Davy Down Riverside Park

Davy Down is home to an amazing variety of different life forms.

Educational Offer

An outdoor learning pack has been created to make it easier to take learning out of the classroom. It is full of fun, curriculum linked activities that emphasise self-led learning and support health and wellbeing.

View or download the full Davy Down Outdoor Learning Pack.

Useful links: www.thurrock.gov.uk/davy-down-riverside-park/ | thelandtrust.org.uk/davy-down/

Links to Topic Activities

Site Contact Details

Tel: 01375 383 744
Website

Location

Davy Down, Back Lane (off Pilgrims Lane), North Stifford, Grays, Essex RM16 5UL

Get Directions

Site Summary

13 hectares (32 acres)
Ponds, wetland, river Mardyke
Kingfishers, water voles, marsh frog
Includes a Victorian railway viaduct and historic water pumping station buildings.

Site History

Davy Down has a long history of farming, dating back to at least 1730.
More recently, the land was used for market gardening, which was abandoned when the new A13 was built, splitting the land holding in half.
The impressive railway viaduct across the Mardyke Valley dates from 1892.
The site also includes the Stifford Pumping Station buildings, built around 1926-27 to house large diesel engines which provided the power to extract water from a 42m deep borehole in the chalk below. Essex & Suffolk Water still abstract water today using a modern electric pump.
Davy Down opened to the public as a country park in May 1993.

Land of the Fanns Teacher Briefing

Some sites have a Teacher Briefing available at the top of the page, but the following download is a general Teacher Briefing for The Land of the Fanns. We recommend you download this briefing before visiting any of the sites listed on this resource.

Download Teacher Briefing