IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Durban Gardens, DAGENHAM, RM10 9XU

Rainham Road South in Dagenham, in the outer suburbs of east London.

This new pond beside the Wantz Stream in Dagenham is part of the Beam River Floodplain improvements. The work is being carried with European Union support to improve flood prevention measures while improving the public amenity and wildlife value of the Image

This crushed car was at a filling station in Dagenham, on the first day of 2011. I don't know why it was dumped here.

A petrol station on Rainham Road South, in Dagenham.

The reverse view to Image Although clearly remodelled as part of country park works, this is the course of the canal south of what is now the A1112. Early maps show a bridge under the road and what appears to be a basin north of the road. From that point on, there was to be a flight of four locks taking the canal away to the west from the Beam River. No work was ever done on these locks or anything else further north. Some evidence for the basin beyond the road is seen in Image

This extraordinary enterprise never got much further north than this on its way up the Beam Valley to Romford. It was extraordinary for the late time it was projected - at the end of the 19th century - and for the minimal likelihood of it ever being profitable. Unsurprisingly, it never got anywhere near to completion or carried traffic before the company failed. For a reverse view at this point, see Image

This reed bed in a large shallow depression west of the Beam River may have been the temporary terminal basin of the never completed canal. Early maps suggest a basin here, just north of the road crossing by what is now the A1112. No work was done north from this point, which would have soon involved a four lock flight.

Even in urban Dagenham given the opportunity nature claims back what it can. The picture was taken from the bridge on the A112 looking north east.