Cotswold Water Park Society

Ammonite Pools

Ammonite Pools

Ammonite Pools is an iconic work of landscape art at the heart of the Cotswold Water Park Society's major restoration project Cleveland Lakes. The idea for Ammonite Pools grew out of the artist’s realisation of the incredibly rich geology, archaeology and natural history of the Cotswold landscape – the very bedrock of the area. On the ground Ammonite pools will be perceived as a ‘maze’ that takes the visitor on a discovery walk to the heart of the ammonite, to the core of 160 million years of the earth’s history, and at the same time enabling the visitor to see a new landscape designed for nature. At the ‘heart’ is an ammonite shaped bird hide offering an unique and immersive experience of nature, geology, wetland as well as public art.

Ammonite Pools is designed to inspire exploration and discovery –
visual exploration by experiencing a stimulating and imaginative landscape for visitors encouraging public access to a range of wildlife rich habitats.
physical exploration through walking, running, cycling & paddle sports, promoting Heathy & Active lifestyles in a unique environment.
educational exploration linked to biodiversity, sustainability especially through the development of the -T-I-M-E-L-I-N-E- concept

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Progress to date October 2009:

An ALSF Feasibility Study for the project was completed in Spring 2009. Aggregates Levy Funded Projects

During the summer of 2009 earth shifting work took place that has created the basic forms for the structure for Ammonite Pools. These ‘foundations’ - mounds and shapes – that have reformed the landscape were part of a project that was supported by Natural England Wetlands Vision funding. (see picture from the air)

In September 2009 ALSF confirmed funding to undertake a ‘pilot’ digital interpretation scheme, involving interested groups and schools from the local community, local artists, geologists, ecologists and other similar professional consultant. This project is a collaboration with XOR, a Cirencester based digital technology company, with a strong interest in the interpretation of heritage. At the same time applications are being made to major funding sources, such as Arts Council England, for support towards the implementation of the scheme.

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Click to see a 'fly through' of the scheme Ammonite Pools

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Notes:

The landscape scale vision for Cleveland Lakes is apt. It is one that other artists and creative thinkers have frequently referenced in their responses to the Water Park, notably:

Genius Locii” who created the original artist led strategy for the CWPS talked of the Water Park “ as a garden of the Imagination” and proposed an “Atlantic project” to construct a bubble in which a creative landscape highlighted the “ unique mix of geology, archaeology, flora and fauna, recreation and industry that co - exists within the Water Park”.
They flagged what they called ‘the breaking of the waters’ and the ‘rich trawl of ammonites’ …the ‘Ammonite split…the nautilus spiral..the golden mean….’: “The Water Park shows the wearing down of earlier landscapes by wind and water, water gently and insistently ultimately having its way seeping and shaping the mud, the clay, the underlying oolitic limestone bedrock”.

Liminal, artist group who worked in collaboration with the Cotswold Water Park Society Master Planners Scott Wilson, recommended artists are commissioned to consider ‘artifice and atlantis’ – projects in which the creation of ‘new landscapes that can be formed through the process of restoration’ and in doing so unearth ‘myths of hidden worlds’.

Scott Wilson developed the CWP Master Plan. They recommended a new “cultural focus” (4.7) with the “arts … helping to create a sense of place” (2.3.) and the need to “create identifiable landmarks” (4.4.6).