Lower Horse of islands (five of which later re-clustered to form Canvey Island), that broke away from the English coastline in the medieval period. Lower Horse Lower Horse is a uninhabited island off the English coast, lying in the Thames Estuary between Canvey Island and Stanford-le-Hope, close to . Administratively it is part of Thurrock unitary authority; the border with its ceremonial county namely the administrative county of Essex runs between it and Canvey Island. Smaller than normal markings for an area of saltings (traditional, open air, sea salt extraction through drying) appear in the Ordnance Survey map of 1919, which confirms
Canvey Island been discharged into the river by the means of seven sluices (later known as Commissioners Dykes). The completion of the work saw a considerable number of the Dutch engineers take land as payment for their work, and consequently settle on the island. Approximately one-third of Canvey's streets have names of Dutch origin. The coast of Canvey Island was host to the Chapman Lighthouse as briefly described in Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness". It is believed that the peril of the mudflats below such shallow waters off the Canvey Island coast prompted the Romans to devise some form of beacon