River Ingrebourne
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The River Ingrebourne, 27 miles (43.3km) in length, is a tributary of the River Thames. It rises near Brentwood in Essex, from whence it flows in a south-westerly direction under the M25 motorway through the London Borough of Havering in East London.
The river passes under the motorway near Junction 28, at which point the first of its tributaries, Weald Brook [2.7 miles (4.3km) in length] enters; two others - Carters Brook and Paynes Brook shortly follow. After skirting south of the built-up area of Harold Hill the route is partly non-urban: a large area of flood-plain follows before the Ingrebourne threads between the suburbs of Upminster and Hornchurch. The river from here is surrounded by public open space: with Gaynes Parkway, the Ingrebourne Valley Greenway and Hornchurch Country Park taking up the area until reaching Rainham. Here the river divides, the main channel becoming Rainham Creek, where it flows into the Thames between Hornchurch Marsh (to the west) and Rainham Marsh (to the east) at Old Man's Head. The second channel becomes the Wennington Sewers complex.
The Ingrebourne Marshes are defined as a site of metropolitan importance because of the diversity of its wildlife and extensive areas of wetland reeds.
