The major planting of the trees we still admire in
Acklam was done in conjunction with the construction of Acklam Hall in the latter part of the
17th century.
Opinion is divided on whether formal gardens were created in front of the Hall as shown
in the engraving by Kip in the early 1700s
Acklam Pond
Or whether the the vista of parkland was intended from the start. Nevertheless, all of the old maps show a pond in the front of the Hall, bordering the ancient track that is now Hall Drive
The old maps also show an overall water flow system from south to north with a pond halfway down the Avenue on the east side, a pond halfway through East Wood, a moat behind the Hall and finally the artificial fish pond known as the 'Arty'. Whether all of these features were natural or not is open to debate -- or research. It is most likely that, in an area of generally sandy sub-soil, underlying clay areas will have been swampy and this will have been exploited to form ponds.
The ponds, the moat and the Arty probably existed before the construction of Acklam Hall in 1683 but when the gardens, the woods and the Avenue were landscaped, the pnd in front of the Hall was made into an ornamental pond as part of the overall vista.
A recurrent theme in our newsletters over several years has been Acklam Pond and the need to regenerate it and to restore life to it. Many in the area will remember being able to see frogs, newts and small fish living in the pond. We secured a share of a landfill tax credit grant administered by 'Ponds for People' in order to undertake restoration work and we prepared a plan of work we thought necessary. The salient points of the plan were:
Of these, the most important is clearing the inflow pipe. This is blocked, first by the roots of the sycamore north of Hall Drive and then, further upstream, by silting..
The land drain lies under land for which the secondary schools and the Hustler Trust have responsibility, but, even with offers of help towards the costs it is proving difficult to persuade them to recognise their responsibilities.
Notwithstanding these problems we began, with some help from the Probation Service and from the Fire Brigade, to embark on some clearance. We removed five skips worth of rubbish and débris from the pond and did some essential pruning of the undergrowth on the island. The Council were extremely helpful in loading and removing the skips.
In May (2006) we undertook some heavy civil engineering. With the help of Hugh from the Environment Agency [Ponds for People]. We stabilised the banks and then took a large amount of débris and silt from the pond with a large grabber. We had some unwanted help from local, truanting school children who were hell-bent on throwing rubbish back in as fast as we removed it! [They have since devoted much effort to continual wrecking of the repaired outlet weir].
The pond looked rather a mess initally but when the gunge dried it was raked it and more of the accumulated rubbish was removed. We have now treated the pond twice with Siltex (a proprietary lime) to help decompose the silt and improve the water quality.
Heavy rain during 2007 has allowed the water level to be re-established. When the feed drains to the south of Hall Drive have been repaired we hope that water levels and quality can be maintained [-- always subject to the activities of the free range urban guerrillas from the education establishments].