Poors Acre Pocket Park
The Village Improvement Committee, supported financially by The Parish Council has been hard at work renovating this piece of parish owned land on Heath Road just North of the S bend, to create a Pocket Park of approximately 1 acre, which is an amenity for the whole village to enjoy.
To comply with Buck’s Roads Department regulations, the off-road parking area was edged with a low kerb which also helps prevent the gravel material from spreading onto the road. Some of the older residents of the village know the site as Sand Hole, it had been used as an informal village dump in days gone by, the remains of which have now been cleared and levelled and is the area seen from the road. This has been grassed over.
But take the newly constructed pathways and venture beyond the levelled off area and the ground quickly drops away into an area of beautiful natural woodland populated by mature Oaks, Hollies, Ash and Elm trees with a small glade at the southern end in stark contrast to the road side area.
A meandering circular path has been created, approximately 200 metres in length which leads the visitor around the natural woodland, with care taken to reduce gradients on the path where ever possible to make the park as accessible as possible to all. In spring the natural woodland is a spectacular carpet of blue bells. It should be noted that the park is frequented by Foxes, Rabbits and other burrowing mammals, and The Parish Council request that visitors do not venture from the marked path through the woodland area as deep burrows exist for the unaware to fall into.
A small pond has been created in a natural depression, which will further increase the bio-diversity by encouraging insects, frogs, toads and newts and invertebrates.
Foxhole Pocket Park
Foxhole was the first pocket park to be created in Great Brickhill in modern times and is situated to the North of the village along John Horncapps Lane. It is very different in character to Poors acre even though both sites have been used for similar purpose in the past.
The first evidence of land use on the site comes from the 1772 enclosures map of the village which shows use of the site as a quarry for extracting sandstone, presumably to use as a building material in the village.
Although a map of the village dating from the early 20th century still indicates describes the site as an old sand pit, at some point shortly after the land ceased to be quarried, and was put to use as an informal dump for refuse created in the village.
By the 1970’s the land had long ceased to be used for this purpose, but a suggestion was made, that the site was flattened to use as a possible football pitch, however although the levelling took place, it was not possible to make it large enough for football, so this idea never took off. In the 1980’s several oak, birch and holly trees were planted to improve natural habitats on the land but it was not until the turn of the millennium that a new access was created along with a circular path to create the pocket park that you see today which is about one acre in size.
At this time part of the park was seeded as a wildflower meadow, which has unfortunately fallen into neglect, but recently a management process was started to encourage the growth of grasses and meadow flowers whilst controlling more invasive plants such as nettles, thistles and brambles which otherwise quickly out-compete the wildflowers and result in a scruffy wasteland which cannot be enjoyed by the visitor. This management process emulates the cutting and grazing cycles in a farmed meadow, so expect the meadow area to be coarsely cut at intervals through the summer months.
Foxhole Pocket Park - Spring 2022
