Peggy's Pond, Bedlam Lane

Does anyone remember the park in Bedlam Lane - Peggy's Pond?

If it was up Lythalls Lane end, yes I do. I don't remember it being called Peggy's Pond though.

I only ever remember it being called Peggy's Park. It's still there now. Did it used to have a pond?

It was always called Peggy's Park, or Field, apparently named after a farmer's horse that was kept there (before my time though). I spent many happy times playing there from the late 50s onward. There was never a pond there although the bottom end of the field near the railway did flood after heavy rain. We used to play there for hours, always listening for the bell in the railway signal box so we could run down and stand on the crossing gates to watch the train pass. Most of the drivers and rear guards used to throw sweets and toffees to us as they passed.

There was a pond in Peggy's Field, it shows on 1905 map, and an older family member told me when I was younger (many years ago). It was at the top end of the field, it was filled in and a tarmac square put down and they built the small play area on there. We spent hours playing football and cricket in the park, when it was opened in the early 50's, the only problem was we used to be covered in dust that came over from the gas works. Became regular visitors to Livi Road Slipper Baths. Good times.

Here is Bedlam Lane level crossing and surrounding area 1946 via Britain from Above website

Here is the said field with pond from 1932 via Britain from Above website

Thank you for those photo's deanocity3. There is no mistake that there was a pond in Peggy's Field, although when I played there it had been replaced with swings and a slide. It just goes to show how good this site is for information. After being brought up a stones throw from the park and spending all my childhood and a lot of my adult life there, I'd never heard anyone mention that pond.

So, is this the same field today, via Google Maps?

Yes it is deanocity3. I am amazed this has not been built on, and nice to see a bit of greenery remaining.

A lot of people still use it for dog walking and kids play football there. I hope they don't build on it, the building at the top used to be a youth club when we lived in Booths Field. I think it's some kind of church now. I feel old at 38 saying I can remember before the A444 was there and Bedlam Lane was all countryside.

Bit late coming in on this now, but in the late 70's, I used to work at Bedlam Lane Crossing, and used to go to Three Spires too, all sadly long gone. Sure I still have a few pics to remind me though.

Hi Swills and welcome to the forum If you could possibly scan those pics and post them here I'm sure they would be much appreciated

Agree with the information shared. I always understood that Peggy was a horse that was regularly allowed to roam the field in the mid-late 1940's. I was born in 1951 in Arbury Avenue (I still live in Astley Avenue) and am too young to remember the pond but my elder brother who was born in 1942 does. He remembers floating around on it in old tin baths and also sinking old oil drums in it and putting planks from one to another so they could play pirates. One day in the early 1950's the council filled the pond in and built the square of tarmac that had adult & baby swings, a slide, see-saw & roundabout. The area where the pond had been was always slightly wet & boggy but the bottom of the park was relatively dry and we had a bike racetrack there. The field itself had wide furrows running from top to bottom so we played cricket up & down and football crossways.I Used to spend many hours playing there and trainspotting at the gates. The bottom of the field never really flooded back then but it does now even though they put extra hardcore drainage in when they built the Tesco access road. I believe the problem was caused when Phoenix Way (A444) was built and they ignored streams etc. There was an underground spring that fed Peggy's Pond and it came out the other side (still underground) and emerged into the ditch half way down Bedlam Lane. It ran under the railway, alongside Mrs Rush's cottage and down Bedlam Lane past the coal merchants. I have (I hope) attached two aerial photos I purchased from English Heritage some years ago. The first (April 1947) shows the pond and the other (June 1959) shows that the pond has gone and a tarmac square has appeared in the corner nearest to Astley & Evelyn Avenues. This photo also shows very dry & bare area of the park.

I was born at 24 Bedlam Lane in 1934 and remember the said field in the 40s. Albert Green of Elmsdale Avenue used to own a pony and trap and kept his horse in the field and my brother used to ride it bare back round the field. Albert used to keep pigs in ithe corner by the black pad and we used go and watch when he killed them, before health and safety. We used to hold our own sports days in the school holidays with the lads from Astley Avenue and all the other avenues, on the ground in front of the houses. The wickets for cricket were chalked on Billy Adams (coal merchant) wall.