Unexpected history
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Unexpected history by Anthony O'Neil as part of the Geograph project.
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Unexpected history
Image: © Anthony O'Neil Taken: 9 Nov 2013
The owners of these houses and gardens in Winmarith Drive may not know that it was once the site of two conjoined ponds, located between the weeping willow and the boundary of Prospect Drive, beyond. These were about 2 metres deep and roughly 70 metres by 10 metres in surface area. They can be seen on 1940s plans of Hale Barns. A buried culvert pipe - fed by run-off from adjacent fields - kept them topped up, the water being unable to escape the underlying clay. One presumes the developers laid a concrete raft over the drained land before constructing the housing foundations. Perhaps the 'spring' is still there but diverted into the main sewers.
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Image Location
Latitude
53.365344
Longitude
-2.306974