In this edition: 
Flooded? How 4 inches and 500 year old engineering saved Nether Wallop Mill ..... How the chalkstreams are coping with the floods ..... Custom colour fly lines

  
Newsletter
Thursday 20th February 2014

Flooded? How 4 inches and 500 year old engineering saved Nether Wallop Mill 

 

Greetings!

   

 

I have to express sincere thanks to everyone who has asked how we are in The Mill here at Nether Wallop in these watery times. It is usually a lovely place, with two rivers flowing under it and completely surrounded by the burbling Wallop Brook that joins the River Test nine miles downstream. 

Under, around but not through the office

But burbling is hardly the word I would use right now. Torrential and turbulent come to mind more readily. As I sit here in my office the din of the water that is pummeling beneath our feet through the mill race almost drowns out normal conversation.  The lake and the river have joined which makes me think some of the trout we have so lovingly nurtured since the close of the season will have made a bid for freedom. So are we flooded? Well, happily not and it is all due to some amazing hydrological engineering that dates back 500 years that takes the water under and around but not through the buildings.

 

There has been a mill here at Nether Wallop for over a thousand years, listed as it is in the Domesday Book. The current buildings are relatively new, from the 1600's when the water meadows and mills around here were largely created by Dutch engineers who obviously knew a thing or two. But I have to confess when doing the restoration back at the turn of the millennium I almost undid all their good work at a stroke by filling in what turned out to be an essential spillway.

The spillway in action

In essence we have two rivers; one that takes the Wallop Brook and the other a diverted channel that powers the mill wheel, the latter being a  full three to four feet above the level of the true brook.  As the channel approaches the mill it is contained by man-made banks that carry the water above the level of the house to create sufficient 'fall' to spin the mill wheel.  As the channel gets close to the buildings the banks are replaced by brick walls, which at the time of the restoration needed some minor repairs. It was the height of a dry summer, with just a foot or so of water so it was all easily done but I could not understand why the top on one of the brick bank walls dipped down for two yards of its length by 4 inches. It looked a bit irregular and my plan was to fill the gap to level the top. But the bricklayer (bless him) took a shine to it and decided to retain it as a feature, simply repairing the damage to keep it as it was. If he hadn't I can promise today we would be flooded because that four inches represents  the emergency spillway that is the difference between being wet and dry.

So whoever you are, Dutch water genius of medieval times, thank you. Your foresight has now saved me twice; once in 2003 and again right now.

 

This article appeared last week on my weekly blog Life of a Chalkstream. You may follow it via the Wordpress or Blogger sites or Google the title. Links are at the bottom of the page
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How the chalkstreams are coping with the floods

 

Understandably I have been receiving emails and calls over the past week asking how the deluges will affect the chalkstreams for the coming season.

Wallop Brook this week. Four feet deep and gin clear every inch.

 

This far out from the opening day and with plenty of unpredictable weather to come it is hard to soothsay, but as I write I am not unduly concerned. In the twenty five years or so that the chalkstreams have been part of my everyday life I have experienced two years like this and both turned out fine. Yes, I am sure the banks will be soggy and yes I am sure access will be tricky to some parts of some rivers, but what is remarkable is the clarity of the water. In the past week I have visited my rivers in the five southern counties. I have walked along plenty of banks which are wellington-boot deep and stared across hundreds (make that thousands) of acres of flooded water meadows but when I stop to peer into the river there are the trout, serene in their post-spawning torpor whilst the grayling continue to jink around.

 

My guess is that this freakish start to the year will be harder for river keepers and fishermen than it will ever be for the fish.

 

 

 

Custom colour fly lines
I am not a great gear head when it comes to fly tackle; I have my favourite rods and reels which I am loath to trade in, even if that means trading up. But terminal tackle: lines, tippet materials and flies is another matter altogether - my pre-
24 of  the Shadow Fly Fishing 500 colours
season ritual of discarding all lines, spools of nylon and leaders is a cleansing of the soul.  For me that first cast of the year with a shiny new line that glides through the rod rings is a moment of great satisfaction. So when I read that you can now have a line if your very own custom colour, well the only problem was which colour?
As ever, it is an American firm Shadow Fly Fishing, based in Pennsylvania, that is leading the way. They describe their "Seeker" line, which is a traditional weight-forward tapered floating fly line, in weights 5 and 8, as a "high quality, high floating" line. It is, like most fly lines, of PVC construction. The colouring process results in the line receiving a thin polymer coating, which Shadow has indicated helps repel dirt and reduce wear and tear. 
At $19.99 they don't seem to me terribly expensive, though I guess shipping and customs to the UK will add a chunk. Now where is my credit card ....... here is the link.
Sometimes I post fun stuff such as this on my Facebook page. To follow or like me on Facebook see the link below.

Have a good weekend.  

 

Best wishes,

Simon Signature 

Simon Cooper [email protected]

Founder & Managing Director