Buckpool and Fens Pool | |
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Type | Local Nature Reserve |
Location | Pensnett, England |
Coordinates | 52°29′31″N2°07′48″W / 52.492°N 2.130°W |
Created | 1993 |
Operated by | Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council |
Buckpool and Fens Pool Local Nature Reserve is situated in the Pensnett area of the West Midlands. The largest area of open water in Dudley Metropolitan Borough, it contains both large and small ponds, one end of the Stourbridge Canal, streams and grassy areas. It was created in 1993.
The area was once part of Pensnett Chase, a medieval hunting ground of the Barons of Dudley. Like most of the rest of the chase, it was gradually turned to industrial use, including coal mining, clay extraction and a brickworks. [1] Part of the Earl of Dudley's private railways ran across the area. The collieries and clay pits closed in the early 20th century but the brickworks and railway only closed in the 1960s. The former colliery waste ground has now become grassland and former clay pits have flooded to become ponds. It now comprises the largest area of open water in Dudley Metropolitan Borough. [2] The area was declared a nature reserve in 1993. [3]
The reserve is located in the Pensnett area of the West Midlands. Access is via the Pensnett Road.
The reserve contains 4 large irregularly shaped pools. Three of these pools: Fens Pool, Middle Pool and Grove Pool are grouped together in the north eastern part of the reserve. These pools form the Fens Pools site of Special Scientific Interest. The other large pool in the reserve, Foot's Hole, lies to the south west of this group, separated by the Dell Stadium (a sports ground owned by Dudley Council). The longest pool, Middle Pool, is around 400m in length. [1] There are also numerous small ponds as well as grassland and some scrubland.
Although the area was the scene of intensive industrial use, the remains of a ridge and furrow agricultural system can still be seen in part of the reserve. [1]
The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England. It was created in 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972, through a merger of the existing Dudley County Borough with the municipal boroughs of Stourbridge and Halesowen.
Amblecote is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England. It lies immediately north of the historic town of Stourbridge on the southwestern edge of the West Midlands conurbation. Historically, Amblecote was in the parish of Oldswinford, but unlike the rest of the parish it was in Staffordshire, and as such was administered separately. It borders Audnam, Quarry Bank and Wollaston.
Pensnett is a village of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands County, England, 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Dudley. Pensnett has been a part of Dudley since 1966, when the Brierley Hill Urban District, of which it was a part, was absorbed into the County Borough of Dudley, later the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley from 1974.
Rixton Clay Pits is a former clay extraction site in Rixton, near Hollins Green, Warrington, England. Formerly farmland, boulder clay extraction started in the 1920s for brick making in the adjacent brickworks and ceased in 1965 – since then it has been allowed to return to nature. It is now an area of ponds, scrub, woodland and damp grassland. It is owned and managed by Warrington Borough Council as a local amenity.
Netherton is a town of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, 2 miles (3 km) south of Dudley in the West Midlands of England. It was historically part of Worcestershire. The town is part of the Black Country, Netherton is bounded by nature reserves to the east and west, and an industrial area and the Dudley Southern By-Pass to the north.
Brettell Lane railway station was a station on the Oxford-Worcester-Wolverhampton Line which served the town of Brierley Hill in England.
Baggeridge Colliery was a colliery located in Sedgley, West Midlands England.
Brandon Marsh is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and nature reserve in Warwickshire, England. It is situated adjacent to the River Avon, near the village of Brandon, a few miles east of Coventry.
Fens Pools is a 37.6 hectares biological site of Special Scientific Interest in the West Midlands. The site was notified in 1989. under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and is currently managed by the Country Trust.
Sheepwash Urban Park is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR), situated in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, in the West Midlands conurbation of the United Kingdom. It forms part of the Black Country Urban Forest.
Pensnett Chase was a wooded area of land owned by the Lords of Dudley Castle in the parishes of Kingswinford and Dudley. As a chase, it was originally used by them to hunt game in although it was also used as common land by local people. At some periods it was regarded as extending into Gornal and including Baggeridge Wood at one end and perhaps Cradley Heath at the other. By the 17th century the ancient woodlands had largely been cleared.
The Pensnett Canal, also called Lord Ward's Canal was a private 1.25 miles (2 km) long canal near Brierley Hill, West Midlands, England, which opened in 1840 and served the industrial enterprises of Lord Dudley's Estate. The engineer was Mathew Frost. Since its closure to navigation in 1950, much of it has been lost by overbuilding, but a small section at its junction with the Dudley Canal was restored in 1995, and the section through Brierley Hill remains in water, although it is polluted and not navigable.
The Earl of Dudley’s Railway or Pensnett Railway, was a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge railway that developed from a single 3-mile (4.8 km) line opened in 1829 to, at its maximum extent, a 40-mile (64 km) long network around the Earl of Dudley’s Iron Works at Round Oak near Brierley Hill.
Saltwells Local Nature Reserve is situated in the Netherton area of Dudley Metropolitan Borough in West Midlands, England. The reserve, created in 1981, covers 247 acres and includes Saltwells Wood and part of Netherton Hill within its boundaries. The reserve encloses two Sites of Special Scientific Interest and one scheduled ancient monument.
Bumble Hole Local Nature Reserve is situated in the Netherton area of Dudley Metropolitan Borough in the county of West Midlands, England. This former industrial area now features canals, ponds, grassland and wooded areas. The reserve lies adjacent to the Warren's Hall Local Nature Reserve. It was declared a local nature reserve in 1996.
Warren's Hall Country Park is a local nature reserve situated in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in the West Midlands of England. It lies next to Bumble Hole Local Nature Reserve. It includes ponds, canals, grassland, small wooded areas and the entrance to Netherton Canal Tunnel.
Barrow Hill Local Nature Reserve is a local nature reserve situated in Pensnett in the county of West Midlands, England. Its most distinctive feature, Barrow Hill, is the eroded remnant of a high level igneous intrusion that was formed 315 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. The reserve was created in 2005.
Ralph de Somery I inherited the barony of Dudley on the death of his uncle, Gervase Paganell, in 1194 although he did not get full ownership of the lands until the death of his mother in 1208. Ralph swapped land that he owned at Wolverhampton with King John, obtaining estates at Kingswinford which proved very valuable to later Lords of Dudley during the Industrial Age. He had three sons and died in 1210.
Stryt Las Park is a park situated between Johnstown and Rhosllanerchrugog, in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is named after Stryt Las, the street which borders the park to its south. The park is situated on a former colliery and landfill site.