Fleet Brook
-_Downstream_of_Fleet_Pond_(geograph_5940471).jpg)
Fleet Brook is a small river in northern Hampshire, which is tributary of the River Hart.
The source of the brook is the Fleet Pond, a modest lake at the northern edge of Fleet in the very east of the county. The river that flows out from Fleet Pond is marked as 'Fleet Brook' by the Ordnance Survey. The pond is fed by numerous unnamed streams.
Fleet Pond is part of a nature reserve, and covers around half of the141 acres of the designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. A weir maintains its level.
This is an area that is rather built-up so while there are woods and heaths to the north, the exmasion of Fleet and Farnborough squeeze the brooks trying to find their way home hereabouts.
The river flowing out of the pond passes under the A3013 Cove Road, and runs parallel to Minley Road. It then crosses under the road and heads north-west through Broomhurst Wood, under the M3 motorway and is joined by Minley Brook on its right bank. (Minley Brook rises a little further to the east as a series of drains and springs in marshy ground.) Hereabouts is Brook House, which appears as Brook Farm on maps from 1806.[1]
Beyond the junction with Minley Brook, the main river continues westwards, taking treated sewage from the Fleet works on its left bank. A little further downstream from the works, the river passes under Pale Lane Bridge. After meandering across partially wooded countryside, it is crossed by Home Farm Lane, and briefly enters Elvetham Park, the grounds of Elvetham Hall, where it joins the Hart on the park's north limit near Hartley Wintney.
Milling
There is clear evidence for at least one water mill on the Fleet Brook. Isaac Taylor's map of Hampshire, produced in 1759, names Fleet Mill, Fleet Pond and Fleet Farm, and it was marked as a corn mill in 1872.[2] It continued in use until around 1940, and in 1990, English Heritage inspected it to see whether it should become a listed building, but decided that it did not have sufficient merit. The site is now occupied by office buildings, although a small part of the mill has been incorporated into the design.[3]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Fleet Brook) |
Bibliography
- Society (2016). "History". Fleet Pond Society. http://fleetpond.org.uk/history-of-the-pond/.
- Vaidya, Ashok, ed (2013). The Mills and Millers of Hampshire. 3 - North and East. Hampshire Mills Group.
References
- ↑ Killilea & O'Fegan 2017, S3.1-S3.3.
- ↑ Ordnance Survey, 1:2500 map, 1872
- ↑ Vaidya 2013, pp. 80-81.
