Country Parks and Nature Reserves

The Dagenham Corridor

After World War II, an area of green belt land was set aside to stop the sprawl of London merging into the surrounding counties.

This green corridor, known as the Dagenham Corridor, runs from Hainault to the River Thames and includes the Eastbrookend Country Park, the Chase Local Nature Reserve and the Beam Valley Country Park.

Although this land was aside as a strategic corridor from a planning perspective, the Dagenham Corridor is now an invaluable migration route for many bird species arriving in England, travelling up through the corridor, to reach the rest of the country.

These 3 countryside sites, situated on the urban fringe of London, can be seen as a green island within the sprawl of the city. This creates not only a welcoming stop for migrating birds, but also a pocket of wildlife.

The Parks Ranger Service manages the Eastbrookend Country Park, Beam Valley Country Park and Chase Local Nature Reserve.

History of the Dagenham Corridor

The area now known as the Dagenham Corridor was once countryside and farmland.

Dagenham grew fast during the urban development boom of the 1920s and 1930s and this area was used to source gravel used to make concrete for the building of the huge Becontree Estate and the town that became Dagenham.

The gravel workings left the area devastated and resembling a rubbish dump. The gravel pits were then used to dump rubble from the bombing of London during World War II (1939-1945).

The land was still being used as a dumping ground as late as the 1970s, until we decided that the land was worth reclaiming and that the land could be an ideal site for both people and wildlife.

Contact

Ranger Services

The Millennium Centre

The Chase

Dagenham Road

Rush Green

Romford

RM7 0SS

Tel: 020 8595 4155

Fax: 020 8984 9488

General parks enquiries:

Email: parksandcountryside@lbbd.gov.uk|