I received this informative email about the spring on Butts Close. This is a wet area that I was not sure about I could not figure out whether it was indeed a spring and/or where the water might go to. Now we have an answer to both these questions and I will add it to the list of springs and the information to the ROUTE 3 walk. At this point I'm not sure how we can work in a detour onto Butts close - but Ill figure somethings out in the near future.
Thank you Keith for your contribution.
Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews has left a new comment on your post "
Purwell 'ring of springs' walking ROUTE 3 in more ...":
The stream that joins the Hiz from the culvert at the back (south-east side) of Bancroft Gardens is the Capswell Brook. This brook is now culverted for all of its length. It rises on Butts Close, where the marsh grass in the area between Archer's Gym and Hampden House on the west side of Elmside Walk marks the spring. From there, it formerly flowed north-eastwards before turning more to the east beneath the Boys' School playing fields and crossing Bancroft roughly in the position of the gap between the southern (earlier) group of buildings forming Skinner's Almshouses and the northern (later) block. The presence of the stream is the reason for the raising of the pavement on the west side of Bancroft in this area: in the nineteenth century, it was much higher and there was a tendency for the road to flood occasionally. I imagine that the current culvert is more efficient than the older, as I'm not aware of any floods in this area in recent years. The stretch east of the almshouses was still partly open in the early twentieth century, running through the nursery that stood behind Skinner's almshouses. I suspect that this part was culverted to create the bowling green when the gardens were developed in the 1930s.
Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews
Posted by Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews to Purwell Valley at 18 January 2012 09:01
