Ludshott Common and Waggoners Wells (the latter sometimes written with an apostrophe: Waggoners' Wells) is a National Trust reserve consisting of heathland and a series of man-made ponds with a connecting stream set amongst woodland in a steep valley near Grayshott in East Hampshire, England.
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Ludshott Common is one of the largest remaining areas of heathland in East Hampshire. It lies parallel to and south of the B3002 road between Headley Down to the west and Grayshott to the east. It covers 285 hectares (700 acres) and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Protection Area (SPA) due to the number of endangered species, including Woodlark, Nightjar and Dartford Warbler. There are also a great many spiders and butterflies, including Silver-Studded Blue, Grayling and Green Hairstreak. [1]
Waggoners Wells is situated between Ludshott Common to the North West and Bramshott Common to the South East. Vehicular access is via Waggoners Wells Lane from Grayshott. Historically the lane wound its way eastwards to join up with Kingswood Lane, and thence the London to Portsmouth road (A3); but today only a footpath through the woodland remains.
The stream that emerges from the pond furthest to the south-west is called Cooper's Stream. The house situated at the bottom of the ponds is Summerden and is a private residence of the National Trust warden of the area. Near it is a wishing well, mentioned by Flora Thompson in her writings of the locality. The stream flowing from Waggoners Wells runs west to Stanford, around the west of Headley, and eventually into the river Wey. The stream powered many mills that worked ironworks, including Headley mill. Paper mills were also run along the water that flowed from Waggoners Wells.
The original name of the series of ponds was Wakeners' Wells. The ponds were created in the 17th Century by the Hooke family of Bramshott.[2] They were possibly originally intended as hammer ponds, that is, to serve the local iron industry, but they appear never to have been so used. [3]
Ludshott Common owes its present state to the traditional use made of common land by local people: to graze their cattle, pigs, sheep, and ponies and to collect gorse, heather, wood, and bracken for fuel, and for animal bedding and winter fodder. Such uses ceased around the beginning of the 20th century.
During second world war in the 1940s, Ludshott was used as a tank and maneuvers training ground, and the heather was largely turned to mud. The heather recovered, and was managed from the 1970s until today.
On 12 May 1980, 600 of the 695 acres (2.81 km2) were destroyed by a fire fanned by high winds. Residents of Seymour Road, Furze Hill and Pond Roads which bordered the common, to the west, in Headley Down were evacuated. Firefighters bought the fire under control in just over seven hours at 19:55. Relief crews remained on site overnight controlling small outbreaks of fire and damping down, with further relief crews taking over at 06:00 the following morning. [4]