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Summary - not yet available

Monument Type(s):

• FISHPOND (17th century to 18th century - 1601 AD to 1800 AD)
• ORNAMENTAL LAKE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• DAM (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• MOUND (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• EXTRACTIVE PIT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Events:

• Watching brief on lake dredging, Wimpole Park

Full description

1. S of the Tower, on the open hill side, is a crescent-shaped 'moat'. Two fish ponds were made between 1688 and 1720 and were amalgamated in 1767 - 1772 when a further pond was added.

2. The SW Cambridgeshire NAIS project identified a number of features associated with the fishpond. The features included a dam, situated c.170m NE of the lake. A smaller ornamental lake was identified c.20m NE of the edge of the lake. Other features include several extractive pits and mounds. These features were visible on LiDAR imagery from 2008.

The post medieval ornamental lake earthworks are visible on 2008 lidar, centred at TL 3305 5182. The earthworks comprise the triangular sunken area of the lake itself, with an embanked dam wall on the east and a water channel extending to the south-east. Parallel to the lake edges are a number of terraces, which probably relate to walkways in the wood illustrated on a 1790 map of the estate. A denuded mound to the east of this lake is still illustrated as an island on the central lake on the first edition Ordnance Survey map. A small round mound constructed into the southern bank of the lake was possibly a platform for a small building.

3. TL 3300 5182: the earthworks of an ornamental fishpond/lake, situated in Horse Common Plantation, within the landscape park at Wimpole.

The fishpond originated as the upper of a pair established by the 2nd Earl of Radnor during extensive garden works, c 1700. Its original hard, straight lines were softened with a more sinuous shoreline in the later 18th century, probably by Capability Brown. It had dried up by 1810.

The site of the fishpond was surveyed and investigated by the RCHME in March 1998 as part of a wider survey of Wimpole Park, carried out on behalf of the National Trust. The earthwork remains represent the two main phases: the first from the original pond which was some 220m long and between 50m and 110m wide, the water held in place by a large dam 1.8m high with a spillway from its south-eastern end, the second from the slightly larger and more sinuous lake which extended further back up the valley and still survives.

A full report and survey a plan, at 1:1000 scale, is available in the NMR archive.

<1> RCHM, 1968, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Cambridgeshire. Volume I. West Cambridgeshire, 214 -223 (map, plan, photo) (Bibliographic reference). SCB18049.

<2> SW Cambridgeshire project 2014 (NHPP), 2016, CUCAP Wimpole Lidar DTM 04-SEP-2008, 1204301 (Geospatial data). SCB51393.

<3> RCHME, 1984, Wimpole Park Survey Archive (Unpublished document). SCB20627.

<4> Pattison, P. & Barker, L., 2003, Wimpole Park, Wimpole, Cambridgeshire Medieval Settlement, post-medieval park and gardens (Unpublished report). SCB60615.

Sources and further reading

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