Bleak Hills Area, Mansfield, Notts.

Image: © David Hallam-Jones Taken: 16 Jun 2013

Cauldwell Brook empties into Bleak Hills Dam south of Mansfield and some of the water flows on northwards to join the River Maun. This is a picture of northern-most lake called Mill Pond (previously an industrial mill pond) seen from approximately one third of the way down Bleak Hills Lane on the right-hand side off Sheepbridge Lane. Some locals I spoke to, who were of course much younger in the 1940s, describe knowing Bleak Hills Lane as a cinder track that was also known as Harvey's Lane. This road (track) leads past Bleak Hills Dam (now a private fishing location) up as far as the site of a former cottage called Beeton's Cottage which is now known as Bleak Hills House. A footpath continues beyond this larger (replacement) house to Hamilton Way on the edge of the Bleak Hills Industrial Zone. A notice near this pond refers to it as the Bleak Hills Fishery and Bird Sanctuary’s "Railway site". Apparently a stretch of the railway line between Mansfield to Kirkby South Junction from Reeds Mill once passed through this area. It seems that when the line was laid, in order to create a straight route towards Sheepbridge Lane and Garth Road (both of which lie behind the photographer), the easiest remedy was to create an embankment and to take the tracks straight through the dam, albeit that this broke the large dam into several stretches of water. Hence this name that this private fishing pond has acquired.

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