Once this was a human-made Hammer Pond for the local Iron Industry but Nature has claimed it back......beautifully, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

Commentary.

 

A minor road between Plummers Plain and Doomsday Green,

a suburb of Horsham, rises and falls,

as it negotiates several Sandstone ridges and then

dives down into small valleys created by local streams or Gills.

In Medieval times some of these Gills were dammed to form “Hammer Ponds.”

These ponds would provide a head of water

that would fall on to water-wheels.

Their motion was converted to a rise and fall of hammers

via geared systems and transaxles.

Tools, weapons, gates and utensils

would be forged from the smelted iron

that is found in bands in the Sandstone of the Weald.

When greater quantities of Ironstone were found

in the North of England, the local industry became uneconomic.

Therefore, the hammering stopped and these Hammer-Ponds

were left to nature to claim back.

Now, they appear almost completely natural,

and even enhance the environment and habitats.

Along the aforementioned “C” road,

there are no fewer than three such ponds,

Hammer, Hawkins and Roosthole.

The setting sun casts long shadows

across the muddy, fish-laden waters.

A warm dappled light breaks through the twisted,

skeletal branches of Oak trees, yet to leaf, in early Spring.

Sometimes we miss the striking scenes on our doorstep,

but not today!

 

Done