Copperhouse Pool is a familiar feature of Hayle, passed
or glanced at most days by many of us and an attractive part of the town,
scenic with the tide in, and a bonus for local and visiting bird watchers when
the tide is out.
Not a natural pool, it was artificially created when the
harbour was a busy and developing port by building out from the northern,
Towans side and the creation of a sluice gate to impound tidal water for
sluicing the waterways and a bridge for improved access.
Part of Hayle’s tidal estuary system before the civil
engineering and reshaping of the waterways as Hayle developed, the estuaries
were open. There was no enclosure of Copperhouse Pool, no Black Road and Black
Bridge to create Wilson's Pool, the Recreation Ground was open estuary, and as
the tide surged up the open and unrestricted east lobe of the estuary, the only
restriction may have been an early bridge at Loggans.
The Marsh Lane area up to Angarrack most likely really
was marsh, possibly even tidal estuary still, and it is probable that with
little restriction tides reached far higher than today.
Over the years, land around Loggans was built up and
reclaimed, rivers tamed and rerouted,
and the east estuary was crossed by tracks and bridges that became Lethlean Lane and Black Road, and the Swing
bridge and road to North Quay.
Compared with the full surge of tidal water in
pre-industrial days, each development restricted the flow of seawater, and with
mine waste and agricultural silt being washed down the Angarrack River and
other streams, the estuary silted up above each new obstruction.
Marsh lane area still floods, but mainly from heavy rain,
and is mostly moist grazing meadows.
The next bit of the estuary having silted up was made
into the Recreation Ground (opened by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh 60 years ago in
1952) and the area restricted by Black road between Copperhouse and the bottom
of Phillack Hill, known as Wilson's pool became salt marsh and reed beds, but
was regularly inundated by fresh sea water at the highest tides for years.
The old wooden sluice gates under the Swing bridge could
open fully allowing a good inflow of water, and a smaller sluice, buried
beneath the Swimming Pool and road now, also allowed in a substantial flow of
water which at the highest tides lapped almost at the very lip of the old docks
and pool walls with a depth of water that allowed sailing yachts to the extent
that there were regattas!
The first restriction though was the stopping of the
sluice under the Swimming Pool some 30-40 years ago. With that closed off it
was simply not possible at the high point of each tide for the same volume of
water to come through the remaining sluice gates before the outside levels
dropped again.
This was compounded when regular active sluicing finally
ended, and to retain an element of sluicing effect, one of the pair of wooden sluice gates was braced shut at all times by a heavy
timber prop, effectively halving the inward flow, and from that time the
highest tides were noticeably lower, yet still enough to occasionally flood
Wilson's Pool.
These wooden sluice gates were then replaced by a
mechanically operated vertically rising steel flood gate as part of a flood
prevention scheme, which restored the ability of tides to use the full size of
the channel under the swing bridge.
Sadly for some time now, the control of the flood
prevention gate has come under the Environment Agency, who “to be on the safe
side”, keep the gate almost permanently down with only about a meter gap to
allow water in.
This means that the water level is always far lower than
it used to be, boats trying to row find the bottom scraping or oars, yachts
with keels just can’t be used and during one swimming event contestants
complained their hands were touching bottom.
This has given rise to the understandable idea that
“Copperhouse Pool has silted up” but, while there must have been some silting,
the biggest negative effect in recent years has been the policy of the
Environment Agency.
Attempts by local groups
to get more water allowed into the pool regularly, have been rebuffed by
the Environment Agency, on ECONOMIC grounds as they claim there is a cost
element in sending an operator to Hayle to vary the height of the gate.
You MIGHT be aware that in other parts of the UK, the EA
have spent large sums of money reverting farmland back to Salt Marsh, yet in
Hayle they allow Wilson's Pool to dry out and change character.
Wilson's Pool and Copperhouse Pool are part of the Hayle
Site of Special Scientific Interest which is managed by English Nature, most of
Copperhouse Pool is owned by the RSPB, the Environment Agency have
responsibilities, and the Harbour Company have legal rights and
responsibilities. Only Hayle Town Council as the representative body of Hayle
people has no rights.
Would YOU like to see higher water in Copperhouse Pool?
UPDATE! After a fair bit of debate and a close vote Hayle Town Council agreed to have the sluice gates sited as a "feature" on King George V Memorial Walk, where they will be part of a permanant display with planting and an information board.
