Branch Hill Pond, as depicted in John Constable’s painitng
(Picture: Tate)A Hampstead Heath pond made famous by the paintings and sketches of John Constable is set to be restored 140 years after it dried up.
Branch Hill Pond is immortalised in the artist’s two century-old works of the scenery from London’s highest point but visitors have not been able to see any water at the spot since the 1880s when it was filled in.
Now the Redington Frognal Association, along with the Heath & Hampstead Society, have successfully applied for thousands of pounds worth of funding to recreate a famous capital landscape.
And the restoration project has already started with a clay pit having been dug over the summer to hold the rainwater which has fallen heavily on London in recent weeks.
The project is set to be completed in the spring with amphibians introduced with plants and reeds added with the hope of attracting dragonflies.
Jeff Waage, president of the Heath and Hampstead Society, said it could also encourage hedgehogs - which are declining in number across the capital.
He told reporters: “Recreating the pond allows us, once again, to visualise the landscape Constable captured 200 years ago.
“It’s also important for the local environment. It’s critical for wildlife of all kinds on what is, after all, London’s most biodiverse area of land.”
Suffolk-born Mr Constable is one of Britain’s most popular landscape painters and Hampstead Heath became his muse when he moved to the North London beauty spot in 1819 to assist his wife Maria - who was suffering ill health. He then spent his winters in London and summers in hometown East Bergholt up to his death, age 60, in 1837.
The restoration has been a long-term aim of the Redington Frognal Association - a local group whose name originates with the once booming population of amphibians.
The association raised £40,000 towards the project, with capital acquired through the City of London Corporation, the mayor’s office and Camden council.
The corporation is now working with the Hampstead authorities to provide the machinery and manpower to recreate the pond.
Anne-Marie O’Connor, chairperson of the Redington Frognal Association, said: “The reinstatement of the Branch Hill Pond restores an important piece of English cultural history.
“This is the pond John Constable sketched and painted over and over, where he watched the storm clouds and felt the wind on his face.
“It is one element of the RedFrog vision for habitat restoration, which includes making gardens and neighbourhoods more hospitable to the wildlife that lives in the Hampstead Heath.”
