The Doomway - Britain's deadliest footpath has claimed over 100 Lives

For centuries, the Broomway was the only way to access Foulness Island on foot.

LONDON (Web Desk) - The Broomway, a 600-year-old footpath connecting the coast of Essex to Foulness Island, in the UK, is rumored to have claimed over 100 lives over the centuries, which has earned it the reputation of Britain’s deadliest path and the nickname “The Doomway”.

For centuries, the Broomway was the only way to access Foulness Island on foot. Recorded as early as 1419, the footpath runs for about 6 miles through vast sand flats and mud flats that look deceptively easy to navigate in good weather, but that can prove deadly in less than ideal conditions.

Named after the hundreds of “brooms” – bundles of twigs attached to short poles – which once marked the path, the Broomway is now outlined by wooden poles that are easy to miss in fog and heavy rain. And getting lost in the treacherous sand flats can be deadly, for a number of reasons.

When the tide goes out between Foulness and the coast of Essex, vast swaths of sand and mud flats are revealed, but only the marked Broomway is reliable enough to traverse. Straying off the path opens travelers up to all kinds of dangers, such as deep holes covered with mud, or quicksand traps that can swallow a person.

That’s why trying to traverse the Broomway in mist, fog or heavy rain is considered extremely dangerous.

But even staying on the path is risky, if you venture on the Broomway at the wrong time of day. When the tide comes back, it comes fast, or at least faster than the average person can run, flooding the sand flats and making them extremely hard to navigate.

Death by drowning for anyone caught on the sand flats when the tide comes in has been described as “near inevitable”.