Category Archives: History

Building the Chestnut Grove Jetty: 40th Celebrations

This year sees the celebration of the 40th birthday of Fleet Pond Society. As part of this we are are having an Exhibition in the Hart Shopping Centre as well as producing occasional articles that illustrate some of the major pieces of work carried out by the Society over this period. A previous article described the creation of the circular route round the pond (see here) and this one describes the building of the familiar and very popular Chestnut Grove jetty.

Cathy Holden writes:

“Along with the circular path, one of the first major tasks undertaken by the volunteers of the new society was the construction of a concrete jetty at Chestnut Grove.

Up to that point there had only been a small jetty created from railway sleepers.

B76 Chest Grove jetty 1

The jetty was constructed using pre-mixed concrete and on the first run 200 sacks were filled by hand from the pile dumped in the road by the mixer.

C77 chestnut 2

The sacks were then lowered into position in the freezing water by Bill Wain and Peter Martin, the only people who owned waders.

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However, by the time the mixer came round with the second load a much more labour efficient system was in place. The sacks were filled with the cement as it came down the shute and the volunteers formed a production line to get them out to Bill and Peter.

C77 chestnut 7

Further concrete was poured into the middle and then levelled out.

C77 chestnut 5

This jetty has been altered over the years to include an extension out to the right. It is still a favourite spot for visitors to feed the swans and other water birds, or just to look out over the Pond.

Chestnut now

With thanks to Peter Martin for the use of his book ‘Fleet Pond Society 1976 – 2006’ for reference. This interesting book is still available from the Society.”

Photos courtesy of the FPS Archives.

The Fascinating History of Fleet Pond

RE Bridge 1885

An old photo of a (military) bridge at Fleet Pond acquired by FPS (see here)

Whilst walking around Fleet Pond, with its peace and calm, it’s easy to imagine that it’s always been that way. However the actual history of the Pond is quite varied: its origins and link to Winchester, its use for recreation for people living in hectic London at the turn of the century and well as its use by the military (Aldershot is nearby of course).

If you’d like to find out more whilst actually on a walk, there’s a history board at Boathouse Corner (see picture below and map for location).

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If you’d like to delve deeper, try the Fleet Pond Society web site which goes into some fascinating details as well as providing a wide range of interesting pictures. As a taster, here are some historical photos:

bathers at pond small

army under canvas at pond small

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Forty Years On: Circumnavigating the Pond

Cathy Holden writes:

Visitors to Fleet Pond regularly amble, power walk, jog or cycle the circular route skirting the perimeter of the water, probably without giving it a second thought. However, this circumnavigation was only made possible by the back-breaking work of a band of enthusiastic Society volunteers between 1976 and 1979, led by Society Chairman Terry Sims.

Current Society President, Peter Martin, documented the early work of the Society in his booklet ‘Fleet Pond Society 1976 – 2006: The First 30 Years’ (Martin, 2009) from which I have taken much of the information in this article.

A major challenge the team faced in completing the route was a lack of bridges.  Two would need to be installed; one across the Brookly Stream and the second at the point at which the large Pond flows through to the small one. Peter Martin relates how Hart District Councillor Peter Carr offered the services of his family firm to construct a bridge over the Brookly Stream, provided the Council ‘… would pay £200 for two lengths of steel’. (Martin, 2009) The firm would donate the cost of other materials and labour to the Society for free; a generous offer as the true cost of the bridge was £3,500. Ultimately £100 was raised through jumble sales held by the Society, and the Council donated the other £100, on top of the £1,500 they had already committed to works in the Reserve.

The bridge was constructed and delivered to the Kenilworth Road depot where volunteers painted it dark green. On 8th January 1977, with the concrete supports having been installed, a group of volunteers edged the bridge into position using brute strength, a trolley, and a block and tackle strategically placed in a tree. It remained in place until 2011 when the current wooden bridge was installed.

C77 Brookly Br9 - Photo 1 C77 Brookly Br11 - Photo 2

Work continued on the perimeter path, a hugely ambitious project for the group. Trees had to be removed by the industrial estate in order for the path work to begin. It was laid using broken breeze blocks and loose material. Peter commented that: ‘Laying the broken blocks was rather like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, with gaps then filled by the loose material’ (Martin, 2009).

C78 Nth footpath 1 - Photo 3

Work on the path reached the northern bank in the Spring of 1977 and railway sleepers were installed along the water’s edge. As the path progressed further along the bank the Council provided a pontoon onto which materials were loaded and then punted down to the work site. However, this could be a tricky manoeuvre as the weight of the load could cause the pontoon to list ‘…at almost forty-five degrees…’ (Martin, 2009) causing some volunteers to have an unexpected dip in the Pond!

