Burghfield Brook

Burghfield Brook is a small stream in southern England. It rises in Wokefield Common between the Berkshire villages of Mortimer and Burghfield Common. It is a tributary of Foudry Brook, which it joins near Hartley Court Farm, just to the south of the M4 motorway.

Burghfield Brook rises from a series of springs on Wokefield Common, near the end of Bundes Lane. The emergent brook heads eastwards along the northern edge of Wokefield Common, passing through two small lakes and into a small valley called Burghfield Slade, to reach a reservoir of water to the south of Auclum Copse. The brook marks the border between Burghfield to the north and Wokefield to the south. A second source issues from the ground to the south-west of the springs, and flows eastwards across the common to Pullen’s Pond, a small fish pond. On the edge of the heathland area it briefly disappears to re-emerge at the edge of Burghfield Slade, and empties into the reservoir. A third brook rises on Auclum Copse and flows southwards to reach the reservoir.[1] 150 acres (60 ha) of Wokefield Common are managed as a nature reserve by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, where the woodland is regularly thinned to preserve the heathland environment. Pullen’s Pond and Dragonfly Pond provide habitat for a number of dragonfly and damselfly species.[2]

The outflow from the reservoir passes under Man’s Hill, after which there is a sluice, with Culverlands Farm on its northern bank and Goddards Green to the south. It turns to the north-east, and at James’s Farm in Grazeley Green it is joined by Lockram Brook, which has run parallel to Burghfield Brook for most of its length, but a little further to the south. It continues to act as the parish boundary as it turns to the north, until it reaches James’s Lane and the southern edge of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Burghfield.[1] It used to continue in a large curve, passing Saunderscourt Farm, where the parish boundary ceased to follow the brook, before turning to the east to reach the junction between Rider’s Lane, Burnthouse Lane and Fuller’s Lane. The bridge was called Gravelly Bridge in 1877, but had become Burnthouse Bridge by 1899.[3]