Stanmore Marsh
Stanmore Marsh is a small site at the junction of Marsh and Whitchurch Lanes in Stanmore. The names of the roads recall the marsh that used to be here: not only Marsh Lane, but also Honeypot Lane, which is thought to refer to sticky mud rather than sweet food!
In the 1950s the site was drained and the open ground set to boring short grass but during 2015-2017 was rewilded in a project funded by Thames Water, Thames21, and the Greater London Authority. This involved opening up the culverted Edgeware Brook which now flows in a natural channel, dredging the Frog Pond, and creating depressions and swales over the ground to collect and hold rainwater before delivering it to the pond or to the Edgeware Brook ‐ but the all weather paths allow exploration without getting feet wet! The variety of plants and animals found on the site is large for a site so small and reflects the survival of species from the time before the site was drained.
How to find the site
Stanmore Marsh lies to the east of Marsh Lane and Honeypot Lane in Stanmore. The largest area lies to the noth of Whitchurch Lane, but the area to the south of Whitchurch Lane is equally interesting since it is here that the Edgeware Brook flows in a newly rewilded channel.
The Meeting Point for all events is the entrance from Marsh Lane (see site plan above). The What3Words identifier is wages.shop.slurs
The 79, 186 and 340 busses all run past Stanmore Marsh. The site is an easy walk from the Canon's Park Jubilee line station.
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Street map reproduced by permission of Geographers' A-Z Map Co. Ltd. (c)Crown Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Licence number 100017302.
Some of the information on this page is taken from the Thames21 website, which is worth visiting for more information on this and other rewilding projects.
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