The River Stort

 The River Stort

 The River Stort runs for about 24 miles from its source near the Essex village of Langley to its confluence with the River Lea near Hoddesdon.  The river was canalised between Bishops Stortford and its mouth in the eighteenth century to facilitate the malt trade between Bishop Stortford and London whilst the river above Bishop Stortford runs through agricultural lands. The landscapes through which the Stort runs are therefore entirely man made.  Above Bishop Stortford the river is little more than a stream running through rural pastures but the navigation canal, or Stort Navigation as it is called is an example of an industrial structure being returned to nature. Or rather being repurposed to become a recreational area for human leisure activities (walking or using the river for aquatic pastimes).  The Stort Navigation  is managed by the Canal and River Trust who keep the footpaths clear of vegetation and the canal clear for navigation as well as maintaining the locks and other infrastructure.  As such this a man made wilderness managed to meet the expectations and needs of the local population.  It is about as far from the ecology of the original river as it is possible to imagine.  The canal touches a number of nature reserves along its course (all of which are managed by local agencies) and is bordered by a mixture of water meadows, arable lands, light industrial sites and woodland.  

 

Variously described as subtopia (Nairn, 1955), edgeland (Farley & Roberts 2011), unofficial countryside (Maybe, 2010), drosscape (Berger, 2006), and terrain vague (Mariani, & Barron, 2013  Terrain Vague), the past few decades has seen an increased awareness of otherwise unsought and unnoticed landscapes. 

 

The River Stort could not be described as brownfield (though once much of it must have been) in fact it is decidedly green – if anything the Stort Navigation might be described as gentrified Edgeland.  An industrial landscape given back to nature.  The exception is its confluence with the River Lea at Hoddesdon opposite an industrial site and littered with the corpses of old vehicles and strewn with rubbish, the whining throb of a go karting track replacing birdsong as a soundtrack.   This raw edgeland gentrifies quickly as one moves north and the towpath is given over to dog walkers, joggers and cyclists.

 

Ken Worlpole notes a shift away from the romantic, arcadian landscapes of the west of England towards the East Coast and Essex – places of significant topographical disruption.  In the case of the river Stort the topographical disruption has happened and its legacy is gradually being buried under a  new recreational landscape.