Dew Ponds
Pingo ponds are natural but dew ponds are man-made, usually found in areas where natural water sources are scarce, often in upland areas and even on tops of hills. It has been suggested that it was a dew pond that Jack and Jill were visiting before their mishap.
Also known as cloud or mist ponds, the term dew pond was first used in print in 1865 in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, reflecting a popular view that, given their position, their primary source of water came from dew or mist. There was some empirical evidence to suggest that, Gilbert White noting in 1788 that during prolonged summer droughts, the artificial ponds on the downs above Selborne retained their water while larger ponds in the valley below dried up.
A greater understanding of how dew was formed and the realization that as water’s heat-retaining capacity is far greater than that of earth, the summer air above a pond was unlikely to attract condensation put paid to that romantic notion. Instead it was all down to the distinctive shape of the pond, shallow, saucer-shaped, and with a wide brim which made it easier to capture and retain rainfall and run-off than other types of pond.
Constructing a dew pond was a skill that was passed down the generations as a Sussex farmer recalled in The Field (December 14, 1907). After the pool had been excavated, layers of chalk were laid down and then crushed to a powder by a team of oxen harnessed to a heavy broad-wheeled cart. Keeping the powder moist, after nearly a day the resultant puddle chalk was reduced to the consistency of a thick cream. It was then smoothed with the back of a shovel until it gleamed like glass and, after a few days, it would set as hard as cement and be impermeable to water. Often a layer of straw would be placed between the earth and the puddle clay.
“This old method of making dew ponds”, he lamented, “seems to have died out when the oxen disappeared from the Sussex hills, but it is evident that the older ponds, many of which have stood for scores of years practically without repair, are still more watertight than most modern ones in which Portland cement has been employed.“ Once a new pond had been prepared, it was usually not filled until winter, using snow which was left to melt.
When dew ponds were first constructed is another controversial topic. Rudyard Kipling in Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906) believed the craft went back to Neolithic times, attributing the Dewpond near Chanctonbury Ring to “the Flint Men”. A land deed dating from 825 AD, which references Oxenmere at Milk Hill in Wiltshire, suggests that they were in use during Saxon times, although more substantive evidence of their construction can be found in mediaeval times.
Dew ponds really became prevalent during the 18th and 19th centuries. The boom in the wool industry led to an increase in the number of sheep that were kept, many of which grazed in areas that had previously not supported livestock and where there was little in the way of natural water sources. The construction of dew ponds was an obvious solution as it was to counter the impact of the Enclosure Act (1773) which gave landowners the right to close off common land, often containing the only viable water source. Improvements in agricultural techniques and the development of an extensive and reliable water supply in the countryside during the 20th century led to many dew ponds being abandoned, falling into disrepair, and eventually being filled in. Nevertheless, some have survived, particularly in areas such as the South Downs, the Peak District, Wiltshire, and Hampshire.
