258 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 
c 
Ida Gandy Pond 
Pewsey itself. There are four entrances, but only 
one has direct access to a public road, Dursden 
Lane, at SU 169 610. 
This gate gives on to Big Forty, at present a wide 
expanse of sown grasses and adventitious White 
Clover. Straight ahead, looking north-west across 
the valley, are the chalk downlands: Martinsell to 
the right and, in the distance on the left, Knap Hill 
and Walker’s Hill. They stand above the fields of the 
Vale: loamy brown-earth soil over the fertile upper 
greensand (Soil Survey, 1983). The Kennet & Avon 
canal, the northern boundary of the reserve, runs 
south-west to north-east. It is hard to see except 
where it is crossed by Pains Bridge carrying an 
ancient green lane from Pewsey and Knowle up to 
the downs. This green lane forms the reserve’s south 
west boundary. Along the valley bottom, largely 
hidden by trees, the Avon flows through marshy 
meadows. These meadows are kept wet by numerous 
powerful springs rising through the greensand from 
the chalk. The very name ‘Pewsey’ or the Norman 
form ‘Pevesei’, as in the quotation from the Domes- 
day Book given above, or, even earlier — 880 AD — 
‘Pefesigge’ means ‘Pefe’s well-watered place’, but 
who Pefe was we have no idea (Gover et al, 1939, 350). 
On the reserve, twenty-four categories of habitat 
have been identified (Mobsby, 2001). These include 
fen and carr; river, streams, ponds, ditches and wet 
flushes; woodland, including old trees with nest 
holes; large standing and fallen deadwood; parkland 
trees and grassland (semi-improved or improved). 
The central core of the reserve, the old water 
meadows and woods, has been classified as a Site of 
Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) since 1975 and is 
proposed as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). 
This key part is now surrounded entirely by grazing 
land or fen, but is still vulnerable to possible 
pollution either from upstream or via the 
groundwater. 
The River Avon 
The eastern headwater of the Salisbury Avon flows 
through the reserve. Three streams on the north of 
the Vale join to form it: one rises just south of 
Clench, another near Wootton Rivers and the third, 
Deane Water, comes from just west of Burbage. The 
river turns south at Pewsey to cut through the 
Salisbury Plain scarp at Upavon, demonstrating 
that the river pre-dates the Vale. 
