| Ingrebourne | |
| (Hornchurch Creek) | |
| River | |
|
Looking north from the bridge on Berkeley Drive
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|
| Country | England |
|---|---|
| Counties | Greater London |
| London boroughs | Havering |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Weald Brook, Carters Brook, Paynes Brook |
| Towns | Upminster, Hornchurch, Rainham |
| Source | |
| - location | Brentwood, Essex |
| Mouth | River Thames |
| - location | Rainham Marsh, Rainham |
| Length | 43.3 km (27 mi) |
| Discharge | for Gaynes Park |
| - average | 0.33 m3/s (12 cu ft/s) |
| - max | 29.0 m3/s (1,024 cu ft/s) 21 November 1974 |
| - min | 0.06 m3/s (2 cu ft/s) 17 August 1972 |
The River Ingrebourne, 27 miles (43.3km) in length, is a tributary of the River Thames. It is considered a strategic waterway in London, forming part of the Blue Ribbon Network. It flows through the London Borough of Havering roughly from north to south, joining the Thames at Rainham.
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The name is recorded in 1062 as Ingceburne and is formed from the Old England 'burna', meaning stream. The meaning of the prefix is unclear, although it could refer to a person.[1]
It rises near Brentwood, Essex, whence it flows in a southwesterly direction under the M25 motorway through the London Borough of Havering in north 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 Marshes (to the west) and Rainham Marshes (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. The river forms one of the strategic waterways identified in the Blue Ribbon Network policy in the London Plan.
| Next confluence upstream | River Thames | Next confluence downstream |
| River Beam (north) | River Ingrebourne | Mardyke (north) |