Kimpton Balancing Pond

Image: © Marathon Taken: 11 Sep 2013

The Pyl Brook is a tributary of the Beverley Brook which in turn feeds into the River Thames upriver of Putney. The Pyl Brook runs underground for part of its course upstream before emerging above the ground in Hamilton Avenue Recreation Ground west of Kimpton Road. At the time of the 1866 Ordnance Survey Map, this part of the Pyl Brook was surrounded by small fields, bordered by trees and hedges. The rural outlook changed within 30 years as the 1896 Ordnance Survey Map showed a gas holder, a sewage works and a cemetery to the north. Some 20 years ago there was just a footpath alongside the Pyl Brook and a strip of wildlife habitat between Kimpton Road and the A24 at London Road. Recently Hamilton Avenue Recreation Ground has been created and added to Kimpton Open Space which runs as far as the A24. Kimpton Balancing Pond seen here which is within Kimpton Open Space was primarily created for the management of flood risk. Its purpose is to hold surface water run-off from the adjacent industrial units at times of heavy rain. The filtered rain then flows through the pond and out of the drainage pipes in a more regulated fashion. A bonus is that a number of wetland plants have found a home here.

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