Cornmill Stream and Old River Lea
Encyclopedia
The Cornmill Stream and Old River Lea is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI) which is located within the River Lee Country Park
at Waltham Abbey Essex
.
. To the east flows the Cornmill Stream
and the southern boundary is formed by the B194 road
(Abbey View).
fauna in Essex. Eighteen species of dragonflies and damselflies have been recorded and includes the uncommon and nationally declining White-legged Damselfly
. The watercourses support a rich and varied aquatic and marginal flora and the site also includes rough grassland which provides feeding and breeding grounds for invertebrates and birds.
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI) which is located within the River Lee Country Park
River Lee Country Park
The River Lee Country Park is located in the Lee Valley Park and is managed by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. Covering acres on either side of the River Lee Navigation between Waltham Abbey and Broxbourne...
at Waltham Abbey Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
.
Location
The site is bounded by a channel of the Old River Lea to the north and west which formed a boundary with the former Royal Gunpowder MillsRoyal Gunpowder Mills
Royal Gunpowder Mills may refer to:* Ballincollig Royal Gunpowder Mills* Faversham* Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills...
. To the east flows the Cornmill Stream
Cornmill Stream
The Cornmill Stream is a minor tributary of the River Lea in the English county of Essex.- History :The stream is an artificial watercourse which may have been built by 1086 to serve the mills mentioned in the Domesday Book at Waltham Abbey...
and the southern boundary is formed by the B194 road
B roads in Zone 1 of the Great Britain numbering scheme
B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme for the rationale behind the numbers allocated.-Zone 1 :-Zone 1 :...
(Abbey View).
Habitat
The slow-moving Cornmill Stream and Old River Lea form a freshwater habitat with one of the most diverse invertebrateInvertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
fauna in Essex. Eighteen species of dragonflies and damselflies have been recorded and includes the uncommon and nationally declining White-legged Damselfly
White-legged Damselfly
The White-legged Damselfly or Blue Featherleg, Platycnemis pennipes, is a damselfly of slow-flowing, muddy waters. It occurs from the Atlantic to Siberia and is often abundant throughout its range.-Morphology:P. pennipes is about long...
. The watercourses support a rich and varied aquatic and marginal flora and the site also includes rough grassland which provides feeding and breeding grounds for invertebrates and birds.