Barnes Pond

The main feature of Barnes Green has to be the pond. Today it is a peaceful place to sit and watch the world go by or feed the ducks, but well into the nineteenth century it was just the village pond, where cows stopped for a drink and horses and carts were driven in to clean up after a muddy trip along the unmade roads.

Over the course of 48 hours in April 2001, Barnes Pond mysteriously emptied itself. The BCA launched a Pond Appeal for £200,000 and this, together with a Council grant of £60,000 and advice from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, enabled experts to be employed to reline and restore the pond which was refilled in April 2003. During the final stages of the work the cause of the mystery was discovered: a six-inch outlet pipe had somehow become unplugged, causing the water to drain away so rapidly, although what caused the plug to come out is still a mystery. The pipe now forms the emergency overflow.

For more information about the pond and its inhabitants, you can find regular updates from Barnes’ Greenkeeper, Russell Greaves, here.

Special thanks to Andrew Wilson for allowing us to use a selection of photographs from “Wild About Barnes”.