Rickmansworth · Hertfordshire · WD3
One hundred and sixty metres of a rare chalk stream.
The Salters Close River Chess Conservation Society ("SCRCCS") is a not-for-profit residents' group caring for the stretch of the River Chess, and the adjoining Town Ditch, that runs past our doors — a reach that began life as a Georgian barge cut and is now a wildlife corridor in the heart of the town.
The site
Where we are
Our area of benefit is a short reach — of the order of 160 metres — of the River Chess as it passes Salters Close in Rickmansworth, together with the adjoining riverbanks and the Town Ditch.
This reach lies at the downstream end of the historic canalised arm of the Chess that once served Salter & Co's brewery and, later, Rickmansworth's gasworks and town wharf. It begins in the vicinity of the site of the former entrance to Rickmansworth Town Wharf — itself now infilled and built over — and runs down past the Salters Close frontage towards the wider network of moorings, the Ebury Way and Batchworth Locks.
| Watercourse | River Chess — locally the former "Salter's Cut" / "Gasworks Arm", a canalised arm off the Grand Union Canal |
|---|---|
| Reach length | Approx. 160 m, from the vicinity of the former Town Wharf entrance downstream to the Salters Close frontage |
| Settlement | Salters Close, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, WD3 |
| Local authority | Three Rivers District Council; Hertfordshire County Council is the Lead Local Flood Authority |
| Catchment | River Chess catchment and the Chess Smarter Water Catchment partnership; Colne catchment, with the Colne confluence approx. 1–1.5 km downstream near Batchworth |
| Landscape | Within the wider Chess Valley / Chilterns National Landscape catchment context; adjacent to the Colne Valley Regional Park area |
| WFD status | Overall ecological status "Moderate"; phosphate status "Poor"; heavily modified watercourse |
| Adjacent features | Town Ditch to the west and south; the site of the infilled former Town Wharf entrance immediately upstream; Wharf Lane and the Talbot Road / Salters Road junction nearby |
The river
Why a chalk stream matters
The River Chess is one of England's rare chalk streams — a globally scarce habitat type, the overwhelming majority of which occur in southern and eastern England. Water filtered through chalk emerges clean, clear and steady in temperature, supporting a distinctive community of plants and animals found almost nowhere else.
- WFD ecological status
- Moderate Overall classification for the River Chess under the Water Framework Directive.
- Phosphate status
- Poor Historically linked to sewage treatment discharges upstream at Chesham — a key reason the river does not reach "Good".
- Phosphorus stripping
- Dec 2024 An upgrade completed at the end of 2024 is expected to bring measurable improvement in water quality.
The wider catchment is the focus of a well-established multi-partner restoration programme, the Chess Smarter Water Catchment. Our aim is not to duplicate that work but to be a useful, informed local partner for the short stretch of bank and channel.
- Affinity Water
- Thames Water
- Environment Agency
- Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust
- Chilterns National Landscape
- Chiltern Society
- River Chess Association
History
Salter's Cut, the Gasworks Arm and the Town Wharf
How this stretch came to look as it does is directly relevant to managing it. The channel here is not a natural chalk stream reach but a historic canal cut, and legacy structures, made ground and infilled areas from its industrial past may still influence bank stability, flood behaviour and habitat quality.
-
1804–05
Salter's Cut is dug
A length of the River Chess of roughly 500 yards is deepened and widened to create a navigable cut serving Salter & Co's brewery. The works are paid for by the firm's director, Stephen Salter, and the waterway becomes known as Salter's Cut. It later carried Chess Lock (No. 81a) near the site of today's Batchworth Canal Centre, home of the Rickmansworth Waterways Trust.
-
from 1852
Extension to the Town Wharf — the "Gasworks Arm"
The cut is extended beyond the brewery to serve further wharves, most notably Rickmansworth Town Wharf, built to serve the town's gasworks. The Rickmansworth Gas Light & Coke Company is formed in 1852, with new gasworks built near the wharf — which is why local historians still call this the Gasworks Arm.
-
1862
The railway arrives
Lord Ebury's railway line is built nearby. Long since closed, it is now the Ebury Way, a walking and cycling route to Watford that forms part of the green corridor around this reach.
-
1903
Sabey's Pool and its lock
A separate branch, with its own lock, is built to give boats access to Sabey's Pool — a body of water created by H. W. Sabey & Co's gravel extraction at Batchworth Meadows. The wider area was shaped by industrial mineral working as well as canal trade.
-
c.1960s
The wharf is filled in
Rickmansworth Town Wharf remains in use until around the 1960s, after which it is infilled. Much of its former footprint is now residential housing, including, on the historical evidence reviewed, land at and around Salters Close itself.
-
Today
A residential amenity and wildlife corridor
Commercial boat traffic has long gone. Wharf Lane is now something of a misnomer, since it does not itself reach the old wharf site. The reach functions primarily as a residential amenity and wildlife corridor, with moorings, footpaths and access to the broader Batchworth waterways area.
A note on the Town Ditch
The Town Ditch is understood to have originated as a field drainage channel. It runs roughly along what was the western boundary of Rickmansworth Wharf, although the two watercourses were never physically connected. It appears to have been diverted somewhat around the Talbot Road / Salters Road junction, so direct comparison of historic and modern maps in this locality needs care: the apparent "edge" of the old wharf on a modern map is not necessarily where it sat historically. The ditch continues through Rickmansworth, roughly following Talbot Road, before entering the wider Colne valley river system near Batchworth Lake.
