Sowley Pond

Sowley Pond is situated on the southern edge of the New Forest, approximately 1 km from the Solent and is midway between Lymington and Buckler's Hard. The road crossing the dam that was constructed to form the pond is part of the Solent Way long-distance footpath.{{cite web |title=The Solent Way: Lymington to Beaulieu |url= http://www.solentway.co.uk/solent_lymington_beaulieu.html |publisher=www.solentway.co.uk|access-date=8 October 2009}}

Sowley Pond was formed in the fourteenth century by monks from nearby Beaulieu Abbey who dammed the Crockford stream, which rises on Beaulieu Heath, to form a fishery.{{cite web |author=Andrew Walmsley |title=Beaulieu History: a brief overview |url= http://www.newforestexplorersguide.co.uk/sitefolders/villages/beaulieu/historyintro/beaulieuhistorypage.html |publisher=New Forest Explorers' Guide|year=2008 |access-date=8 October 2009}}

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the pond was used to supply water for an ironworks situated on the opposite side of the road on what is now Sandpit Lane.{{cite web |author1=Catharina van der Vorm| author2=Emma Page |title=Sowley House and the Ironworks |url= http://beaulieuhistorysociety.org.uk/images/presentations/sowley/Sowley_Talk.pdf |access-date=10 October 2016}}

The Sowley ironworks were completed in the 1590s by the Earl of Southampton. It had a tenuous existence during the 17th century, but with the rapid expansion of Portsmouth dockyard the works were taken over by Henry Corbett, a specialist blacksmith from London, who set up a forge at Beaulieu in conjunction with Sowley. He was financed by Edmund Dummer, a former surveyor of the Navy, and naval contracts for wrought iron followed. Corbett died in 1708 and Dummer continued the business until 1712 when he went bankrupt and his brother Thomas (an ex-navy purser) continued to supply the navy until 1716.{{cite web |first= Jeremy |last=Greenwood|title=The Sowley Ironworks and its naval connections |url= http://hist-met.org/hmsnews52.pdf |work= HMS News|publisher=Historical Metallurgy Society |format=PDF |pages=3–4|date= Winter 2002|access-date=8 October 2009}} By the 1790s, the ironworks were leased by Charles Pocock who lived at the adjacent Sowley House but the ironworks became uneconomic and ceased operating after the Napoleonic Wars.{{cite web |title= Henry Pocock and his Family |url= http://www.chalfonthistory.co.uk/pocock.html |work= The history of Chalfont St Giles|access-date=8 October 2009}} The forge continued to operate until about 1822.

At various times a water powered blast furnace existed as well as (intermittently) a finery forge. In the 1750s an air furnace was built. Today, the site of the furnace is indicated by a patch of reddened earth, around which is a heavy concentration of furnace slag. The site of the forge is near the edge of a hollow (wheelpit) below the dam,Jeremy Greenwood. A history of the ironworks at Sowley.2005. where heavy concentrations of forge cinder marks are evident.{{cite web |title=Beaulieu: Historical or Literary Associations |url= http://www.hants.gov.uk/hampshiretreasures/vol05/page010.html |work= Hampshire Treasures|publisher=Hampshire County Council |date= 29 March 2006|access-date=8 October 2009}} There is a local saying that "the Sowley hammer can be heard" which means that rain is on the way.{{cite web|author=J. S. P. Agg Large|title=The Lonely Men of the Forest|url=http://freespace.virgin.net/j.purkis/lonely.htm|work=The Rufus Stone and the Purkis Connection|access-date=8 October 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100222100042/http://freespace.virgin.net/j.purkis/lonely.htm|archive-date=22 February 2010}}

The house, which is situated to the south of the pond, is privately owned and not open to the public. In 2001, it was occupied by Otto and Catharina van der Vorm, from the Netherlands. The gardens have large quantities of rare orchids and wild flower meadows which extend down to the Solent shore.{{cite web |author= Pat Holt |title= Seaside Paradise |url= http://archive.thisishampshire.net/2001/6/23/74051.html |publisher= thisishampshire.net |date= 23 June 2001 |access-date= 8 October 2009 }}{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

The former Forge Hammer Inn adjacent to the house and ironworks was used by smugglers in the eighteenth century to hide contraband. The goods were landed at nearby Pitts Deep Hard and hidden in the cellars of the inn. During one raid by the coastguard the landlady was despatched to divert the coastguards while the tubs of illicit brandy were moved from their hiding place in the chimney to the safety of a nearby copse of trees. "The landlady advanced upon them. Singling out one of the officers who owed her a score for...liquid refreshment, she abused him roundly for not paying his debts..." When the contraband was safe, the landlady admitted the coastguard, who found nothing, and were once more abused for interfering with the business of honest citizens.{{cite web |author= Richard Platt |title=Smuggling in Hampshire|url= http://www.smuggling.co.uk/gazetteer_s_12.html|publisher= Tempus Publishing |access-date=8 October 2009}}

Among the tree and plant species found at Sowley are:{{cite web |title=Sowley Pond SSSI – Notification details |url=https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/PDFsForWeb/Citation/1003387.pdf |publisher=Natural England |format=PDF |year= 1984|access-date=15 July 2020}}

• Oak
• Scots pine
• Hazel
• Common hawthorn
• Butcher’s broom
• Wood spurge
• Early purple orchid{{cite web|author= Peter Burford|title= Orchids of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight|url= http://sotonnhs.org/orchfull.asp|publisher= Southampton Natural History Society|date= 3 May 2002|access-date= 7 October 2009|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081120035247/http://www.sotonnhs.org/orchfull.asp|archive-date= 20 November 2008}}
• Lesser quaking-grass{{cite web |author= Martin Rand|title= Arable Margins - Reaping the Benefits?|url= http://www.hantsplants.org.uk/news2006.php|work= Hants Plants: Botany in Hampshire |year=2006|access-date=7 October 2009}}

Sowley is the home to many species of bird, including:

• Mallard
• Eurasian wigeon
• Eurasian teal
• Tufted duck
• Common pochard
• Great crested grebe
• Grey heron

The heronry at Sowley is one of the largest in Hampshire; in 2018 this held 17 occupied nests.{{cite book |last1=Chalmers |first1=Mike |title=Hampshire Bird Report 2018 |publisher=Hampshire Ornithological Society |page=55}}

Variable damselfly also breed at Sowley Pond.{{cite web |title= Variable Damselfly|url=https://sites.google.com/site/localpatch/hampshire-dragonflies/variable-damselfly|work=Hampshire Dragonflies|publisher= localpatch |access-date=4 September 2011}}

In the 1900s, King Edward VII presented a pair of sika deer to John, the second Baron Montagu of Beaulieu. This pair escaped into Sowley Wood and were the basis of the large herds of sika to be found in the forest today. They were so prolific that culling had to be introduced in the 1930s to control numbers.{{cite web |title= British Mammals: Sika Deer|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ptop/A23502926|publisher=BBC |date=15 June 2007 |access-date=8 October 2009}}

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Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hampshire

Category:Industrial history of England

Category:Ironworks and steelworks in England

Category:Ramsar sites in England

Category:Special Protection Areas in England