Harlow: Netteswell pond . Out and back by same route

Difficulty Easy Access

Walking time 46 minutes

Length 2.5km / 1.6mi

Route developer: Geoff Sharman

Route checker: Joan Miller

Start location Keats House Health Centre

Route Summary A walk on paths and cycle tracks to Netteswell Pond and returning by the same route.

*move mouse over graph to see points on route

Getting there

There is a car park with the first hour free opposite the health centre.

Buses 4, 392, 555 and E20 stop close by.

Description

[1] Leave Keats House and cross The Fairway to walk straight up the road opposite with garages on the right and the car park on the left.. Pass the Poplar Kitten public house and the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, both on the left.

[2] At the T-junction turn left into Tilegate Road and cross the road at a safe point to reach another T-junction.

[3] Turn right and pass a row of houses on the right to reach a sign for a cycle track to the town centre.

[4] Turn right onto the cycle track and follow it across a road after which there are some allotments on the right. After the allotments there is a bridge over a ditch on the left leading into a housing estate. The path bears left and eventually reaches a road just after passing the Friends Meeting House on the right and a school in the distance to the left.

[5] Pass between some wooden marker posts to cross the road (Tendring Road) and continue straight ahead on the cycle track marked with a white bollard with blue ring. Cross another road (Waterhouse Moor) and go straight ahead on the cycle track which is marked by wooden posts.

[6] Reach the point where a smaller path crosses the cycle track and cycle track signposts can be seen at another junction a few metres further ahead. Take the small path on the right and follow it up to the side of the pond

There are seats beside the pond to sit and watch the birdlife on and around the pond.

Take care of young children around the pond

[7] Return along the path but, after you have turned round, instead of following it back to waypoint [6], take the right fork to follow a path round the bottom of the pond. Cross a bridge over a small waterfall and turn left to take the path down to a junction with a cycle track.

[8] Turn left and follow the cycle track to retrace the outward journey. the path crosses Waterhouse Moor, then Tendring Road and continues past The Friends meeting house on the left and, eventually, the allotments on the left. cross the road and follow the path until it meets Tawneys Road. Turn left, then left into Tilegate road, then first right to walk back to Keats House which is straight ahead.

Be aware of cyclists and always keep to the pedestrian side of cycle tracks

Take care crossing roads

POI information

A Netteswell

Netteswell ancient parish, comprising 1,552 a. (628 ha.), was bounded east by Latton and west by Great and Little Parndon. Like Latton it was a long, narrow parish extending south from the river Stort. Until the later 19th century Netteswell was thinly populated and entirely rural. There were 35 tenants of the manor in 1230. Eleven men were assessed to the lay subsidy in 1327 and 32 in 1525. There were 47 houses in 1670. The population was 288 in 1801. After rising to 365 in 1851 it fell to 332 in 1881. In the 1880s Kirkaldy's engineering works was opened near the railway station at Burnt Mill, in the north-west corner of the parish, and by 1891 the population had leapt to 555. It continued to rise, with fluctuations, to 672 in 1931.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63854

B Netteswell Pond

A scenic area in which to sit and relax. The pond dates from the 12th century when it formed part of the estate of Waltham Abbey and was used by the monks as a source of fish. It is still popular with local anglers.

C Sculpture by Angela Godfrey

Grecian Urn Two Vertical Forms

Portland Stone
2000
Height 150 cm
Keats House Health Centre
Owned by the Harlow Health Centres Trust Ltd

The Health Centre is named after the poet John Keats who trained as a doctor. The Keats poem Ode to a Grecian Urn provided the artist with a starting point. The sculpture is viewed mainly from the two separate doctors' surgeries on either side of the atrium, with text from two other Keats poems carved in relief on each part, a complete quotation being visible from either surgery.

Part of Harlow Sculpture Trail

http://www.visitharlow.com/places-to-visit--things-to-do/harlow-sculpture-collection/the-collection

Notes No details available.

Acknowledgements No details available.