Gracious Pond in relation to other watercourses and ponds

Gracious Pond is a lozenge-shaped area of valley bottom.  The pond was created by building a dam across the SW end of the valley; thus the pond would not have needed to be dug out.  Banks were built around the entire circumference of the pond; it is unlikely that these were to keep water in, more probably to define the limits of the area enclosed from the common and perhaps to keep people out. A maintenance leet runs around the whole northern bank of the pond. This allows the pond to be drained; the stream which flows into the pond would have been diverted into the leat and the dam at the bottom end of the pond opened.

The origin of the name.

The names of the ponds on Chobham Common can be traced through the sequence of maps.  Gracious Pond appears earlier than the others but this may simply be because it was more obvious.

 The Place Names of Surrey opt for the origin as CRA(T)CHET POND, although various corruptions are recorded as "CRACHERS" "GRATINS", " CRATHORS". Gracious Pond Farm seems to have had many names too, HORUS, HONIES, HONISH, but by 1870 had assumed its present title.

If CRATCHETTES Pond and Gracious Pond are the same then we know that it was constructed by Chertsey Abbey circa 1308 since the Chertsey Abbey Cartulary (pub: Surrey Record Society) records that Abbot Rutherwyk:

• In 1307 the abbot made running water to run round the manor of Chobham...... .
• In 1308 he constructed a new mill called Hurstmyll there in the same year he stopped up and caused to be made a certain pond called CRATCHETTES POND.......

Why Was Gracious Pond Created?

Was it a fish pond or was it intended to be a reservoir?

A Reservoir?

Three streams flow into the upper half of Chobham Park before joining and flowing into the Bourne.  The stream entering from top right drains Gracious Pond and the Old Slade bog. The Ram drains Langshot Bog and Glovers Ponds. Map: David Stokes

It has been suggested that Cratchettes Pond was constructed to provide water for the moat at Chobham Park. Fieldwork by the Surrey Heath Archaeological and Heritage Trust has shown that this is unlikely - the 'Ram' stream flows between Chobham Park house and the stream from Gracious Pond. There is a pond and water course to the just to the north of Chobham Park which is a much more likely candidate to supply water to a moat.  However, Gracious Pond may have been constructed to store water to drive a mill at the Chobham Park site.  There is a feasible site for a mill just below where the Ram and the stream from Gracious Pond merge.  The Chertsey Cartulary tells us that in Chobham in 1308 the abbot constructed a new mill called Hurstmill and in the same year he stopped up and caused to be made a certain pond called CRATCHETTES POND. It is possible that Cratchettes Pond was constructed to serve the new mill.  But we do not know where Hurst mill was.  It is entirely possible that Hurst mill and its associated Cratchettes pond were somewhere else in the parish.

A Fish Pond?

The Abbey site lay on the south side of the Abbey River which is a branch of the Thames which leaves the main stream at Penton Hook and rejoins just above the modern Chertsey Bridge. Denny suggests that fish trapping would have been practiced in both the Thames and Abbey rivers at that time. The Abbey had other properties close by supplying fish, the entries in Doomsday reading as follows:

Petersham (KINGSTON HUNDRED) assessed at 1000 EELS and the same number of LAMPHREYS

BYFLEET (GODLEY HUNDRED) [RIVER WEY] 1.5 [sic] fisheries, 325 EELS.

The abbey grounds contained many fish ponds which can still be seen to this day.  Denny suggests that the riverside abbey had its own sources of fish and would not have required a fish pond to be constructed on the heathlands 5 miles away. Nevertheless, the Bishop of Winchester with immediate access to the Itchen still found it necessary to construct the two Frensham ponds on similar heathlands and even further from his base.

In 1719 Aubrey describes the Pond as containing "excellent Carps" and "above a mile in compass". The currently visible, apparently complete, embankment is about 1.25 km in length (which is only 3/4 mile).

Even if the main purpose of the pond was to supply water it is likely it would have been stocked with fish as soon as it was practical to do so. There are now no fish in the stream that runs through Gracious Pond; the water is far to acid and polluted with iron oxide leached from the iron pan. However, where a pond has been constructed the water is very clear.

However, don't harbour the romantic imagine of monks catching their fish by drifted around the pond in small boats with nets or sitting dreaming on the bank with a line and rod. Fish in ponds were farmed either by opening the sluice and filtering the fish as they were swept out, or harvested by periodically draining the whole pond and then scooping up the fish.  The fish were then transported to the small stew ponds until needed for the table.  The latter method was usually used when maintenance of the pond was scheduled.^{1 2003 p286}

The Recorded History

The Manor(house) of Chobham was purchased by Henry VIII in 1535 two years before the dissolution of Chertsey Abbey. It remained the property of the Crown until sold by Queen Mary to the Heath family in 1558. It would appear that this sale did not include the Pond, as Aubrey reports (Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey 1719 page 208) "In the heath in this parish is a great pond called Gracious Pond above ..... It is now in the possession of Anthony Thomas Esq" 

Rocques map of 1770 indicates that Chobham Park Farm was supplied with water by a string of two ponds, now known as Glovers Pond, North West of Gracious Pond.  This is the first time that Glovers Pond appears on a map.

Spencer in 1771 described it "as now choaked with weeds" (quotation from J.S. Ogilvy's "A Pilgrimage in Surrey" 1914).

Manning & Bray's History of Surrey Vol.3. 1814 page 192 reports "On the heath is a pond called Gracious Pond about three quarters mile in length, flowing when full, about 60 acres. (the current banks enclose 30 acres - DS)..... It was laid dry in 1810 which gave the Editor an opportunity of observing of the north side of it was peat which was then digging; the South side was wholly sand and pebbles." It is interesting that both Aubrey and Manning and Bray describe Gracious Pond as being about twice the size enclosed by the current banks.

W.E. Brayley in the 'History of Surrey' (1848) Vo1.1. Page 345 reports "There are bogs in different parts of the [Chobham] heath and also a large sheet of water called Gracious Pond, ........... It's appearance has much changed of late years, a considerable part of the bank on the north side which consists of peat having been cut away for fuel by persons to who it had been let." Since the bank on the north side is complete and it is unlikely that a bank would be constructed of peat, perhaps Brayley was referring to the sloping area to the north of the central stream?

In 1895 C.R.B.Barret in 'Highways Byways and Waterways of Surrey page 208 repeated "In these days the Pond is drained & the moats filled in " 

This it would appear that the Pond was allowed to gradually deteriorate in the second half of the 18th century and was drained circa 1810 but peat digging in the north north side continued at least until about 1850.

In the Senex map of 1729 the water now known as "Fishpond" situated just south of Gracious Pond (map reference 995635) appears for the first time. This drained into the water from the Old Slade which then joins the water from Gracious Pond. But 'Fishpond' is not shown by Rocque in 1770, nor by Lindley and Crosley in 1789. Fishpond is often called Gracious Pond - even by 'Chobners'.

In the 1930s, Dr Witherby, a naturalist, bought Gracious Pond Farm and Pond and established the pond as a nature reserve.

Charles Good bought Gracious Pond Farm and in 1972 he gave the management of the reserve to the Surrey Wildlife Trust.

Geology

Gracious Pond occupies a natural valley coinciding with the boundary between the Bagshot and Bracklesham beds.  This boundary is rich in iron.

Sampling organised by the Surrey Wildlife Trust in 2003 showed that the central areas south of the main stream support 130-150cm of amorphous peaty silt, silty peat, sandy peat or peaty sand over a narrow band of peat (c15-20cm).