshes is being managed for people and wildlife.

A mosaic of trees, shrubs, rough grassland and waterways combine to make an important wildlife area.

Terrific Tottenham Just six miles from the centre of London, Tottenham Marshes is a large public open space available for everyone to experience and enjoy. You can walk, cycle, run and can even hire canoes or bikes.

The marshes provide an important green space for recreation and have seen over £1.5m of improvements in partnership with the London Boroughs of Haringey and Waltham Forest, funded through the Growth Area Fund by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Improvements include: • Improved links from Blackhorse Road and Northumberland Park to Tottenham Marshes • Refurbishment of entranceways to the marshes – making them smarter, brighter, more secure and welcoming

Lammas meadows The marshes were Lammas meadows in the 19th century.

Hay was grown from spring until July and animals grazed there through the autumn and winter, with nutrients being supplied by winter floods. The Lammas was important for local people as it provided food all year round for the animals, usually cows, sheep and horses. At Tottenham Lammas was traditionally open from 12th August through the Harvest Festival until 5th April.

The Tottenham outrage!

On Saturday 23rd January 1909, two brothers robbed Schnurmann’s rubber factory in Tottenham. During a dramatic pursuit which covered six miles, over 400 bullets were fired.

The brothers ran across Tottenham Marshes and Chalk Bridge in an attempt to escape. The chase came to a bloody end near Epping Forest where both robbers died.

Wartime Tottenham During the food shortages of the First World War potatoes were grown in Tottenham Marshes. In the 1920s the marshes had tennis courts, swings, roundabouts and football pitches.

Sadly, during the Second World War waste was tipped on the site which raised ground levels by up two metres.

• Creation of a 5km (3.1m) shared use surfaced path around the marshes enabling the site to be used in all weathers • New bridge link from Waltham Forest to Lee Navigation towpath Use this leaflet and map to enjoy your journey around Tottenham Marshes and find out about the site’s secrets, its wildlife and unique history.

Tottenham Marshes Main entrance is off Watermead Way A1055, N17 0XD • Car parking, toilets, refreshments, canoe and cycle hire are located near Stonebridge Lock Waterside Centre.

Wildlife and the environment Channel restoration Many rivers have been enclosed in concrete channels to change their courses or protect against flooding and erosion. This has led to a loss of many of the natural river features important for wildlife. The Pymmes Brook channel at Tottenham Marshes has been improved to recreate the natural environment. Drilling holes in the channel walls provides artificial nest sites for Sand Martin and Kingfisher. Underwater, deeper pools and a gravel bed create new areas for plants to grow and fish to take cover.

Ponds Ponds of all sizes can be beneficial to wildlife and there are many ways to create a healthy pond. Deep water provides an area for newts and frogs to hibernate in the cold winter months.

Gently sloping sides enable wildlife to easily climb out of the water or birds to take a bath.

Plants have an important role in keeping the water oxygenated.

Vegetation along the shallow edge provides areas for animals to feed, lay eggs and climb out of the pond.

Glorious grasses Grasslands like Tottenham Marshes are home to a wide variety of plants and animals. Over time grasslands would naturally revert to scrub and then woodland if left unmanaged. Here trees encroaching on the open grassland are removed to maintain the meadow.

Kingfisher Listen out for the loud shrill call that announces the arrival of the Kingfisher.

If you’re lucky you’ll catch a glimpse of electric blue as it flies low over the water at speeds of up to 45mph.

You might even see one perched on an overhanging branch looking for small fish to catch.

Friends of Tottenham Marshes Established in 2005, the Friends of Tottenham Marshes (FoTM) is a group of local people committed to promoting the marshes as a valuable and enjoyable green space for the whole community and to protecting the wildlife that lives there. Their base is the Waterside Centre at Stonebridge Lock in the heart of the marshes where they hold all their meetings, talks, workshops and informal gatherings.

If you enjoy walking, cycling, watching wildlife or volunteer tasks and would like to meet people with similar interests then FoTM would love to welcome you onto the marshes. Visit the Nature Reserves section at www.leevalleypark.org.uk for the group’s contact details.

Smooth Newt The Smooth Newt can be found in the water during its breeding season in early spring. The rest of the time they’re usually found on land where they hunt at night for insects, worms and slugs. In the winter months they hibernate under logs, stones or even at the bottom of the pond. Most will live up to six years but a small number have been known to reach 18 years of age!

Blue Tit This small, yet colourful common bird can be seen feeding in hedgerows, trees or bushes. During the autumn and winter it eats seeds and nuts and is a regular visitor to hanging bird feeders. Its speciality is insects, which it plucks from twigs and leaves displaying impressive acrobatic skills.

Wasp Spider These harmless spiders have been introduced from Europe and their range is spreading throughout southern England. The females’ wasp-like pattern acts as a defence against predators. Look low in grassland areas to see their webs spun to catch prey such as grasshoppers and crickets.

Great Spotted Woodpecker Likely to be found almost anywhere there are trees, happily living in parks and urban locations. The Great Spotted Woodpecker eats a variety of different insects, including the grubs of wood-boring beetles.

It reaches them by chipping away dead wood with its beak and using its long tongue to reach the insect.

Kestrel Look above you and you could be rewarded with a view of a Kestrel, Britain’s most common bird of prey.

They’re often seen hovering over verges and grassland, searching for prey such as voles. Kestrels have fantastic eyesight and are able to see and catch small prey from above.

Speckled Wood Butterfly With their brown creamy-yellow “specked” spots near the tips of their wings this butterfly is rightly named.

Commonly found in woodland, scrub and tall vegetation you can often see males perched in a pool of sunshine or fluttering upwards in dappled shade. The female lays her single white egg on long grasses by sunny edges of woods or hedges.

Field Vole This small mammal looks like a mouse but has a blunter nose, shorter tail and less prominent ears. It can run quickly through its natural habitat of open, grassy and overgrown fields to find its meal of grasses, bulbs, roots and tree bark. The Field Vole is a highly territorial animal and is active both day and night defending its territory by making noisy squeals and angry chattering.

Bee Orchid This exotic looking plant can be found growing in pastures and grasslands.

It can take up to eight years to flower and grows to 30cm tall. The flower is as big as your thumb nail and looks like a pink-winged Bumble-bee. The Bee Orchid can be seen flowering in June and July.

KEY Pedestrian Entrance

Picnic

Toilets

Underground Station

Toilet with disabled facilities

Railway Station

Parking

Paths