Skip to contentThe Chalke Pit at Toyd
- Date
- 1969
- Source
- Ray Scoggins
- Comment
Ken Woodvine recalled that the small chalk pit at Tidpit was bought by Overton Limeworks, who needed more chalk. However, the silt and diesel from the chalk pit fouled up the Allen river. Before this time the river was full of trout. There was a pond at North Allenford, which Ken thought was man-made because it was a perfectly round, and he remembered seeing twenty, fifty, maybe even two-hundred trout in that pond. They even had 5lb fish. His father used to go to the shady places along the river where the trout would hide and could be easily caught. When the chalk pit was in business the river silted up and was polluted and the fish died. Other locals remember how the roads and hedgerows were white with chalk dust at that time from the lorries.
