PITS and PONDS in NORFOLK Hugh C
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10 Erdkunde Band XVI Nansen war eine komplizierte Natur mit sehr damit %u tun, nach vorwarts %u schauen." Diesem er er widersprechenden Eigenschaften. Aber be Prinzip folgte als Forschungsreisender und herrschte sie alle mit seinem unbeugsamen dieses brachte ihm seinen friihen Ruhm. Spater Willen, um die Ziele zu erreichen, die sein trat mehr und mehr die Pflicht in den Vorder ebenso groBer Ehrgeiz ihm gesteckt hatte. grund, das bestmogliche im Leben fiir sich selbst zu tun. ?Ich habe meine Schiffe verbrannt und die Briicken und damit fiir die anderen Diese Haltung hinter mir abgebrochen. So verschwendetman keine beherrschte sein von alien bewundertes Rettungs Zeit mit Ruckwartsblicken, denn man hat genug werk. PITS AND PONDS IN NORFOLK Hugh C. Prince With 7 Tables and 21 Figures for their valuable assistance in Zusammenfassung: Gruben und Teicbe in der Graf schaf t Department of Geography Norfolk the field work carried out in the summer 1958 and spring 1959. I am indebted to the many landowners who kindly Von den in der neuesten Ausgabe der Ordnance Survey to the allowed us to inspect their fields, and in particular, Karten 27 015 sind die gro eingetragenen Eintiefungen Earl of Leicester, his Librarian, Dr. W. O. Hassall, and fien Steinbriiehe mit unregelmafiigem Umrifi die auffallig me his Estate Agent, Mr. F. S. Turner, for permitting sten. Sie kommen in in der gan unregelmafiiger Verteilung to consult the map collection and other records at Holk zen Graf schaf t vor, machen zusammen jedoch nur 1,5% ham. To Mr. J. Bryant I owe thanks for drawing the der Gesamtzahl aus. Zusatzlich zu diesen verdankt eine un maps. bestimmte Zahl anderer, kleinerer Vertiefungen der Ge winnung von Baumaterial und Strafienschotter ihre Ent haben themost minor features of stehung. Weitaus die meisten der Eintiefungen jedoch Among widerspread einen im runden oder are regelmafiigen, allgemeinen ellip theNorfolk landscape the small hollows which tischenUmrifi und sind kleiner als ein acre ha). Sie (0,4 are to be found in almost every field.Viewed from den ?S6llen** der Grundmoranen entsprechen (Sing. hSoII**) the road or the of a field be landschaften des nordlichen Mitteleuropa. (Vgl. den fol edge they may easily von Kessel in so genden Aufsatz C. Troll.) Diese sind oft mistaken for ornamental clump plantations, der Mitte von Feldern und dicht mit Eichen closer gelegen Eschen, well are they hidden by trees and shrubs. On Die ortliche Bevolke und Hagedorngestriipp tiberwachsen. the dense of ash, oak, halt sie fiir Flurnamen des inspection undergrowth rung ehemalige Mergelgruben. hawthorn and elder is seen to form a sur 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts machen die Annahme wahr ring a often scheinlich, dafi damals in vielen Teilen der Grafschaft ge rounding steep-sided hollow, occupied by und eine erhebliche Zahl von a water. Seen from the air or mergelt wurde, Mergelgruben pool of deep, clear sind auf Karten des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts eingetragen. 1 and on a map they are sharply defined (Figs. 2). Die Buchhaltungen von Giitern beinhalten Eintragungen von To describe their form and of iiber das Ausheben und Streuen unglaublicher Mengen briefly pattern Landwirt is the first of this Mergel wahrend des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts. distribution object paper. betonen die die er to schaftliche Schriftsteller wichtige Rolle, Their mode of origin is not easy discover. den Ge fiir die Urbarmachung von Schaf-Hutweiden in the of local Norfolk Am By observing variety topographic bieten leichter Boden im westlichen spielte. and the Methode der conditions, such as soils des 19. Jahrhunderts kam aber diese slope, geology, Ausgang human within a area, Bodenverbesserung zum Erliegen und wird jetzt nirgends record of activity particular simi mehr angewendet. alternative explanations formorphologically von Norfolk schei Eine gewisse Anzahl der Eintiefungen lar hollows be zu may suggested. Then, by studying nen jedoch nicht durch Ausheben des Bodens entstanden as so the of such sein. Sie sind entweder so regelmafiig im Umrifi, seicht operation particular processes, man natiir chemical oder so grofi, dafi annehmen mochte, dafi sie mineral working, marling, weathering sind. an be made to licher, nicht anthropogener Entstehung Einige davon, and periglaciation, attempt may wie die BrecklandMeere (Weiher)mogen als Erdfalle oder hollows in terms of related explain particular ?sink holes" durch Losung des Kreide- oder sehr kreide recent be We note that, apart from reichen Moranenuntergrundes entstanden sein, andere, phenomena. may few bear obvious marks of sonders im mittleren Norfolk, mogen periglaziale ?thaw mineral workings, sinks** die durch Auftauen von Boden records indicate that a (?Pingos**) sein, digging; yet