Nine Wells
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
  Shown within Cambridgeshire | |
| Area of Search | Cambridgeshire |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | TL462543 |
| Coordinates | 52°09′58″N 0°08′06″E / 52.166°N 0.1349°ECoordinates: 52°09′58″N 0°08′06″E / 52.166°N 0.1349°E |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 1.2 hectares (3.0 acres) |
| Notification | 1952 |
Nine Wells Local Nature Reserve is a small forest patch where multiple springs issue from the base of the chalk hill. These springs feed Hobson's Conduit, the watercourse that was built between 1610 and 1614 by Thomas Hobson and other benefactors to bring fresh water into the city of Cambridge, England.[1][2] It is just south of Addenbrooke's Hospital (52°09′58″N 0°08′06″E / 52.166°N 0.1349°E), near the village of Great Shelford.
Nine Wells was created a Local Nature Reserve in 2005 and is owned by the Cambridge City Council.
There are four main springheads linked by stream channels, as well as innumerable minor fissures, that issue water at a constant 10.2 °C.
Plant species
A survey determined that 108 plant species grow here and the area contains numerous mature beech and ash trees as well as spindle, blackthorn and hawthorn.[3]
Aquatic wildlife
It was created a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest because a range of relic aquatic invertebrates bred here. The flatworms Planaria cornuta and P. alpina were found here and had survived from the last glacial period. Another relic species was a trichopteran (caddisfly), Agapetus fuscipes. However the drought of 1976 together with increased water abstraction caused some extinctions and Nine Wells lost its SSSI status. Efforts are being made to recreate conditions favourable to re-establishing a richer invertebrate fauna again, however there is a great deal of new building going on in the area so this special little habitat patch is potentially under threat.
Monument
Within the Reserve there is a monument to Hobson's Conduit which was erected in 1861 by public subscription and records the benefactors to the water course and conduit as:
- Thomas Chaplin, Lord of the Manor of Trumpington Delapole, 1610
- Stephen Perse, fellow of Gonville and Caius, 1615
- Thomas Hobson, carrier, 1630
- Edward Potto, alderman of Cambridge, 1632, and
- Joseph Merrill, alderman of Cambridge, 1806
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Monument to Hobson's Conduit at Nine Wells
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Spring at Nine Wells that feeds Hobson's Conduit