Tideway - Thames Estuary

Thames Estuary

The Thames Estuary applies to the coast and the low-lying lands upstream between the mouth of the River Stour on the Essex/Suffolk border and The Swale in north Kent. It is now usually designated the Greater Thames Estuary and is one of the largest inlets on the coast of Great Britain. It has the world's second largest tidal movement, where the water can rise by 4 metres moving at a speed of 8 miles per hour.

The whole estuary extends up the river into London near Tower Bridge, but this is divided into the Outer Estuary up to the Isle of Sheppey, and the Inner Estuary, designated the Thames Gateway above the Isle of Sheppey. The shore of the Outer estuary consists of saltmarshes and mudflats, but there are man-made embankments along much of the route where the land behind is now cultivated or used for grazing. Parts of the Outer estuary constitute a major shipping route.