Sowley Pond facts for kids
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 |
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| Area of Search | Hampshire |
|---|---|
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 49.3 hectares (122 acres) |
| Notification | 1984 |
| Location map | Magic Map |
Sowley Pond is a special natural area in Hampshire, England. It covers about 49.3 hectares (that's like 120 football fields!). This pond is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, which means it's protected because of its important plants and animals. It's also part of a bigger protected area called the Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and Special Protection Area.
Sowley Pond is a safe home for many kinds of ducks. Both ducks that feed on the surface and those that dive underwater love it here. It's a key part of the marshland system in the west Solent area.
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Where is Sowley Pond?
Sowley Pond is located on the southern edge of the New Forest. It's about 1 kilometer away from the Solent sea. You can find it between the towns of Lymington and Bucklers Hard. A road crosses the dam that created the pond. This road is part of the Solent Way, a long walking path.
A Look Back: Sowley Pond's History
Sowley Pond was created a long, long time ago, in the 1300s! Monks from a nearby place called Beaulieu Abbey built a dam across the Crockford stream. They did this to make a big pond where they could fish.
Later, in the 1600s and 1700s, the pond was used for something else. It supplied water to an ironworks that was across the road.
The Old Ironworks
The Sowley ironworks started in the 1590s. It was a place where they made iron. For a while, it had a tough time, but then it became very important. This was because the Portsmouth dockyard (where navy ships were built) was growing fast.
A skilled blacksmith named Henry Corbett took over the ironworks. He worked with another iron-making place in Beaulieu. They got contracts to make wrought iron for the navy. The ironworks kept going until after the Napoleonic Wars (around 1815), when it became too expensive to run. The forge, which shaped the iron, worked until about 1822.
Today, you can still see signs of the old ironworks. There's a patch of reddish earth where the furnace used to be. You can also find pieces of furnace slag (waste material). Near the dam, where the forge was, you can find lots of forge cinder. There's even an old local saying: "the Sowley hammer can be heard." This means that rain is on its way!
Sowley House and Smugglers
Sowley House is a private home next to the pond. It's not open to the public. The gardens of the house are very special. They have many rare orchids and beautiful wild flowers that stretch all the way to the Solent shore.
Right next to the house was an old inn called the Forge Hammer Inn. In the 1700s, this inn was used by smugglers! Smugglers would bring illegal goods, like brandy, ashore at a nearby spot called Pitts Deep Hard. Then, they would hide the goods in the inn's cellars.
One time, the coastguard raided the inn. The brave landlady quickly distracted the officers. She loudly complained to one officer about a debt he owed her. While she was doing this, the smugglers moved the hidden brandy from the chimney to a safe spot in some nearby trees. When the coastguard finally searched, they found nothing! The landlady then scolded them for bothering honest people.
Amazing Plants at Sowley Pond
Sowley Pond is home to many different kinds of trees and plants. Here are some you might find:
- Oak trees
- Scots pine trees
- Hazel bushes
- Common hawthorn bushes
- Butcher’s broom
- Wood spurge
- Early purple orchid (a beautiful flower!)
- Lesser quaking-grass
Wonderful Wildlife at Sowley Pond
Sowley Pond is a great place for birds and other animals. Many bird species live here, including:
- Mallard ducks
- Eurasian wigeon ducks
- Eurasian teal ducks
- Tufted ducks
- Common pochard ducks
- Great crested grebes
- Grey herons
Sowley has one of the biggest heronries (places where herons nest) in Hampshire. In 2018, there were 17 active heron nests here!
You can also find variable damselflies breeding at Sowley Pond.
Sika Deer at Sowley
In the early 1900s, King Edward VII gave a pair of sika deer to John, the second Baron Montagu of Beaulieu. These deer escaped into Sowley Wood. They were the start of the large herds of sika deer you can see in the New Forest today! They had so many babies that people had to start controlling their numbers in the 1930s.
