My second exploration of the Len covers the upper third of its course. Although not on a par with John Hanning Speke’s discovery of Lake Victoria, I got a certain satisfaction in reaching ‘the source of the Len’, a spring in woodland to the west of Lenham.
I think I have a conceptual hook for this project. The Len appears to be very much an ‘edgelands’ river, once worked hard (according to Wikipedia, there were 18 historic mills – some mentioned in the Domesday Book – on the main course and a further 9 on its tributaries) but now largely forgotten and hidden, tolerated rather than celebrated.
In my previous posting I followed the lower section of the river from Mote Park to its junction with the Medway in Maidstone town centre, where it flows mostly in artificial channels and much of it underground. The upper section, the subject of this posting, is mostly rural edgelands under tree cover at field edges where the land in its valley is too boggy for agriculture. This caused me some access problems; it mainly flows through private land and, apart from the final half-mile, there are no convenient adjacent footpaths. I therefore mostly saw the river at the point where it is crossed by roads.
This, then is the source of the Len, in woodland. Photographing after an extended dry heatwave is not ideal; there are other dry springs nearby which would contribute water during wet weather.
These woodland scenes are typical of the stretches I had access to. Near the source, it is 1.2m wide and about 50mm deep, becoming larger as it proceeds. The nearby soil is boggy underfoot, suggesting groundwater flows in addition to the visible stream.
Where it is crossed by roads or farm tracks, the river is culverted. In general, the roads follow old trackways and the culverts are correspondingly old, built as arched constructions in stonework (Kentish rag) occasionally reinforced in brickwork. More recent culverts, below concrete farm tracks, have been formed with concrete rings. In places where it is not possible to leave the road, the position of the river is marked only by the bridge parapet wall or substantial fence.
Some of the millponds survive and have been turned into amenity lakes, either for fishing or scenery. The largest in this section, and the highest-profile is the lake forming part of the moat at Leeds Castle.
The central section of the river, to be explored and blogged soon, runs between the two ornamental lakes at Leeds Castle and Mote Park, much of it in suburban or ‘river park’ settings.
My current thoughts (pun not intentional) are to pick up the edgelands theme and show human interference with the river in its course. There will probably be two ‘natural’ views: the source and one section in woodland. Elsewhere in the set will be one or more of the amenity lakes, road culverts and some of the treatment in Maidstone.
Presentation will be monochrome, which better fits the edgelands theme and avoids issues of uneven colour balance, but I will be using digital originals rather than medium format. I do not see MF adding anything to the images, and the nature of the terrain is better suited to a hand-held DSLR.
Given a greater image-count, I would consider putting the project into book form. With a limit of ‘about a dozen’ it will be better as a slideshow or a set of prints.
Reference
Wikipedia (2020) River Len. At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Len (Accessed on 7 August 2020)
Landscape Lines 
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