Village Pond resurrected

 

   Old Village Pond.  Photo. John Elliott.  Click to enlarge

After drying up completely during the late summer, the South Winterborne lived up to its name and started to flow again overnight on 21st October/22nd October.  This ' Wherry breaking ' as it was known by old villagers,is due to the rapidly rising ground water level. which for a while was increasing at 40cms/day. It is now slightly over the normal maximum level but has levelled off to 1cm/day or less so the risk of flooding has eased. One of the former village ponds  in the old cricket field (did you know that if you hit one of the sychamore trees it counted as a six?) now has water in it, presumably spring fed. This pond and the one on the corner opposite East Lodge (now filled in) are shown as permanent features in the maps of 1896 and had a direct connection to the South Winterborne.