Minster Pool
| Minster Pool | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | Lichfield, Staffordshire |
| Coordinates | 52°41′03″N 1°49′48″W / 52.684293°N 1.829972°WCoordinates: 52°41′03″N 1°49′48″W / 52.684293°N 1.829972°W |
| Type | reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Leamonsley Brook, Trunkfield Brook |
| Primary outflows | Leamonsley Brook, Trunkfield Brook to Stowe Pool |
| Built | 11th Century |
| Max. length | 220 metres (720 ft) |
| Max. width | 50 metres (160 ft) |
| Surface area | 8,700 square metres (2.1 acres) |
| Average depth | 3.2 metres (10 ft) |
| Water volume | 28,000 cubic metres (23 acre·ft; 6.2×106 imp gal) |
| Shore length1 | 520 metres (1,710 ft) |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Minster Pool is a reservoir located between Bird Street and Dam Street in the heart of the city of Lichfield, Staffordshire in the United Kingdom. The pool lies directly south of Lichfield Cathedral and historically has been important to the defence of the Cathedral Close. The pool was originally formed in the 11th century when a boggy stream was dammed at its eastern end to drive a mill on Dam Street. The pool was used as a mill pond and fishery until 1856 when the mill was demolished; it has since been retained for public amenity.
Lichfield is built on two sides of a shallow valley into which flow Leamonsley Brook and Trunkfield Brook from the west. Leamonsley Brook originates from a spring in Maple Hayes and flows east through Beacon Park where it combines with Trunkfield Brook into a conduit under the Museum Gardens. The streams are then carried under Bird Street into Minster Pool. Minster Pool is created by the construction of an earth embankment dam built at its eastern end on Dam Street. The pool outflows into a pipe under Dam Street, Stowe Fields and into Stowe Pool. The pool has a capacity of 28,000m³ (6.5 million gallons) and a surface area of 8,700m² (2.1 acres) with an average depth of 3.2 m (10 ft).
It was originally thought that Minster Pool was created in 1310 when, under the orders of Bishop Langton, causeways were built on Bird Street and Dam Street to connect the Cathedral close to the town. However, after dredging works in the 19th century engineers discovered strata of red and white sandstone, which may indicate that the pool formed in the cavity created from quarrying of the sandstone to build the Norman Cathedral in around 1085. According to the Domesday Book, the Bishop had two mills in 1086, one of these is likely to have been on Dam Street and would have involved construction of the dam which would have formed Minster Pool. In 1310 Bishop Langton built a causeway on Bird Street splitting a much larger pool into two, these became known as Bishops Fish Pool on the west and Minster Pool on the east. At this time Langton paved the streets and improved the fortifications to the Close with high stone walls and towers built on the north bank of the pool. Langton is thought to have improved and enlarged the dam at the east end of the pool at this time. The south entrance to the Close was located at the east end of Minster Pool on Dam Street and consisted of a portcullis and drawbridge. The pool proved to be a significant defence during the siege of the Cathedral during the Civil War of 1643-46.
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