historical eislinsen in Material zustande kamen. Wei It feinkornigem number of have been dug in the past. tere auf diese Weise entstanden und durch Losung large pits mogen be that whose form is due to im unter kalteren und feuchteren Verhalt may some, present Untergrund, have been on the sites of nissen als heute, vergrofiert worden sein. man's activity, dug as natural features. depressions which originated are due to Acknowledgements: My thanks University Hollows in Norfolk may be formed by several for a towards field-work College London grant expenses different natural but, in the absence of to Mr. A. R. H. who several processes and maps, Baker, provided of their we Mr. F. C. Green and other members of the observed evidence formation, photographs, directly Hugh C. Prince: Pits and Ponds inNorfolk 11 Plantation P/Cnngerhill ^ """" ' Extentof photograph Pond Wood * *| Scrub 23 Heath 860 yards Fig. 2: Map of pits and ponds shown on Fig. 1. Fig. 1: Aerial view of pits and ponds near Swaffham from Grid between areas of hollows and drifts is ref 125/788104 looking north-east towards Castle Acre. glacial almost exact1). Within these limits the density (Photo J. K. S. St. Joseph, copyright reserved) of hollows varies considerably, and appears to differ from one soil region to another (Fig. 5)2). The number of pits and ponds and their density can do no more than suggest which areas offer, or formerly offered, favourable conditions for cer to a tain processes operate. As basis for further x) In discussing the drift deposits of Norfolk I have some followed the and in discussion it seems appropriate to consider terminology interpretations proposed of and other enclosed Baden-Powell, D. F.W.: The Chalky Boulder Clays of possible origins pits, ponds Norfolk and Suffolk. in relation to their set Geological Magazine 85, 1948, depressions geographical 279?296; Chatwin, C. P.: East Anglia and Adjoining What is is to an exercise ting. attempted present Areas. British Regional Geology. Geological Survey. 2nd in map interpretation. edit. London 1954; West, R. G. and Donner, J.J.: The Glaciations of East Anglia and the East Midlands. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 112, 1956, 69?91; West, R. G.: The Pleistocene Epoch in East Anglia. Journ. Glaciology 3, 1958, 211?216. 4 is based on the Survey The and distribution and in Fig. Geological form ofpits ponds Norfolk Quarter-Inch Drift Geology Sheets 12 and 16. 2) The regional divisions (Fig. 5) have been drawn with The current 1 : 25,000 Ordnance Survey maps the aid of Arthur Young's Map of the Soil of Norfolk. General View of the of the of Norfolk. mark 27,015 hollows of different and sizes Agriculture County shapes London and E. G. Mosby's of the of Ponds or other water-filled 1804, J. map regions (Fig. 3). hollows, Norfolk. Land of Britain. Norfolk. London 1938, 193. on are coloured blue the Ordnance map, distin The Soils of Norfolk are described in Newman, L. F.: of the guished from dry pits, indicated by hachures. Soils and Agriculture of Norfolk. Transactions Most and are situated in areas where Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society 9, 1914, pits ponds and H. H. and F.: Soil the cover of drift is more than three feet 349?393; Nicholson, Hanley, glacial Conditions in East Anglia. Guide Book for the Excursion thick If the areas of thin drift in (Fig. 4). deposits round Britain. Third International Congress of Soil west Norfolk be included, the correspondence Science. Oxford 1935, 60?74. 12 Erdkunde Band XVI Table I: Pits and Ponds inNorfolk Surface Number Number Number Density Density Density Region ofArea Dry ofWet of Pits of Dry ofWet of Pits sq. mis. Pits Ponds & Ponds Pits Ponds & Ponds Fenland 3 212 518 521 0.01 2.4 2.4 Greensand Region 123192 1244 1436 1.510.1 11.6 Good Sand Region 389 2484 1701 4185 6.44.3 10.7 Breckland 1125224 754 1879 5.03.4 8.4 Mid-Norfolk 932391 8616 9548 2.422.0 24.4 South Norfolk 600279 6790 7390 2.124.3 26.4 Loam Region 645339 1340 1985 1.93.9 5.8 Broadland 97 4328 71 0.30.4 0.7 Total Norfolk 20546009 21006 27015 2.910.2 13.1 are have been calculated for each region (Table I). In hollows in the Fakenham district somewhat in areas of light soils, particularly in the Good Sand larger and deeper than those mid-Norfolk. To are at Region, the hollows generally large, occasion find what kind of material lies the bottom of not as numer are ally more than 100 feet across, but the hollows is far from simple. They thickly ous as in areas of heavy soils in mid-Norfolk overgrown, partly filled with downwashed, and south Norfolk, where small pits and ponds abound. In the densely pitted central districts, Table II: Shape and size of pits and ponds where blue chalky boulder clay of the Lowestoft till attains a considerable thickness and the level in the Fakenham district most are of ground water is high, hollows perma water-filled.