The arrival of the railway in 1854 helped to kickstart further growth with many of the roads and residential buildings that exist today being laid out in the late 19th century, replacing the farmland around the centre of the village. From around 1869, chemical and fertiliser industrial premises started to be constructed adjacent to the Thames, they were joined shortly after by an iron-foundry. The industrial area has continued to expand over the years and now extends right into the central part of the town. It is also part of the London Riverside business improvement district. It is home to many companies including Rainham Steel, Tilda Rice and a Tesco distribution centre. A large landfill site exists in the far south, and this is permitted to process 1.5 million tonnes of waste per year. The famous Ford Dagenham automotive factory sits to the immediate west.
Despite the large industrial presence there are still plenty of green spaces throughout the town. There are large areas of marsh land, notably Wennington Marshes and RSPB Rainham Marshes (technically this may be in Purfleet) plus a few traditional parks and a golf course. One of the Rainham's newest areas of parkland is Ingrebourne Hill Country Park. It has been created on land which was originally used as a farm. In the 1950s it became a sand and gravel quarry, and was used for landfill from the 1960s. In the late 1990s a waste management company acquired the land and added inert materials (those which do not decompose such as bricks, concrete, ceramics and rubble) over the top. This significantly raised the base level of parts of the land giving it the hill which now forms part of the park's name.
A partnership between the Forestry Commission and land reclamation and restoration company Ingrebourne Valley Ltd was formed and the area transformed from disused land into a 57 hectare country park. Part of the restoration involved improving the soil quality to allow plants and trees to grow.
The country park takes its name from a small waterway which runs through the town called The River Ingrebourne. The name was first recorded in 1062 as Ingcebourne, but then disappeared completely for over half-a-century. During that time the river was not often mentioned officially, but when it was it was referred to as Haveringesheth or Raineham River. The name Ingcebourne was seemingly rediscovered when the old 1062 document was published in 1661. Apparently, the typeface used for the publishing was mis-read and it was interpreted as Ingrebourne when it came back into use. Since then the river's name has been written as the Rivulet Ingreburn and as Ingerbourne, which incidentally more accurately reflects how it is pronounced.
The river is part of the Blue Ribbon Network and is considered one of London's strategic waterways. Adjacent to the river are the Ingrebourne Marshes (a Site of Special Scietific Interest) which features extensive areas of wetland reeds, making it home to an abundance of wildlife. Also next to the river is a small patch of land that was used as a rifle range by the London Rifle Brigade between 1872 and 1910. Ingrebourne Hill Country Park covers the land to the immediate west of the river and the former rifle range. It also shares a border with Hornchurch Country Park which is just to the north and is on the former site of RAF Hornchurch - the two parks are effectively contiguous.
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Ingrebourne Hill Country Park features over 4 kilometres of pathways, plus scrub, meadows and grassland, a mountain bike trail and its hill which features views in all directions including into Central London. There is also a lake called Lake Stillwell - This takes its name from Ronnie Stillwell who was a Spitfire pilot based at RAF Hornchurch protecting London from enemy attack. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in the Battle of Britain. There are also areas of woodland that form part of the Thames Chase Community Forest which covers 47 sites across East London, Essex and Hertfordshire. This project has a particular focus on regenerating old mineral extraction and landfill sites.
I visited the park to take part in Ingrebourne Hill parkrun which is a free, weekly, timed 5 kilometre event open to all abilities from the speedy sub-20 runners all the way through to those who prefer to take a leisurely stroll. It is run by the local community and offers plenty of volunteering opportunities to those who are interested in becoming involved. The meeting point for the parkrun is at the southern end of the park just next to the car park. Please note there are no cafe or toilet facilities within the park.
Travel to the venue is possible by car, where it is easily accessible from the M25 and A13. There is a free-of-charge on-site car park (2 metre height limit), however please note that it only holds around 23 vehicles (26 were squeezed in on the day I visited) so not all parkrunners will be able to take advantage of this parking option. The local residential side roads to the west and north of the park appear to be completely free of restrictions so they may provide an alternative. An overall better option may be to use the parking facilities at the Rainham Tesco Extra supermarket which allows (customer) parking for up-to three hours. The walk from Tesco to the country park is just over 1 kilometre (0.7 miles). The main advantage to parking here is that the Tesco has (customer) toilet facilities.
If using public transport, Rainham Railway Station is located in the centre of town, not far from the Tesco. It is served by c2c trains running between London Fenchurch Street and Grays. You will most-likely find the station listed as Rainham (Essex) on timetables to avoid confusion with the town of the same name in Kent. The onward walk to the country park is about 1.3 kilometres (0.8 miles). The National Rail Enquiries website lists that there are toilet facilities at the station. If using the London Underground, Dagenham East is the closest tube station which is 2 miles from the park. Conveniently, the 103 London bus runs between the tube station and the park. The town itself is also served by the 372, 165 and 287 London bus services, with the 103 being the only one that stops at the park itself. For cyclists, there are a few bicycle racks in the park quite close to the car park.
