Woodham Ferrers Marsh (EHER 48432)

A large area of improved grazing marsh part of which is located within Marsh Farm Country Park. It runs along the north bank of the Crouch Estuary, with Fen Creek forming its western boundary and Clementsgreen Creek its eastern boundary. Formerly it was subdivided into fields with largely sinuous boundaries, but these have been replaces by modern rectangular paddocks associated with the Country Park’s farming activities.

2014. Historic Grazing Marsh Project. Historic environment character: The marsh was reclaimed by the time of the Chapman and Andre map of 1777 <1>. The sea wall depicted on the 1st edition OS map survives, although it has been altered <2>. A pair of agricultural barns fronting onto a stockyard, labelled as Lower Barn is shown on the 1st edition OS map (1881), it was still present by 1938, but is no longer extant. To the north of this area is an extensive medieval saltern (EHER 13498), and the ditched track which led to it once crossed this marsh. The fields within this area have been cultivated in the past although are now laid to grass. The original ditches are visible as cropmarks. Cropmarks also survive of the flattened earthworks associated with the scheduled medieval saltern site. See <2>