MR. W. G. CLARKE ON THE MERES OF WRETHAM HEATH. 499 
V. 
THE MERES OF WRETHAM HEATH. 
By W. G. Clarke. 
Read 27 th January , 190S. 
The remarkable pools of water called Meres, or locally “ Pits,” 
situated on the extensive heathland north of Thetford and close by 
the boundary between the parishes of Wretham and Croxton have 
hardly received the attention they deserve. Various writers have 
made bare mention of them ; some because of their strange formation 
or picturesqueness ; others, within the past twenty years, because 
of the almost unique character of their bird-life, Mallard, Gadwall, 
Shovelers, Teal, Garganey, Pochard and Tufted Duck, having been 
known to nest in the vicinity of one or the other of these meres. 
This aspect of the subject need not now be dwelt upon, although 
the question will naturally occur in connection with the strange 
fluctuations in the area of the meres, the subject with which 
I propose to deal, the facts solely relating to Ringmere, Langmere, 
Fowlmere, and the Devil’s Punch Bowl. 
The meres have neither visible inlet nor outlet and are only found 
in that portion of the district where the chalk comes to the surface 
or is only thinly covered by sandy drift. As to the origin of these 
sheets of water we must accept the opinions of expert geologists. 
Mr. F. J. Bennett, F.G.S., thinks that many small meres have 
become dry through the lowering of the water-level in the chalk, 
consequent upon increased cultivation and drainage. “Pipes” in 
the chalk were filled with drift-sand. These, after a heavy rainfall, 
would be filled with water, so far as they were affected by the 