C79 Carnival bld2 Photo 4 Photo 5

By 1979 the two halves of the perimeter path were joined by the installation of the second bridge. This spanned the channel along which water flowed into the small Pond. Again, it was the physical strength of the volunteers which impressed as they manhandled the two halves of the bridge so that they met. A ‘lucky volunteer’ then had to balance on the metal over the fast flowing deep channel to bolt the two sections together. Once that had been done, it was just a matter of laying the planks in position.

The bridge was named ‘Carnival Bridge’ as the Fleet Carnival Committee had donated £500 towards its cost. The bridge was opened by Kathleen Woodman whose husband Charles was a founder member and Vice-President of the Carnival Committee. This bridge was replaced in 2011, but the old bridge did not go to waste, it was renovated to create a new crossing at the Wood Lane entrance to the Reserve. The official opening was a very special occasion as the guests of honour were the family of Charles and Kathleen Woodman. This time it was their daughter, Beaulah Bower, who was thrilled to cut the ribbon.

C79 Carnival bld7b Photo 6 C1979 Carnival bridge install 1 - Photo 7 s

At the end of their hugely ambitious project, the volunteers of the 1970s received a letter of thanks from the Council ‘…for all their efforts in completing the perimeter access…’ (Martin, 2009). Today we too can offer a ‘thank you’ to these early Society volunteers who enabled us to enjoy a circumnavigation of the whole Pond.

C1979 path workers - Photo 8 s

Work on this circular walk never really stops. Another entry point was made possible by the addition of the bridge over The Flash alongside the railway station in 2011. Current volunteers and Countryside Rangers can regularly be seen maintaining the pathways; most recently on the eastern side of the Pond where a large section of the path was re-laid last year to make it more accessible to all visitors.

The photographs above are from the archive of the Fleet Pond Society.

Peter Martin’s book (mentioned above) is still available to buy from Fleet Pond Society. Please contact the current FPS Chairman, Colin Gray, for further information.

A Walk Around Fleet Pond – Hampshire Life

In the February 2016 issue of Hampshire Life magazine there’s a two page spread entitled ‘Things to do in Fleet“.

The article starts by recommending a stroll around Fleet Pond:

Take a walk around Fleet Pond (accessed from the station, Pondtail residential area and an alarmingly pot holed lane off Cove Road). This is the largest freshwater lake in Hampshire and is thought to have been created as a fishery as early as the 12th century. Certainly by the 15th century there are records of fish being delivered to the Bishopric of Winchester. Centuries later, following the building of the London to Southampton railway, a new station, Fleet Pond Halt, enabled Fleet Pond to become a popular spot for day trippers with picnicking and swimming in summer and ice skating in winter. Latterly Fleet Pond has become valued as a nature reserve. It was one of the first sites in Hampshire to be designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, back in 1951, and recognised as a Local Nature Reserve in 1977. Its 141 acres include heathland, woodland, reedbed and marsh, as well as the Pond itself, and it is home to various birds, butterflies, dragonflies and wildflowers. Last year the Fleet Pond Society, working in partnership with Hart District Council, Natural England and the Environment Agency, achieved Green Flag status for the Pond, and this year the Society celebrates its 40th anniversary.

It then goes on to give recommendations under the categories: Take a Break, Explore, Lunch, Learn a New Skill and finally Eat & Sleep.

 

Five Fascinating Fleet Pond Facts

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Michelle Salter writes:

How old is the pond? The first clear reference to the pond was in the 14th century, when “the great fishery (of) Fleet Ponds” is referred to in the Rolls of Account of Crondall Manor. By this time, there seems to have been a thriving fishery of considerable importance and two ponds.

Do any museums house records of the pond? Many Victorian naturalists visited Fleet Pond and references to its flora frequently appeared in natural history journals from this era, with herbarium sheets located at the Natural History Museum in Kensington and also at Reading and Oxford.

When was the pond used as an ice rink? In the 1840’s, the South Western Railway ran special excursions to Fleet Pond, including a “Skating Specials” in the Winter.

When was the pond, not a pond? In 1940, the MOD completely drained the pond to stop hostile bombers from using it as a landmark to find the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough (see photo above).

What title did the pond receive in 1951? The pond was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1951 and was one of the first sites in Hampshire to receive this distinction, due to the importance of the lake to waterfowl and the rich aquatic and heathland flora.

Ed. This article is a repost, it was originally published in October 2008.