If an overnight stay is required there are a few Premier Inns that are close-by. The London Rainham branch is on the A1306 about 2.5 miles to the southeast of the park, or the London Dagenham branch is roughly the same distance to the west. There are also a couple of Travelodge Hotels, both in Dagenham. Within walking distance of the park is a pub called The Phoenix which supposedly offers overnight accommodation, but there seems to be conflicting information about whether this is still the case. I've sent them a message asking for confirmation but have not had a response.
The parkrun meeting point also doubles up as the main area for the briefings and is where the start and finish are located. The course comprises three clockwise laps, the first of which is different to the second and third. Underfoot, the surface is 100% gravel paths so it should be possible to use regular road shoes all year round, but some people may prefer to switch to trail shoes when the conditions are unfavourable. As far as elevation is concerned, my GPS data registered 29 metres of elevation change with 50% of that occurring within the first 500 metres. As far as suitability for buggies and wheelchairs goes, I'd say those pushing a buggy should generally be fine, but it's probably not the most ideal course for wheelchairs. The main concern would be the first lap which involves the park's hill.
From the start the course heads to the north where the first of the three laps is negotiated. As mentioned above the first lap is different to the other two, and when reaching the junction it keeps to the right. This lap features a trip up to the summit of the park's hill. The main part of the incline is about 200 metres long and at its steepest hits an incline of 6%, however overall it tends to hover around 4%. The moment the course reaches the top, it immediately starts to head back down with the elevation profile being the exact opposite of the way up. The notable thing about the down section is that it features a couple of switchbacks and the surface is gravelly so take care on the way down. The rest of the first lap simply heads along the north side of the lake and after 1.1 kilometres passes back through the start area.
Upon reaching the junction for the second time, the course turns to the left and this marks the start of the second (and third) lap. This one is 1.8 kilometres in length and is a loop around the northwestern part of the park. It is essentially flat almost all of the way around with the exception of an approximate 100-metre-long rise with a gradient of about 5% which is found about three-quarters of the way around. The path is extremely easy to follow and the only spot where a wrong turn could be made is when reaching the connecting path that heads northwards into Hornchurch Country Park. Thankfully this spot is marshalled to ensure that nobody ends up going the wrong way.
The parkland either side of the path is a mixture of scrub and small patches of woodland, and the view is pretty much the same all the way around. The path itself meanders gently as it progresses around this section of the park. Every now and then the mountain bike trail can be seen lined with boulders, and although I didn't see any mountain bike riders on the trails, it would be worth keeping an eye out for them as the trail does cross the parkrun route at various points. Once two laps of this section have been completed the course simply heads back along the opening stretch of path but in the opposite direction until reaching the finish line which is located in the same place as the start line. Barcode scanning takes place on the adjacent path which runs alongside the lake.
My visit here was on 21 December 2024 which was event number 2, so the number of attendees was still heavily weighted towards parkrun tourists. The event's historic results page will of course give a better picture of this as time goes on, but there were 245 finishers on the day I visited. I suspect the weekly attendance will ultimately end up dropping off once the tourists have got their initial visits out of the way. However, I think it will remain a popular venue due to its name beginning with an 'I' which will attract people who are trying to complete their parkrun alphabets or namely challenges. The results also show that there were 27 people recorded as volunteers. I recorded the course using my Garmin and the resulting GPS data can be viewed on Strava. The same data was used to create a Relive course fly-by video which can be viewed on YouTube.
Given the type of park, any cancellations of the parkrun are likely to be at short-notice and related to unsafe conditions underfoot or other weather-related reasons. Although the paths are gravel, lots of puddles form around the course so that could be an issue in sub-zero conditions. Also bear in mind that there is a risk of the scrub land catching on fire during extremely dry periods in the summer, which it did in August 2024. The park itself isn't suitable for other events such as fireworks displays or festivals, so I wouldn't expect any cancellations of that nature. However the Spitfire Scramble 24 hour race takes place here in July so the parkrun will probably have to cancel for that. As mentioned above there are no cafe facilities in the park, so anyone looking for post-parkrun refreshments will need to find somewhere else. At the time of writing there is no information on the parkrun's official page that mentions where the team officially goes for refreshments. Overall, I suspect the Tesco Extra Cafe will be a popular choice.
For other post-parkrun activities, Rainham doesn't offer a huge amount of options and much of the surrounding area is industrial, so the main places that stand out are Hornchurch Country Park which contains a Covid-19 memorial woodland and various remnants of the park's former use as an airfield, and RSPB Rainham Marshes adjacent to the River Thames. There is a Georgian house in the town centre called Rainham Hall, built in 1729 and now run by the National Trust. A final, slightly odd option would be to check out the Rainham Marsh open-air latrine which is marked on Google Maps as a tourist attraction.
We had a lovely time at Ingrebourne Country Park and I'd like to extend a huge thank you to all of the volunteers that put the event on.
Related Links:
- My Ingrebourne Hill parkrun GPS data (21 December 2024 / Event 2)
- The Relive course fly-by video (21 December 2024 / Event 2)