Radipole Sensory Garden April 2024; Surprising What You Can Find On a Building Site.

Radipole Sensory Garden April 2024

After many delays work is finally coming together on our sensory garden in Radipole Park.

We had a group of brilliant volunteers from PGL come along and make a start on the planting.

 

 

Boy I have never seen such an eager, cheerful crew that worked so fast and efficiently.

They’d planted two van loads before the first hour was even up!

So many more plants to go in, but we have more volunteers and sessions lined up for that when the paths are more accessible for everyone.

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Though today’s post is really about my accidentally discovering some of the park’s hidden history.

For those of you that follow us, you’ll know that our park and gardens were created out of an estuary, it’s land infilled with the dredging from the other side of a newly built Radipole Park Drive.

 

 

Before then the estuary stretched right as far as the bank the railway sits on, as can be seen in this image below.

The original Alexandra bridge (yes, I know I’d spelt it the wrong way on the images) crossed over from Hanover Road to what was the Western Parade, created late 19th by the council as an alternate walk for people when the winds blew hard and cold off the sea.

(They were actually trying to promote this expansive, underutilised area as a recreational alternative.)

 

 

 

Well, as I was leaving the site I happened to pass a soil heap, something caught my eye, what looked like a large broken puddle stone.

 

 

Being nosy I decided to have a closer look.

These puddlestones were the bane of the 1930’s lake dredgers, constantly blocking pipes of their very Heath Robinson contraption, resulting in the end them having to dynamite the estuary floor to loosen the material so it would pass through.

Noticing my interest one of the guys came across and began to show me something I hadn’t even spotted. Layers and layers of shells in the sand and Oxford clay.

 

 

This apparently was soil excavated when they put in the pilings for the new kiosk, part of the original estuary floor.

Pre park and gardens the River Way was tidal right up to Radipole.

I wonder what else lies hidden in that pile? Roman coins, Saxon swords, viking jewellery?

Well, a girl can dream can’t she?

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