Background

St Ibbs park is a privately owned area of protected traditional parkland to the south of Hitchin, Herts. It was first laid out in 1715 by the Rev. William Lax. An ornamental lake was created in approximately 1801 with a bridge to act as a damn at the northern end. 

The brief

Over the years the lake has been affected by a gradual build up of silt, which, coupled with a lower water table, has meant that the lake had disappeared. Our brief was to re-excavate the lake to establish open water once again. 

The solution

First of all, clumps of reeds and bulrushes were removed and set to one side. Then the layer of silt was lifted off with a 14 tonne excavator and a pair of 10 tonne dumper trucks. This process took the lake to it's original depth but due to the current lower water table there was still very little water. Therefore the next phase of digging was to remove the second layer of substrate to an average depth of approximately five metres.

Finally, the water plants which had been saved from the initial excavation were replanted and the banks were fine graded.   

The result

The beautiful lake has been restored and improved as it is now at a depth which means it will be many centuries before it builds up with silt again.