We might have been featuring today's blog within the series of features for which there are no known surviving photographs. The topic of invisible streams in our East End has been aired previously during the past twelve years; and strictly writing there two streams still flowing between Oaklands and Ellenbrook – evidence is in these first two photographs taken recently.
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| Extant stream Boggy Mead crosses Hatfield Road at the eastern end of Oaklands. |
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| Extant stream the Ellen Brook crosses under Hatfield Road at Ellenbrook. |
But today I am featuring one former stream for which there is no present day evidence – and I am not referring to the often-mentioned stream which once flowed across today's Eaton Road, as can still be evidenced after long periods of heavy rain. I am, though, able to show a map on which has been drawn a moat (in blue) which once surrounded a medieval house – which we definitely haven't seen. This location I have also referenced previously at the corner of Woodland Drive south and Central Drive, the location of Beaumonts Manor.
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| The road crossing the map left-right is Central Drive. The former moat is coloured blue with an engineered channel, also in blue, and was dug from the moat towards a former manor house. Woodland Drive has been built over the left arm of the moat. |
The moat cannot have existed without a source to replenish it on occasions. So, where did the water come from? The map suggested there seemed to be a spring at the Elm Drive end of Woodland Drive. In the same way as the rivers Colne and Ver were, centuries ago, more significant water courses compared with their present capacities, and since streams and rivers in our area are reliant on the storage of water in what are known as aquifers within the underlying chalk, The more stored water in the aquifer the closer it reaches the ground surface. And when it does so, especially on a gradient, the water emerges, perhaps only as a trickle, but still it naturally finds its way down hill.
Taking a walk with a camera (or your smartphone) soon reveals where there are gradients along our roads and pavements, and it is not difficult to discover where the highest ground is. Surrounding this point we may once have found sufficient water in the ground for it to dribble out onto the surface in a useful quanta for people to use.
Elm Drive appears to be the highest level, forming a wide flattened dome. The following images identify the local gradients, and early 19th century maps provide a little extra evidence. More of that shortly.
a. Stand at Central Drive and look eastwards towards Elm Drive; the gradient is uphill.
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| The camera is beside the former moat and facing uphill towards Elm Drive. |
b. From Beechwood Avenue face Elm Drive; the immediate gradient is up hill.
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| The camera is at Beechwood Avenue at its junction with Elm Drive. The rising gradient in Elm Drive levels out when the distant cars are reached. This is the junction with Woodland Drive. |
c. From Hatfield Road at the junction with Beaumont Avenue; once again the view along Hatfield Road toward Oaklands is uphill before levelling out as we would pass Elm Drive behind the Hatfield Road houses on our left.
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| At this point the camera is facing east from the junction with Beechwood Avenue. Although gradients don't look significant in this series of photos, but only a gentle gradient is enough to keep water flowing. |
d. Walk to the Oaklands end of Hatfield Road and note the gradient looking west from the Wynchlands shops; once more the gradient levels out.
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| Having passed Oakwood Drive, Hatfield Road drops in gradient as it passes the Speckled Hen PH and Wynchlands shops on its way eastwards. |
e. The higher ground southwards from our starting point continues and appears to change as Ashley Road crosses Camp Road and becomes Drakes Drive. We have often discovered that as the road gradient descends, heavy rains cause surface water to collect and requires mediation to improve the run-off. But here we are some way from Elm Drive where we began.
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| From Hatfield Road and the length of Ashley Road, the road falls in level after a short distance of Drakes Drive. This is where standing water can occasionally be found. |
f. Along Ashley road we passed Brick Knoll Park where the former brick works were located. Here the chalk was capped by a layer of clay, and two fields, part of Beaumonts Farm, were named Hither Bridge Field and Further Bridge Field. So a bridge of some kind was undoubtedly formed across wet ground.
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| On the right were former brick works standing on clay above the chalk. As earlier farming land there were two fields with names referring to a bridge. Why would a bridge have been required? Water dribbling from the fields made its way along and downhill at Cambridge Road, then Campfield Road, eventually to a confluence with the river Ver. |
Various commentaries have suggested the trickles (though not sure how much water makes a trickle) created a semi-permanent flow down today's Cambridge Road and Sutton Road before joining the stream already flowing, whether permanently or seasonally, along Campfield Road, avoiding Camp Hill and crossing through Dellfield and via London Road towards river Ver. It is also likely to have been joined by a stream following to it from Camp Road, forming a small network of waterways all confluencing at the Ver.
Remember the first question I posed? How did the medieval house at Beaumonts Farm receive the water to fill the moat, keep it replenished, as well as provide water for domestic use and farming activity? In chalk country nature stores our water for us, so long as we use less water than the underground chalk can store. Our consumption is of course significantly greater today; and probably offers us lower rainfall. Most of our streams are therefore invisible.
