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| (c) Ordnance Survey |
There are certain OS grid squares in Thurrock that are going to be inaccessible to us as members of the general public, such as ports and industrial areas, and there are other squares that are going to be difficult to visit as they don't contain any public rights of way.One that caught my attention was TQ6676 (outlined in red), which contains Tilbury Power Station. There's one track marked on the 1:50000 OS map, but it's not a right of way and even if I could access it, a quick in-and-out walk wouldn't be very satisfactory. However, my husband spotted that if you switch to the 1:25000 OS Map then the square contains a patch of access land (outlined in orange on the map).
Walton Common appears to be cut off from neighbouring Parsonage Common by the railway, but further investigation found a level crossing at that point. Our further investigation also uncovered the fact that an application has been lodged by Thurrock Power Limited to de-register the land as common land, and replace it with another plot running south west from the edge of Parsonage Common along the line of the railway.
The application is dated April 2021 and has been made so that they can build a 'flexible generation plant' on Walton Common, which means we'd better visit it sooner rather than later, before it disappears for ever. So we did ... but, to be honest, the research was more interesting than the walk!
We parked the car in West Tilbury by The Green (also common land), outside a house that used to be the village pub, and started out by trying to follow Footpath 66, but it was a lost cause and a lost path as we turned back when faced with head-high vegetation with no clear way through.
We turned to the roads instead and headed down Church Road, past ex-St James' Church, now another private house, and into Cooper Shaw Road, where the hedges receded and the landscape opened out. We could see Parsonage Common alongside but there was no obvious access, with tall grasses and brambles running along a probable ditch between the road and the common. Rather disturbingly, it was fly-tippers who helped us through as their spoil heap had flattened the vegetation and filled the ditch.
We picked our way carefully through and arrived on Parsonage Common, an underwhelming grassy field, then headed south towards the nearest pylon (one of a forest emanating from the substation beyond) and thence the level crossing. We were slightly perturbed by a group of workmen on the other side but they ignored us and it turned out that they were Network Rail staff cutting back the trackside foliage. Once over the crossing (23 miles and 880 yards from Fenchurch Street station), we followed a broad track down towards Walton Common at last.
There were workmen on the common too, who seemed to be digging a series of small holes; we thought they were probably doing some sort of land survey, and that was backed up by the signs on their vans. We exchanged greetings and then left each other to get on with whatever we/they were doing (though I wonder if they had seen anyone else turn up there). We decided to 'beat the bounds' by walking round the edge of the common, while watching yet another group of workers doing something to a pylon in the next field and marvelling at the contrast between the green grass of the commons and the parched yellow grass elsewhere.
We retraced our steps, back up the track and over the level crossing into Parsonage Common, pausing to look at the plot of land that will be swapped with Walton Common, becoming a new piece of common land. It's an ordinary field, dotted with telegraph poles, where they plan to plant a wildflower mix and thicken the line of shrubs beside the railway.
We decided to walk right round Parsonage Common too and admired the other side of the church-that-isn't on our way back to Cooper Shaw Road.
I'd achieved my objective now, but my husband was eager to explore the rest of the common land, which stretches along parts of Cooper Shaw Road, Fort Road and Gun Hill. Given our earlier experience, we didn't think we would be able to access much of it, but on Cooper Shaw Road we found a track each side of the road, with tyre barriers proving to be less of a deterrent than the horses beyond, each one tethered to prevent its escape. One in particular seemed to be watching us closely, so we stepped past the tyres for a few moments so we could say we'd been there, and then retreated.
However, on Fort Road and Gun Hill the common land was just a strip between road and field; we could do little more than step as far as we dared among the grasses and brambles while avoiding the drainage ditches that were ready to trap the unwary.
There's one more plot of common land nearby; Tilbury Common is at the other end of Fort Road, but that's a walk for another day.
Here's the route map:
We checked out four more footpath ends on the way back to the car, and only one (Footpath 72) was open and accessible. One had a signpost buried in the hedge but no path in the field beyond, one had an stile smothered by overgrown hedge and one had nothing at all. They have all been reported to Thurrock Council but I don't have any expectation that this will lead to them being cleared. I will just have to remember that I can't rely on using footpaths to complete this project, which is a great pity.
I added three more grid squares to my Visited List this time, the eastern-most ones on this map:
