Bob Delderfield’s History File
Spring 1994
The Pond and Dam on Hunford Brook
Bob Delderfield outlines an archaeological investigation of one of Pound Wood’s Puzzles
Whilst it is generally agreed by those visiting the site that in former times Hunford Brook was dammed and a pond created, there is need for corroborative evidence. So on Easter Saturday this year an archaeological investigation was carried out at the dam site under the auspices of the Southend Museum.
Two surveys were conducted, one to produce a hachured plan of the site and the other used an auger to enable sections to be drawn across the pond and its banks. In landscape archaeology, levelling equipment or similar apparatus is used to enable a reasonably detailed plan of the lumps and bumps to be drawn. This often allows us to see the shape and structure of a site more clearly than we can on the ground, especially in an area where trees, bushes, brambles and ground cover inhibit a clear view. Levelling causes less destruction and disturbance of the woodland habitat than a full excavation, so is to be preferred in Pound Wood.
It will be a while before the results of the surveys are published. However, preliminary thoughts would seem to point to a deliberate digging of at least part of the pond and not just the flooding of a natural hollow. The auger survey produced soil samples to a depth of 33cm across the pond and a preliminary drawing of the two sections produced indicates a well established pond. More samples will need to be taken along one of the sections before a final interpretation will be attempted.
If there was a pond, what was it for? The most likely possibilities would be a fishpond, a watering place for cattle or a source of water for an industrial activity. Whatever its origin, one thing is certain: it predates the wood.
The huge hombeam coppice stool on the dam is several hundred years old and existing documentary evidence takes Pound Wood back definately to the sixteenth century and probably to the thirteenth. We are therefore looking at a date for the pond and dam which is at least medieval, quite possibly early medieval or perhaps even earlier.
Watch this space for further news.