Silent Pool
Silent Pool is a spring-fed lake at the foot of the North Downs near Albury, about 4 miles east of Guildford. It is managed together with the nearby Newlands Corner by the Surrey Wildlife Trust, within the privately owned Albury Estate. [1] The outflow from Silent Pool runs into a second, adjacent, lake, Sherbourne Pond,[2] created in the mid-seventeenth century. In turn the outflow from the Sherbourne Pond feeds the Sherbourne Brook, a tributary of the Tilling Bourne.[3]
Folklore
The Silent Pool has a special place in local folklore, for it is here that King John passing by on his horse surprised a bathing maiden, a local woodcutter's daughter. She, spurning his lustful advances, swam into the deep water and drowned. The local priest seeing this was outraged against the wicked King, his pursuit ending with the barons' revolt and the signing of Magna Carta at Runnymead. Local folk will tell this tale as true history, though in truth its origin is Victorian, in a book by Martin Tupper named Stephan Langton - A Romance of the Silent Pool. According to the legend, the maiden of the fiction can be seen at midnight.
In December 1926, when crime writer Agatha Christie infamously disappeared, it was feared that she had drowned in the Silent Pool after her car was discovered at nearby Newlands Corner.
The lake was admired by the poet Alfred Tennyson.[4]
Geology
The Silent Pool Spring is the only major spring source in the 11-mile-long scarp slope of the North Downs between the Wey and Mole valleys. It discharges its waters into Silent Pool, and the lake water exhibits a blue opalescence characteristic of chalk spring-fed ponds. In prolonged dry periods, Silent Pool has been known to dry up, although the lower Sherbourne Pond has not.
The Silent Pool lies on Lower Chalk, observable at the northern end of the pond. Sherbourne Pond lies mainly on Gault clay, while its northern end and the stream connecting the two ponds lies on Upper Greensand. Blocks of the Upper Greensand can be found in the stream bed: a pale grey siltstone which weathers to brown and is harder than the chalk.[5]
Archaeology
A survey of the Silent Pool in 2006 suggested that the southern half of Silent Pool was dug out at the same time as Sherbourne Pond (1662), while the northern half is of natural origin. It appears that this natural half of the pond was made deeper and lined with clay when the southern half (lined with clay and heather) was added. It is therefore four and a half centuries too late to have seen the licentious advances of King John on a woodcutter's daughter.
In recent years the Pool came under attack by the invasive weed Crassula helmsii. The weed was thought to have been introduced to the Pool by someone tipping the contents of an unwanted aquarium into it. If it had been allowed to grow unchecked, it would have changed the Silent Pool and Sherbourne Pond drastically, “leaving nothing but a green spongy mass, devoid of life”. Thankfully, the sum of £49,960 was raised and work is currently under way to eradicate the weed and restore the waters.[6]
Access
The pool has been a popular site for visitors since Victorian times. It has a car park, directly on the A25, and a footpath leading to a viewing platform and a walkway which encircles the pool.[7] It can also be reached by walkers on the North Downs Way via a direct path descending the slope.[8]
References
- ↑ "Newlands Corner & Silent Pool". Surrey Wildlife Trust. http://www.surreywildlifetrust.org/reserves/show/8. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
- ↑ "The Silent Pool - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Surrey". The Megalithic Portal. 2005. http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=11250. Retrieved 23 May 2007.
- ↑ Crocker, Glenys; Crocker, Alan (2000). Damnable Inventions: Chilworth Gunpowder and the Paper Mills of the Tillingbourne. Guildford: Surrey Industrial History Group. pp. 1–3. ISBN 0-9538122-0-0.
- ↑ Tennyson, Hallam (2005) [1897]. Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son. 2. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. p. 594. ISBN 978-0-7661-8373-5.
- ↑ "Newlands Corner-Albury Geology Trail led by Iain Fletcher". Open University Geological Society (London Branch). http://www.lougs.org.uk/archive/2002.htm#Albury. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
- ↑ "Silent Pool will breathe again". Surrey Wildlife Trust. http://www.surreywildlifetrust.org/news/130. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
- ↑ "Silent Pool and Sherbourne Pond". Surrey County Council. http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/environment-housing-and-planning/countryside/explore-surreys-countryside/visit-the-countryside/walking-in-the-surrey-countryside/easy-walks-around-surrey/silent-pool-and-sherbourne-pond. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
- ↑ "Silent Pool near Albury". National Trail. 2005. http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/northdowns/gallery_image.asp?PageId=21&ImageId=62. Retrieved 17 November 2011.