The history of South Elmham:

80 years is recent history in the grand scheme of things at South Elmham. The Hall itself and associated scheduled ancient monument (South Elmham Minster) have been an important site for people of note since at least the 11^th Century. A significant deer park was created and maintained around the Bishop of Norwich’s fortified manor house, now the site of South Elmham Hall. This significant piece of landscape history is being re-created by the current owners of the Hall, who have been farming the land here for the past 50 years as third generation farmers.

Within the record of the site’s history lies a clue to the provenance of some of the ponds that exist (and formerly existed) here, “The year 1449/50 saw stock ponds being made in the Hesylquarter and Heyelaunde, suggesting areas set aside for grazing, and the latter perhaps for growing a crop.” (Deer Parks of Suffolk 1086 – 1602, Hoppitt) These ponds would then be 570 years old – and given how important ponds were to rural life, giving stock water, people water and washing, and food from fish (in some cases) there is no doubt that many ponds here are older.

These functional landscape features would have supported thriving wildlife both in the ponds and their surroundings. Clues from history with ponds called ‘eels deek’ suggest some significant (and now threatened) wildlife was present. Living memory of the farm recalls fishing for newts as children being a favourite pastime, the large standard elms now sadly lost. We know ponds are one of the best biodiversity hotspots in the wider countryside and we know that they would have been an integral part of life, actively managed to keep them open and accessible, and by default great for many more species than unmanaged ponds. We can say for sure that wildlife then was very much more abundant than it is in the wider countryside at present with 60-70+% declines in many species across the board since the 1970’s baseline. We are lucky that we will get a glimpse into some of the historic species assemblages as the exposed seedbank bursts to life in the re-excavated ponds.

The significant network of ponds and extensively managed re-created deer park being progressed by the farm will ensure that our future fauna and flora will be able to thrive here. It will of course be much modified by our recent history and the climate and nature emergencies challenging everything, but persistence and resilience of our current and future biodiversity are possible with the space and management to support them.

What happened to the ponds?

Agricultural improvements to the land in the post war period, and as recently as the 1970’s, would appear to have sealed the fate of many of Suffolk’s ponds, South Elmham Hall was no exception. Subsidies for improving land productivity incentivised the filling of ponds, ditches, and removal of hedgerows. Much of the former deer park was agricultural land and the fields needed to be larger, drained, and easy to work. Significant works in the 60’s and 70’s saw the loss of 16 or more farm ponds, removal of dividing hedges and filling of ditches. The farm at the time thankfully retained many of its ponds (24) and a significant tract of semi-natural habitat through the small river valley, supporting its mixed farming operation, in addition they retained and sensitively managed many hedgerows, old pollards, as well as partaking in many of the wildlife focussed support schemes in the following years. The farm is now taking the opportunity to do more for wildlife and landscape history, being proactive and replacing much of what has been lost.

What is happening now?

The ponds are going back, trees and extensively managed grassland in a wood pasture setting will follow, wildlife will spring into life as the landscape relaxes from its farming heritage, management will continue to ensure success. A thriving 400 acres will exist in South Elmham once more.

Restoring a ghost pond isn’t an exact science, but there are some key elements that follow for each. Excavating a cross on the site of the former pond is important in determining location, depth and profile. Then a skilled digger operator can follow the former profile well when digging out the quarters. It is done by a combination of ‘feel’ and looking for the black sludge, full of seeds and microfauna, so valuable for returning species to the ponds rapidly.

We excavate to as close to the original profile as possible, following the feel of the infill, often finding a gently sloping ramp on one side (which would have been the original ‘way in’ when the pond was dug) and occasionally multiple shelves, deep pools, and almost always large woody debris from years ago. This results in a wide range of shapes and sizes of ponds across the landscape, which adds to the overall diversity of the site. The excavated material is carefully ‘lost’ in the surrounding land, to be covered by scrub, grass and a myriad of wildlife.

This approach is certainly not for everyone, but most farms in Suffolk would benefit from well-managed ponds - we are one of the most pond dense counties in the country, and they can fit well in modern farming landscapes, enhancing field corners and marginal areas greatly. Suffolk Wildlife Trust are making this a reality, here and on many other farms, our farm advisers are working with landowners to bring thriving wildlife back to our wider countryside. Over the past two years we have restored or created over 100 ponds in Suffolk.

For more information see:

https://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/suffolk-ponds-group

Or contact our Farmland Wildlife Advice Team:

farm.advice@suffolkwildlifetrust.org