Nine Wells | |
---|---|
Type | Local Nature Reserve |
Location | Trumpington, Cambridgeshire |
OS grid | TL 461 542 |
Area | 1.2 hectares |
Managed by | Cambridge City Council |
Nine Wells is a 1.2 hectare Local Nature Reserve east of Trumpington, on the southern outskirts of Cambridge. It is owned and managed by Cambridge City Council. [1] [2]
The site is a small area of woodland surrounded by agricultural land. Multiple springs issue from the base of a chalk hill, and feed Hobson's Conduit, the watercourse that was built between 1610 and 1614 by Thomas Hobson and other benefactors to bring fresh water into the city of Cambridge. There are four main springheads linked by stream channels, as well as innumerable minor fissures, that issue water at a constant 10.2 °C. [3] [4]
In 1265 a defensive channel known as 'the king's ditch' was excavated around the city of Cambridge. By the early 17th century this ditch had become an open sewer. In 1574 Andrew Perne DD, Master of Peterhouse, thought of constructing a channel to bring water to the ditch. Hobson's Conduit, constructed from 1610, used the natural springs at Nine Wells to create a flow of water to the city and flush the kings ditch. This was not only successful in sanitising the city but it became the principal water supply for Cambridge for over 250 years. Water continues to flow into the city and waters the lake in the Botanic Garden.
The dominant trees here are beech which were originally planted for firewood but have a detrimental effect on the watercourses: an acidic leaf fall in autumn is causing heavy silting and a change in oxygen levels. The hedgerow that encloses the reserve was planted following the Enclosures Act of 1834 and comprises native species like hawthorn, spindle and field maple. A survey determined that 108 plant species grow here and the area contains numerous mature ash trees as well as blackthorn. Scented sweet violets (Viola odorata) and bluebells bloom there early in the year, and later there are cowslips and deadly nightshade. [4]
It was created a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest because a range of relic aquatic invertebrates bred here. The flatworms Planaria cornuta and P. alpina were found here and had survived from the last glacial period. Another relic species was a trichopteran (caddisfly), Agapetus fuscipes. [5] However the drought of 1976 together with increased water abstraction caused some extinctions and Nine Wells lost its SSSI status. [3] Efforts are being made to recreate conditions favourable to re-establishing a richer invertebrate fauna again, however there is a great deal of new building going on in the area so this special little habitat patch is potentially under threat. According to the information boards within the reserve, active management is needed to keep the streams suitable for bullhead fish to thrive and this is important as they provide food for kingfishers. Falling beech leaves need to be cleared from the streams to stop the water from becoming too acidic.
These woods are home to species including chaffinch, robin, yellowhammer, greenfinch, blackbird and, during the summer, chiffchaff. The site is an important refuge for birds, with sparrowhawk (Accipitier nisus), green woodpecker (Picus viridis), long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus), bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) and redwing (Turdus iliacus) recorded as well as a good variety of small species. This is also a good site for butterflies including peacocks and brimstones (Gonepteryx)".
Within the Reserve there is a monument to Hobson's Conduit which was erected in 1861 by public subscription and records the benefactors to the water course and conduit as:
The obelix is a Grade II listed building. [6]
It is south of Addenbrooke's Hospital and east of the railway line and the genome cycle track ( 52°09′58″N0°08′06″E / 52.166°N 0.1349°E ), near the village of Great Shelford.
Thomas Hobson was an English carrier, best known as the origin of the expression Hobson's choice.
Addenbrooke's Hospital is a large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge, England, with strong affiliations to the University of Cambridge. Addenbrooke's Hospital is located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. It is run by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is a designated academic health science centre. It is also the East of England's major trauma centre and was the first such centre to be operational in the United Kingdom.
The River Wandle is a right-bank tributary of the River Thames in south London, England. With a total length of about 9 miles (14 km), the river passes through the London boroughs of Croydon, Sutton, Merton and Wandsworth, where it reaches the Thames. A short headwater – the Caterham Bourne – is partially in Surrey, the historic county of the river's catchment. Tributaries of the Wandle include Carshalton Ponds and Norbury Brook.
The name Rea Brook can refer to either of two brooks in Shropshire, England.
Hobson's Conduit, also called Hobson's Brook, is a watercourse that was built from 1610 to 1614 by Thomas Hobson and others to bring fresh water into the city of Cambridge, England from springs at Nine Wells, a Local Nature Reserve, near the village of Great Shelford. It is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument and historical relic. The watercourse currently runs overground until Cambridge University Botanic Garden and Brookside, where it is at its widest. At the corner of Lensfield Road stands a hexagonal monument to Hobson, which once formed part of the market square fountain, and was moved to this location in 1856, after a fire in the Market. The flow of water runs under Lensfield Road, and subsequently runs along both sides of Trumpington Street in broad gutters towards Peterhouse and St Catharine's College, and also St Andrew's Street. The conduit currently ends at Silver Street.
Byron's Pool is a 4.4 hectare Local Nature Reserve in Grantchester in Cambridgeshire. It is managed by Cambridge City Council and the City Greenways Project.
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Market Hill is the location of the marketplace in central Cambridge, England. Operating as a marketplace since Saxon times, a daily outdoor market with stalls continues to run there.
Lensfield Road is a road in southeast central Cambridge, England. It runs between the junction of Trumpington Street and Trumpington Road to the west and the junction of Regent Street and Hills Road to the west. It continues as Gonville Place to the northeast past Parker's Piece, a large grassy area with footpaths.
The Old Addenbrooke's Site is a site owned by the University of Cambridge in the south of central Cambridge, England. It is located on the block formed by Fitzwilliam Street to the north, Tennis Court Road to the east, Lensfield Road to the south, and Trumpington Street to the west.
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Great Kneighton is a large housing development and residential area in the southern part of the City of Cambridge district of Cambridgeshire, adjacent to, and integrated with, the neighbouring village of Trumpington. Together with nearby development Trumpington Meadows, it forms part of the southern fringe expansion of the city. Currently nearing completion by developers Countryside Properties, it will ultimately consist of almost 2,300 homes.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Cambridge, England.
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