If you’re looking to live wild, why not visit Crossness Nature Reserve for a day out? This hidden gem is a haven for rare species and ideal for birdwatching.

Crossness is a decommissioned pumping station. It's home to some of the most revolutionary Victorian cast ironwork in the world. Marvel at the multi-coloured metals and sheer grandness of a bygone era as you wander through.

Crossness treats the waste water from the Southern Outfall Sewer serving South and South East London, and is operated by Thames Water. The treated effluent from the plant is discharged into the River Thames at the eastern end of the site.

The Crossness Pumping Station is a former sewage pumping station designed by the Metropolitan Board of Works's chief engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette and architect Charles Henry Driver. It is located at Crossness Sewage Treatment Works, at the eastern end of the Southern Outfall Sewer and the Ridgeway path in the London Borough of Bexley.

Thames Water's management plan includes a full time Reserve Manager who takes a fully hands-on approach and who has overseen fabulous enhancements such as the creation of a shingle island and excavation of a wader scrape, as well as regular habitat maintenance.

It was created under a planning condition (Section 106 agreement) in 1994 and is owned and managed by Thames Water. [1] [4] [5] [6] At the northern edge of the reserve is a waste management facility owned and operated by Cory. Crossness is part of the original Thames floodplain called Erith Marshes.

Crossness can be accessed via the Thames Path during Open Days. By taxi. Taxis are available from Abbeywood Station Minicabs close to Abbey Wood station in 18 Wilton Road. Book in advance on 0208 311 1199

Crossness Pumping Station. Built in 1865 by Sir Joseph Bazalgette as part of Victorian London’s sewerage system, Crossness Pumping Station is a Grade 1 Listed industrial heritage site and a masterpiece of 19th-century engineering, architecture, and design.

The nature reserve is fronted by the River Thames and, as such, attracts waders and wildfowl on the mudflats, and on our winter-flooded paddocks. The reedbeds are full of reed, sedge and Cetti’s warblers in summer, and Crossness is also home to breeding barn owls and kestrels.

Crossness Nature Reserve was created in 1994 as mitigation for Thames Water building their sewage sludge incinerator. Thames Water have a legal duty (under a Section 106 agreement) to manage and enhance the marshland until 2093. Thames Water are the freehold owner of Crossness Nature Reserve.