Chafford Gorges Nature Park facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Chafford Gorges Nature Park
Chafford Gorge
Chafford Gorges Nature Park Location in Greater London
Location	Chafford Hundred, England
Area	200 acres (81 ha)

The Chafford Gorges Nature Park is a cool nature reserve in Chafford Hundred, England. It's about 200-acre (81 ha) big, which is like 150 football fields! The Essex Wildlife Trust looks after this special place.

The park is home to two areas called 'Sites of Special Scientific Interest' (SSSI). One, Grays Thurrock Chalk Pit, is important for its amazing plants and animals. The other, Lion Pit, is special for its rocks and how the Earth was formed.

What Can You Find at the Park?

There used to be a visitor center at the park. It had a gift shop, snacks, toilets, and a cool viewing deck. But it's not open anymore.

A Look Back in Time: The Park's History

The Chafford Gorges Nature Park used to be a place where people dug up lots of chalk. There were three big quarries here: Warren Gorge, Lion Gorge, and Grays Gorge. People worked in these quarries for about 150 years, starting in the late 1700s.

The Story of Lion Pit

In Lion Gorge, you can still see parts of an old tramway. This was like a small railway built in the 1800s. It was used to carry chalk from Lion Pit down to the riverside wharves.

The tramway led to the Lion Works, a factory that opened in 1874. This factory made Portland cement. For a long time, until about 1980, the area around Thurrock was a major center for making cement. You can still spot parts of the old tramway today. Look under the bridge where the railway crosses a path from The Chase to Hedley Avenue. You can also see it on London Road between The Chase and Foxton Road.

Amazing Wildlife at Chafford Gorges

This nature park is full of different animals and plants!

Animals You Might See

Keep an eye out for different kinds of bats, like the brown long-eared bat and the pipistrelle bat. You might also spot the great crested newt.

Many birds live here too, including colorful kingfishers, busy woodpeckers, and fast sand martins. You can also hear reed and Cetti's warblers singing. In winter, birds like siskin, redpoll, and pochard come to visit.

The park has several lakes where you can find fish like tench, rudd, pike, and bream.

Plants and Trees

The park is home to beautiful wild flowers, including the common spotted orchid, bee orchid, and bird's-nest orchid. The trees here include tall beech trees, strong oaks, graceful ash trees, and sycamores.

Discovering the Park's Geology

Experts say Chafford Gorges Nature Park is one of the best places in south Essex to learn about geology. The rocks and fossils found here tell us that this area was once a tropical sea!

There's a special "geological trail" you can follow. A guide is available that explains how the chalk deposits formed over 85 million years. It's like taking a trip back in time!

Gallery

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  Looking up at the visitor's centre from the gorge.

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  The lake in Lion Gorge, looking south.

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  The lake in Lion Gorge, looking north.

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  Lion Pit SSSI, looking south.