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Gunpowder Park and Sewardstone Marsh, Sewardstone Road, Waltham Abbey, Essex EN9 3GP
Never sleeps, open 24/7
A large country park situated on the Greater London and Essex borders, Gunpowder Park and Sewardstone Marsh offers scenic walks and cycling trails through 220 acres of grassland, wildflower meadows, and wet woodland.
Contact us
03000 030 610
Facilities
Gunpowder Park was formally a munitions testing range owned by the MOD, before being transformed and re-landscaped into a country park in 2004.
Gunpowder Park and Sewardstone Marsh are an ideal place for walkers and cyclists, with a comprehensive network of surfaced paths accessible in all weathers. There is also a permissive bridleway for summer use circling the arable farm fields that border the parks.
By the main entrance, the large area of grassland in front of the building is maintained for games and picnicking. Adjacent to this area, lies black ditch which provides an invaluable habitat for Reed Warblers in the summer months and waterfowl all year round. This stretch of water then feeds into the River Lea.
Much of the park is grassland and the different meadows are cut on rotation. They display a wide variety of colours throughout the year, and are dissected by lines of Aspen and Birch trees.
In the middle of the park is Osier Marsh, where a board walk runs through a wet woodland abundant with Ferns, Lichens and Willow trees. Two bird hides in this area look out over two seasonal pools. Osier is a type of Willow, which with other Willow species thrive in this wet environment.
The Greenwich Meridian Line runs through the farmland, where there is a view point on a hill overlooking the park and parts of Epping Forest.
In the far southwest corner of the park are Knights Pits and Sewardstone Marsh, where grass paths wind through old gravel pits and wet woodland. A former fishing lake is here as well, which is left undisturbed for wildlife to flourish.
Rammey Marsh was once part of an extensive floodplain which stretched down to the River Thames. The marsh was used as pasture for summer grazing since Anglo-Saxon times. During the mid-20th century much of the marsh was given over to gravel extraction. The resulting flooded gravel pits were used for landfill which raised the profile of the site. On completion of the A1055 road in the late 20th century, the marsh was bisected from north to south. The site was also used as landfill when the adjacent M25 was constructed in the early 1980’s.
Today the site is a managed as a nature reserve, and is popular with dog walkers.
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