Monument record MKE129679 - Historic fish pond, Cobham, Gravesham

Three ponds, visible on the Heritage Tithe Map and the 1st and 2nd edition OS maps. Recorded during 2024 Kent Downs National Landscape Historic Ponds project.
Preservation: Whole pond clearly visible on current OS/LIDAR
Pond shape: Irregular
Site type: Fish pond
Description: Seen from 1st edition OS, three ponds close together and next to the much larger fish pond by Brewers Gate. The 2nd edition OS shows a poultry yard immediately to the east. Modern OS shows all 3 ponds as one entity. The 1m LiDAR shows them as separate.
Recorded date: 2025-04-14 (1)

The feature is one of two ponds known as the Brewers Ponds. The features were first depicted on a map dating from 1641 AD when four ponds existed in this area of the site. The ponds were probably created "as part of the provision for Cobham Hall in the 16th century, or even earlier, trapping water from a spring issuing on the north slope of Windmill Hill" (from the original report, 2).

<1> Kent Downs AONB Unit, 2025, Historic Ponds Project dataset (Digital archive). SKE58454.

<2> English Heritage, 2005, Cobham Hall Kent The North Pleasure Grounds Survey Report (Unpublished document). SKE59107.