River Roach

Roach
River Roach flowing through Rochford Hundred Golf Course
Location of the river mouth within Essex
Location
Country	England
County	Essex
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Rayleigh
• coordinates	51°35′50″N 0°37′56″E / 51.5973°N 0.6322°E / 51.5973; 0.6322 (Source of Hawkwell Brook)
• elevation	58 m (190 ft)
Mouth	River Crouch
• location	east of Wallasea Island
• coordinates	51°37′00″N 0°52′18″E / 51.6166°N 0.8718°E / 51.6166; 0.8718 (Mouth of River Roach)
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	22 km (14 mi)
Basin features
River system	River Crouch
Designation
Ramsar Wetland
Official name	Crouch & Roach Estuaries
Designated	24 March 1995
Reference no.	721[1]

v t e River Roach
Legend
River Crouch The Middleway / Havengore Creek Paglesham Pool Paglesham Reach Potton Creek Barlinghall Creek 1 Prittle Brook Stambridge Mills Weir Tidal mill pound Salt Bridge, Rochford Rochford Reservoir Weir on Noblesgreen Ditch Shenfield–Southend line 2 Eastwood Brook Rectory Road Hawkwell B1013 Cherry Orchard Way Hockley Brook Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park Thorpe Close (becomes Main River) B1013 Main Road Hawkwell 4 Source of Hawkwell Brook 3 Source of Noblesgreen Ditch

The River Roach is a river that flows entirely through the English county of Essex. It is one of four main streams that originate in the Rayleigh Hills to the west, and flow east. They then flow towards the centre of the Rochford Basin, a circular feature which may have been caused by an asteroid impact in the Late Oligocene or Early Miocene periods. To the east of Rochford, the river becomes tidal, and is governed by the Crouch Harbour Authority. It joins the River Crouch between Wallasea Island and Foulness Island. To the west of Rochford, there is some doubt as to which of the four streams is officially the Roach.

At Stambridge, there was a tidal mill from at least the 1500s, although few details are known until it was rebuilt in 1809. A pound was filled by the incoming tide, and was released to drive a water wheel as the tide fell. On spring tides, this gave around 7 hours of operation, which gradually decreased as the tides reduced, and at neap tides, the operation of the mill was entirely dependent on the flow from the upper river. Rankins, the millers, objected to plans by the Great Eastern Railway to build a dam and reservoirs in Rochford, as it would damage their operation, but a single reservoir was authorised in 1904.

The river channels are designated as "heavily modified" from their natural state by the Environment Agency, who measure the water quality. This is moderate for most of the tributaries, and the chemical status has improved since 2013. Charles Darwin's HMS Beagle was moored on the river from 1850 as a Coast Guard watch ship. It was sold for breaking, but an archaeological survey concluded in 2008 that much of it still remains buried beneath the mud near Paglesham. The Paglesham Reach is also significant for its native oysters.