Watermeads is a National Trust nature reserve along the River Wandle, opened to the public in May 2015 having been hidden behind locked gates for 100 years.
National Trust founder Octavia Hill and her sister Miranda personally started the appeal to save Watermeads. The 11 acre site has recently had new paths, bridges and a sluice, to improve the wetlands habitat for wildlife and public access.
Watermeads was historically a trout stream and in the middle ages it would have provided winter fodder and rich summer pasture for grazing animals. Later in the 19th century there were 4 mills along its stretch and, between the two world wars, the area was planted with cricket bat willows.
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