Where nature has taken over from a waterworks
Middlesex Filter Beds Nature Reserve
The filterbeds used to help purify water pumped to Londoners, now the site is a nature reserve with a diversity of wildlife.
A rich history
Under the site is a huge covered reservoir from which water was pumped to east London.
The ten granite blocks around a huge stone seat make up an artwork. All the blocks came from the foundations of the engine house which was home to a Cornish beam engine which pumped the water from 1859.
Nature reserve
Now the pumps have gone and over 60 species of birds have taken over as well as speckled wood butterflies plus toads, frogs, newts and blue-tailed damsel flies.
A second sculpture celebrates nature. Three heads and a tail of four giant fish break the surface of a shallow pond. The ceramic fish are mounted in railway sleepers, set into the mud of the filter bed.
Submitted by: Andrew Hunt, 20 February 2007
