The Tottenham Marshes are located at

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

in the

London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey ( , same as Harringay) is a London boroughs, London borough in north London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation ...

. The marshes cover over and became part of the

Lee Valley Park Lee Valley Regional Park is a long linear park, much of it green spaces, running through the northeast of Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire. The park follows the course of the River Lea (Lee) along the Lea Valley from Ware in Hertfords ...

in 1972. The marsh is made up of three main areas: Clendish Marsh, Wild Marsh West and Wild Marsh East. The latter two are separated by the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Cr ...

Description

The marshes are one of the last remaining examples of semi-natural wetland in

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

. They contain a variety of plant communities typical of a former flood plain location, such as a range of neutral grassland types, sedge marsh, reed swamp, sallow scrub and areas of tall herb vegetation. Associated with this diversity of habitat are several species of plant and insect which are rarely seen in London.

History

The of marshes were originally a

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

of the

. But significant changes have been made over the years. Between the 1860s and 1930 a range of facilities including tennis courts and swimming were available but after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

between 1946 and 1960 the area was used for gravel extraction and

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

. In the late 19th century the Wild Marsh East was bisected when the River Lea was diverted to accommodate the construction of some of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain. The marsh was the first home ground of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in 1882. The Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA), created by an Act of Parliament in 1965, bought Tottenham Marshes in 1972.London Parks Grants News
Retrieved 5 July 2008

Ecology

Plants Many species of plants can be found on the marsh including: *Wall bedstraw ('' Galium parisiense'') *Yellow vetchling ('' Lathyrus aphaca'') *Bee orchid ('' Ophrys apifera'') *Babington's poppy (''

Papaver ''Papaver'' is a genus of 70–100 species of frost-tolerant annual plant, annuals, biennial plant, biennials, and perennial plant, perennials native plant, native to temperateness, temperate and cold regions of Eurasia, Africa and North America ...

dubilum'') *Wurzell's wormwood ('' Artemisia vulgaris'' × '' verlotiorum'') Butterflies * Brown argus (''Aricia agestis'') Birds * Skylark (''Alauda arvensis'') * Short-eared owl (''Asio flammeus'')

References

External links

Friends of Tottenham Marshes

Tottenham Marshes information
{{Parks and open spaces in London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Haringey Marshland in London Lee Valley Park Marshes