Brick lined shallow pool with steps.

[Ebenezer]

Anyone know what this is? I have no picture unfortunatly. Friends of mine have just bought a 17 century farmhouse in essex which has a rectangular brick lined 'pool' (no water currently) in the front garden. It also has some steps leading down into it at one end. It resembles a shallow swimming pool or Roman bath. I've seen one other, or rather two others next to each other in front if a house in Norton Mandeville Essex. It was also next door to a from. Any ideas why these were used for? I've googled for the last hour nf can find no pictures of anything similar.

 

[essexbearhunter]

Could you give us a rough idea of dimensions please?
Was this front garden originally a high status area or something more functional ?

 

[Ebenezer]

Could you give us a rough idea of dimensions please?
Was this front garden originally a high status area or something more functional ?

Yes dimensions would help! I'd say around 20ft long by 8ft wide. About 2.5ft deep although hat looks like a later layer of crazy paving at the bottom could have reduced the depth a bit. It's a farmhouse so I'd say functional although fairly close to the village centre.

 

[Keithj]

There's something similar in front of a farmhouse down the road from here. It's usually empty now (except after heavy rain) but the general view is that it was a fishpond that turned out to be leaky, from the days before butyl liners.

 

[essexbearhunter]

The pool on Norton Lane at Norton Mandeville is quite interesting but looks far deeper than yours with about 5 to 6 feet of brickwork rising up out of the water and what looks like the end of a land drain embedded in the wall. The vertical sides prevent it from being used directly by animals and - apart from the softening effects of modern planting cascading down the walls - it appears fairly utilitarian. I would hazard a guess that it might be a cistern to collect rainwater draining off the fields for re-use on the farm.

 

[Ebenezer]

The pool on Norton Lane at Norton Mandeville is quite interesting but looks far deeper than yours with about 5 to 6 feet of brickwork rising up out of the water and what looks like the end of a land drain embedded in the wall. The vertical sides prevent it from being used directly by animals and - apart from the softening effects of modern planting cascading down the walls - it appears fairly utilitarian. I would hazard a guess that it might be a cistern to collect rainwater draining off the fields for re-use on the farm.

Have you visited recently? Do I remember correctly that there were steps leading down into the pool? The one at the farmhouse near me may have been filled to some extent. Don't remember the drain, that makes sense about water collection. Could be a drain on the one near me too as it's quite overgrown.

 

[paulb33]

Is it a storm drain collection pool? I was in the US last week and idly inspecting something similar (albeit much bigger) at a Marriot hotel, during a break in a conference. It looked to be a storage pool with a central drain. The excess run off from drains would be collected here temporarily during heavy rain, to avoid flash flooding as a result of overwhelmed the sewers.

Just guessing like...

 

[worms]

Could it be a formal sunken garden? Or the remains of the farm's muck heap?