The Roding is one of London's longest rivers and a significant barrier to travel. The M11 and the North Circular both run alongside, shamelessly exploiting the valley, but only a handful of roads cross from west to east. For today's post I'll be exploring the six lowest crossing points on the Roding (including a footbridge, a tidal barrage and a full-on arterial) via a 2½ mile hike from Barking to Ilford.
Only Environment Agency employees can cross the river at the Barking Flood Barrier, so I'm not counting that. No further structures span the river for the first mile upstream.
Roding Crossing 1 - Alfred's Way (A13)
Before 1928 ago there was no bridge here, nor any need, just a huge expanse of marshland between Barking and the Thames. The motor car changed that thanks to the East Ham and Barking Bypass, a major road which leapt the Roding in one of its creekier sections. Today it's part of the A13, a thunderous dual carriageway delivering lorries to Tilbury and all points east. Walking across is perfectly acceptable although not really on the way to anywhere, nor especially recommended after a late night screening at the Showcase Cinema. The 173 bus provides a grandstand view.
For a better sense of context an unlikely footpath bears off from the westbound carriageway and descends to the creekside past some mighty big metal sheds. The river's still tidal here, hence proper reedy and a good place to watch out for waterfowl wading in the mud. On the far bank is Cuckold's Haven Nature Reserve and an inlet called Hands Trough Creek, whereas on the eastern side we're rapidly approaching the developmental limits of Barking making this peripheral dogwalking territory.
Roding Crossing 2 - Barking Barrage
The second crossing is 25 years old and for pedestrians and cyclists only. The Barking Barrage halts the upstream progress of tidal flow and was added in a long term bid to stimulate waterfront redevelopment closer to the town centre. One half is a navigational channel guarded by two curved sector gates powered by hydraulic rams, allowing boats to pass through either side of high tide. The other half is a gushing weir to stabilise water levels, and includes a concrete fish ladder to allow the Roding's ecosystem to keep functioning. Eels get their own separate pipe. If you fancy watching an earnest 15 minute promotional video made by the council in 1998, this'll explain all.
The barrage has certainly paid dividends for housebuilders, starting with the emergence of a neighbourhood called Roding Riverside on the east bank. A few wharves and warehouses were thankfully retained, so throw in a few houseboats and the upstream view retains a flash of character. But step further back, as you have to because there isn't a riverside path, and walls of newbuilds form an ever-growing microsuburb that could one day hit 5000 homes.
Roding Crossing 3 - Town Quay
For centuries this was the lowest crossing of the Roding, adjoining the mill pool where the fishing fleet tied up. In the 1850s Barking was one of the busiest fishing ports in the country, boosted by having central London on the doorstep, but railways allowed East Anglia to grab that trade and the last smacks sailed off in 1899. The only surviving building is the mill's former granary, a four-storey affair evocative of creekside Essex. Around this bends Highbridge Road, a minor crossing with a protruding viewpoint on its small central island.
I still rated the view a decade back when boats and warehouses hinted at Barking's maritime past, but since then more flats have arrived and the vibe has gone. The latest is taller and bulkier than ever, namely FreshWharf, a 10 acre sprawl with just enough starter residents to support a coffee shop. An even larger trading estate between the Abbey ruins and the river is transforming into a separate waterside district, and even the far end of Tesco's car park has been sealed off because that's succumbing next. It's like the Lea on steroids, attracting those for whom zone 3 waterfront is no longer affordable enough.
Roding Crossing 4 - London Road (A124)
This is the chief western entrance to Barking town centre, the bridge you eventually cross if you follow Barking Road across Newham, but only after negotiating a major junction on the North Circular. The river's easily spannable here so this was long the Roding's lowest practical bridging point. The present cast iron bridge dates back to 1904 and has a smart quatrefoil design along its parapets, plus an Essex coat of arms in the centre. It also marks the (current) northern limit of proposed explosive development.
Continue north and you get to follow a riverside path installed with hope in the 1990s but subsequently unloved. Beyond Wickes' car park the paving become intermittently erratic with unplanned ridges, and the supposed cycle lane runs repeatedly through unhacked overhanging vegetation. But there's a charm to the Roding here as reeds and grasses reappear, the river languidly double bending inbetween, even if it's not exactly pastoral.
Roding Crossing 5 - Harts Lane estate footbridge
Here we discover what 1970s development looked like - two 17-storey towers and a warren of lowrise apartment blocks, safely tucked back from the waterfront to avoid flooding rather than provocatively rising alongside. The Harts Lane estate's always been a downbeat dead end, hemmed in between the river and the District line, with this metal footbridge the sole escape to the west. Keep going and you'd reach another footbridge over the North Circular, a lone gasholder and (eventually) East Ham High Street, but I suspect more residents use it as a shortcut to nip to Tesco.
This is where the Roding's riverside path fades out, because nobody ever thought it worthwhile to sandwich a public right of way between the river and the A406. I understand it's doable with caution and a sense of adventure - see John Rogers' excellent video safari - but I didn't want to risk it during maximum vegetation season. Instead I took the trepidatious footbridge high above the railway and continued north along residential streets in search of my sixth and final crossing. The North Circular (aka South Woodford to Barking Relief Road) forms an impenetrable barrier for the next mile, severing all contact between Newham and Redbridge, and the Roding plods on miserably alongside.
The District line, c2c and Goblin cross the Roding here (while High Speed 1 blasts underneath), but nothing accessible on foot.
Roding Crossing 6 - Ilford Bridge (A118)
This would have been where the Romans forded the Roding, along what's now the Romford Road and was once the A12. But the arrival of the North Circular in the 1980s transformed the landscape utterly, casting a six lane viaduct across the main road accessed via space-saving ramps. The Roding flows on beneath an expanse of tarmac, much as the Lea lurks below the Bow Roundabout, and the northern end of that unwelcoming footpath apologises its way out of some undergrowth. At least you can finally get across the river here, because it's been a while.
On the Redbridge side Ilford Hill climbs towards the town centre, increasingly smothered by speculative Crossrail towers. The Newham side cares less for contours so check your flood insurance if you're moving in. And the next five bridges over the Roding are for a) the railway b) the North Circular c)d)e) members of Ilford Golf Club only, so that's where I'm bailing out. If you have a kayak you can go a little further.
