Villagers clear disused water tank of overgrown scrub

VOLUNTEERS tidied up an old water tank in Bix.

Residents of Broadplat Lane and Bix Common carried out the annual cutback of overgrown scrub in and around the tank on a dry Saturday morning.

They strimmed bracken, trimmed hedges and cut back brambles as well as chopping the rosebay willow herb in the tank itself.

They also removed fallen debris from the large cedars overhanging the tank. Jill Campion, who lives in Broadplat Lane, said: “If it weren’t for a plethora of Stihl tools we have between us, it would probably have taken all day.

“Josh and Josette Feddes, farm managers of the Nettlebed Estate, which owns the land, brought along ‘the bucket’, as they called it, which enabled us to remove the higher branches of the cedar trees which were hanging off.”

The large, brick-lined water tank at the start of Broadplat Lane was constructed between 1897 and 1912, presumably by the Flemings after they acquired the Nettlebed estate in 1903.

It was probably mainly intended to provide water for the steam-ploughs, traction engines and threshing machines which had been used in the parish since the 1880s.

The water was obtained using a hand pump and other likely uses were for watering horses as well as being the domestic water supply for the village.

The tank was derelict for much of the 20th century, becoming overgrown, broken up, lost to view and serving no purpose.

However, in 1998 it was spotted and investigated and slowly its story was established and restoration of the tank began.

The work was completed in 2002. Since the restoration the tank has become somewhat silted and muddy rather than the water tank that attracted ducks as recently as 10 years ago.

However, it remains home for a whole host of wildlife.