Maplin Sands
The Maplin Sands are mudflats on the northern bank of the Thames estuary, off Foulness Island, near Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England, though they actually lie within the neighbouring borough of Rochford. They are valuable as a wildlife reserve, with a large colony of dwarf eelgrass (Zostera noltei) and associated animal communities.
A screw-pile lighthouse was built on the sands in 1838, which was possibly the world's first.
In the later part of the 19th century John I. Thornycroft & Company and Yarrow Shipbuilders used the sands for the measured mile speed trials of their Destroyers.[1] The shallow waters resulted in a flow of water that could add up to a knot to the ship's speed.[1] When the Admiralty found out they required that all future trials be carried out in deep water.[1]
Following the report of the 1968 Roskill Commission, in 1973 plans were proposed and approved for a third airport for London, the Thames Estuary Airport, but were abandoned in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. The project would also have included a deep-water harbour suitable for the container ships then coming into use, a high-speed rail link to London, and a new town for the accommodation of the thousands of workers who would be required.
The Maplin Sands were at that time, and remain, a military testing ground belonging to the Ministry of Defence, as does Foulness Island.
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Coordinates: 51°33′44″N 0°53′49″E / 51.56228°N 0.89703°E