Cockram’s Pond
If you walk down Pitt Lane and take the footpath on the right just before Wisteria Cottage and proceed across the bridge over the stream and follow the footpath to the right alongside the wooded area, then enter the wood you will come to a boggy pond against a long earth bank. Set into the middle of the bank is a semi-circular brick structure the centre of which has a collapsed opening of now indiscernible purpose. Climb the bank and on the opposite side to the brickwork is an exit tunnel leading into a deep manmade gully which in turn leads on to the stream which runs on into Coleorton Fishpond.
On the 1885 OS map this area is shown coloured blue as a large pond and woodland named as Cockram’s Pond and Plantation. These sad remains are all that are left of a once extensive engineering project.
At the beginning of the 19th Century the Beaumonts, in the person of Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet, returned to their ancestral seat of Coleorton after 100 years as absentee landlords. Sir George’s first priority was the restoration of his neglected estate, including the rebuilding of the dilapidated Coleorton Hall and the landscaping of its gardens and vistas. In this he was assisted by his friend, the poet William Wordsworth. A major project was the excavation of the fishpond as a scenic attraction, but also for recreation (angling and boating) and as a source of fish for the table. The pond was created by excavating and damming the stream that entered the site from Coleorton Moor.
One important consideration was the need to maintain a constant supply of water to the pond. Whilst excess water could be released over the dam or a sluice, an additional source of supply might be needed in times of draught. It was to meet this contingency that Cockram’s pond was created. Waste soil excavated from the fish pond was used to create a high bank and retain the water arising in Cockram’s Plantation from a natural spring. The water retained behind this bank could then be released through a brick-built sluice gate located on the pond side of the bank and pass beneath the bank through a brick lined tunnel and along a gulley to join the stream on Coleorton Moor which in turn fed into the fishpond itself. Cockram’s Pond therefore served as a balancing pond to maintain the level of the fish pond in times of draught. In 1875 Coleorton Colliery was sunk on The Moor and water pumped from this colliery was then fed into the stream serving the fish pond, making Cockram’s pond redundant as a water reserve. Since then, with the passing of time natural vegetation and decay have overtaken this interesting site.
Terry Ward
Member of Coleorton Heritage Group
July 2024