Wildlife
What lives here, and what threatens it
A desk-based review of publicly available biological records for the wider Chess corridor around Rickmansworth. These are records for the corridor, not yet a survey of this reach — establishing a proper baseline for our own stretch is a priority.
Recorded in the corridor
- Water voleArvicola amphibius
- OtterLutra lutra
- Brown troutSalmo trutta
- GraylingThymallus thymallus
- BullheadCottus gobio
- Water crowfootRanunculus spp.
- Breeding and wintering birdsvarious
Documented pressures
- Signal crayfishPacifastacus leniusculus
- American minkNeogale vison
- Himalayan balsamImpatiens glandulifera
- Japanese knotweedReynoutria japonica
- Legacy of historic modificationheavily modified reach
- Phosphate enrichmentupstream discharges
Constitution
The objects of the Society
The Objects of the Society are, on a not-for-profit basis:
- to promote, facilitate and support the appropriate conservation, maintenance, repair, restoration, improvement and environmental management of the riverbanks, Town Ditch and the relevant stretch of the River Chess within or adjoining the Area of Benefit;
- to protect and enhance the ecological, environmental, landscape and amenity value of the relevant riverbanks and watercourse;
- to support appropriate measures relating to erosion, bank stability, vegetation, litter, invasive species, habitat protection, flood resilience and the condition and safe management of the riverbanks;
- to apply for, receive, hold and administer grants, donations, subscriptions and other funds to be used exclusively in furtherance of the Objects;
- to consult and cooperate with residents, owners, freeholders, leaseholders, management companies, managing agents, public authorities, environmental organisations, grant-making bodies and other appropriate persons;
- where appropriately authorised, to arrange or commission surveys, advice, maintenance, repairs, environmental improvements and other lawful works connected with the relevant riverbanks and watercourse;
- to promote awareness among residents concerning the River Chess, the Town Ditch, the local environment and the responsibilities associated with land adjoining a watercourse; and
- to do all other lawful things that are incidental or conducive to the furtherance of these Objects.
Governing document
The Society's constitution
The Society is governed by a written constitution, adopted at its inaugural General Meeting on 17 August 2026. It sets out in full what the Society is for and the area it covers, who may become a member, how the committee is elected and how it takes decisions, how subscriptions and funds are handled and accounted for, and how the constitution may be amended or the Society wound up. The objects listed above are reproduced from clause 3.
We publish it here for information, so that residents, prospective members, partner organisations and funders can see exactly how the Society is constituted and how it operates. Members' home addresses have been removed from the published version.
Download the constitutionOur work
A prioritised plan for a small reach
Our management plan sets out objectives and a prioritised action plan, alongside a light-touch governance structure for the residents' group and a funding strategy.
Priority
Establish the baseline
Confirm riparian ownership against title deeds and Land Registry plans, commission a HERC records search, and carry out a Phase 1 habitat survey with riverfly monitoring for this reach.
Ongoing
Bank and channel maintenance
Monitoring erosion and bank stability, managing vegetation appropriately, keeping the channel and banks free of litter and debris, and flagging the condition of legacy structures.
Ongoing
Invasive species control
Recording and, where lawful and appropriate, controlling Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed, and reporting signal crayfish and American mink to the relevant partners.
Programme
Habitat enhancement
Small-scale, well-consented improvements suited to a heavily modified reach — bankside planting, marginal habitat and in-channel features, guided by advice from catchment partners.
Programme
Monitoring
Regular, simple, repeatable recording by residents so that change over time — including any improvement following the December 2024 phosphorus-stripping upgrade — is actually captured.
Enabling
Governance and funding
A light-touch structure appropriate to a small residents' group, and a funding strategy covering the Chess Smarter Water Catchment partnership, Environment Agency, Heritage Fund and water company community grant schemes.
Get involved
If you live along this reach, this is your river
Owning land adjoining a watercourse comes with responsibilities as well as a view. The Society exists to help residents understand them, share the load, and speak with one voice to the bodies that manage the wider catchment.
- Get in touch and tell us which property or stretch of frontage you are connected with.
- Come to a walkover of the reach so you can see the bank, the Town Ditch and the condition issues first hand.
- Help with a task that suits you — a litter pick, a balsam pull, a monthly photograph from a fixed point, or a records search.
- Support grant applications, which are far stronger when they show real local participation.
Nothing here is a commitment of time you do not have. Several of the most useful things — noticing a bank slip, photographing a pollution incident, reporting mink — take minutes.
Join the Society
Joining SCRCCS is simple. Download the application form, complete it, and send it to the Secretary, Ann Green, together with the subscription fee of £5.00 a year, renewable each 17 August.
Download the application formHow the Society handles your personal information is set out in our Privacy Notice (Word, 19 KB).
Contact
Write to the Society and we will come back to you.
Ann Green Secretary, SCRCCS 64 Salters Close Salterscrccs@aol.comFor pollution, fish in distress or illegal activity affecting the river, call the Environment Agency incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 — it is staffed 24 hours.