The Kent History Forum
Geography in Kent => Geographical and Geological Features => Topic started by: Hodge on May 02, 2020, 10:32:09 PM
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I posted a picture on the old forum (when I was 'Dinsy') of what I considered to be strange linear features on the Darland Banks, and asked if anyone knew what they were or what had caused them.
A link from a post on this forum to a YouTube video (very sorry, I can't remember in which category I found the link) showed tunnels being dug for water pipes from a reservoir at the top of Darland down to Capstone (presumably to the pumping station), and I wondered if this had anything to do with the features on the banks, although they don't seem to be near the reservoir nor the pumping station!
Unfortunately I no longer have the photo of the lines, but they can be seen from the bottom of Pear Tree Lane/Capstone Road heading towards Ash Tree Lane, with the Waggon at Hale pub on the right. When the sun is low in the sky (and shadows are elongated) they're really quite prominent!
Once we're all allowed out again, I'll get another photo, but until then here is an image from Google Earth. (At least, I hope there is. I have a habit of forgetting to attach the attachments!) The lines are to the left of the compass arrow.
Can anyone shed any light on what they may be?
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I don't think there are water mains in that area from plans I have seen in the past. There is an 18"gas pipe which aligns from the end of Alison Ave down the banks and follows the line of trees past the Pavilion and out onto Capstone road but the lines do not match that one either.
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Perhaps they are the arched roofs of the legendary Medway tunnel network that links everything to everything else! ;)
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I have a postcard of the Darland Banks looking from the Gypsy Camp side and the whole Banks have wavy humps along them?
Do you think the whole area is unstable because of its steepness and type of soil?
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Are you able to post that image?
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Here is a similar Google picture
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Are these 'humps' not natural features? When water flows down a slope, over time, it erodes it. It doesn't however, erode it in a uniform way, it forms channels. Geologically, Darland Banks form one side of a river valley through chalk bedrock. Chalk is a soft, porous rock and erodes quickly. Given that our climate has been much wetter in the past, could it not have been the case that during the geological past, water has fallen on the banks in such a quantity that it has overwhelmed the natural tendency to soak into the chalk and instead has flowed over it down into the valley, eroding the channels over time. Those channels themselves would in time, weather away and become less pronounced?
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This is an aerial view from 1960. I have to agree with Stuart that this seems to be the effects of natural erosion at work.
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Well, I did think that these humps could indeed have been a natural feature of the landscape when I first noticed them, but when I was looking at the area on Google Earth, they do appear to be in unnaturally straight lines. If it was just one line then I probably would have assumed it was caused by erosion or some other geological process, but as there are at least 4 very straight lines all running parallel to each other, it seems unlikely to be a natural form in the landscape. Of course, natural phenomena can create some incredible and very unnatural-looking forms (and at this point I would have liked to give an example, but typically, my mind has gone completely blank!), but these do indeed appear to be man-made.
Maybe they ARE those mythical tunnels after all - or Darland is home to some very big moles who have access to GPS equipment.... ;)
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As they appear so straight & therefore probably man made, I wonder whether they might be water supply pipes, for the water works was at the bottom of D.B's at Luton- Artesian I believe- & I think there was an underground storage reservoir off Star Mill Road?- maybe others? (instead of the usual water tower) to supply by gravity- or a small pump locally. The reason for 4 pipes could be that, as the water has to be pumped up from Luton, instead of one large pipe, 4 smaller ones have the same friction loss( therefore the same power from pumps),cost about the same but much easier to install in relatively unstable ground as at the top of Darland Banks. Just a thought.
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Interestingly they're clearly visible on LiDAR, so maybe there is some other explanation?
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Smiffy,I recall an article on the "other"fourum concerning these markings,the story was it was were troops were trained to dig trenches before going to France in ww1.
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I spent a bit of time this evening, looking at this. As Dave Smith points out there is a direct line from the Capstone Pumping Station and the adits it sits on and the marks in Hodge's first photo. Additionally there are crop marks in the north side of the grass adjacent to the car park on Luton Rec. My first pic shows the crop marks, my second pic shows how they all align.
Additionally, the field to the north of the pumping station has crop marks that follow this track, too. These can be seen on the 1980 and 2008 interactive maps on the KCC KLIS site. I have included one as my third pic.
It could of course be simply confirmation bias, and as Colin Walsh suggests it is trench marks from the fort or barracks that were nearby. A field trip i think.
DTT
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I recall on the old forum that Kyn got hold of some maps from SWA showing the route of pipes around the SWA at the Luton pump house and that there was a pipe or pipe can't remember the detail that linked the Luton pump house to the reservoir at the top of the Darlands. Have to see if we can find it on the archive site.
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You are right Lutonman. There were some photos, but i think that was of the sewerage system.
I looked last night, via the archive (WayBackmachine) and Kyn's post showed the sewerage pipes that runs a little west of our area of interest. They show 24" pipes. This has piqued my interest as there are so many features that would suggest a pipe.
I did look to see if there were any SV (Sluice Valve) or WO (Wash Out) posts on the junction of Capstone Road or Hunters Way that would be used to control the pipeline. The only ones I could find were in the new estate where the reservoir is, and they are all sluice valves. But, the posts do not indicate their size. I think they only do that with WO of Fire Hydrants.
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Thank you, DTT, I'd forgotten all about the pumping station at Capstone. I guess I was only thinking of the Luton pump house. That makes perfect sense now, but I'm still up for the field trip!
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Hi everybody, I find this thread very interesting as many years ago on 'the other site' I posted a related study in an endeavour to dispel the myth of the Lake Under Luton Rec. Southern Water were very helpfull with information regarding adits and boreholes under the Rec' and Jim Logans notes on Joan Batchelors memoirs, held at Medway Archives also proved helpfull. At the time I had no need to approach the Royal Engineers, with whom Richard Batchelor had battled in court over the supply of water to Luton to find the answers I needed. I now wonder if indeed the RE's records will show the answers to the questions in this thread, or again, a request to Southern Water.
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Royal Engineers records will either be in their own archive at Brompton if they have one, or at the National Archive.