Tom's Down — New Forest National Park

Hiking trails & Routes

Tom's Down — New Forest National Park

Moderate

4.8

(9)

hikers

Tom's Down — New Forest National Park

02:27

9.53km

40m

Hiking

A walk of wildlife and wartime.

On this trail, you will see Badminston Common, where there used to be World War 2 installations (storage tanks in a war project to place a pipeline under the ocean). Mopley Pond, which you will walk past on your way, has connections to the same wartime project. Both Badminston Common and Mopley Pond - and other natural places you will walk through - abound in wildlife. This walk, therefore, offers the best of both worlds.

by New Forest National Park

Last updated: August 14, 2024

Waypoints

Start point

Parking

Get Directions

2.11 km

Badminston Common

Highlight • Historical Site

There were many wartime installations in the Fawley area, including the storage tanks used for the PLUTO project, a Second World War Pipe Line Under the Ocean. These were located at the end of Badminston Lane in an area generally known as the Common. It was largely open heathland, much like the New Forest, covered with heather and gorse.

The tanks measured about 180 metres by 100 metres and stood about three or four metres high. They were covered over with soil and sand and then grassed over to conceal their position and purpose. The removal of the sand and gravel left a huge scar on the landscape about a metre deep and required to be camouflaged.

This was achieved by lopping off the top 2 metres of pine trees, positioning them in the manner of plantation trees and securing them in position with wooden pegs and galvanised iron wire. They soon became a local feature as a forest of small dead tree tops!

Badminston Common was used for common grazing land in the 18th century. Gravel has been extracted from this area for years. The now flooded Badminston gravel pit is a haven for all sorts of wildlife.

Tip by

4.55 km

Millpond Bay and Sluice, New Forest National Park

Highlight • River

This millpond once provided a water reserve for the Mill downstream. The pond was drained in 1866, but features of the pond (its bay and sluce) can still be seen today.

Tip by

6.72 km

Mopley Pond

Highlight • Historical Site

Now a fishing lake, Mopley Pond was formed some time in the past by damming the valley where two streams met to form a mill pond for the Mopley watermill on the Bourne. The earlies known reference to a mill here is 1626, but the mill referred to under Woodington in 1555 is almost certainly Mopley.

The mill appears on the Fawley tithe map of 1838, but it has been removed by the OS Survey undertaken in 1868.

The PLUTO pipeline ran from the holding tanks on Badminston Common to a pump house at Mopley Pond, but was removed after the war.

The pump-house was constructed of corrugated iron with a gabled tin roof and double doors in the end, making it look like a domestic garage. All that is left today is the concrete base, and even this is overgrown with vegetation.

From Mopley to Stone Point on the Lepe foreshore, the PLUTO pipeline then ran underwater across the Solent to Thorness Bay on the Isle of Wight and thence across the Island to Shankling Chine, where it crossed the Channel to the Cherbourg Peninsular.

Tip by

9.53 km

End point

Parking

Way Types & Surfaces

Way Types

8.01 km

1.08 km

448 m

Surfaces

5.57 km

1.95 km

1.08 km

589 m

348 m

Elevation

Nothing selected – click and drag below to see the stats for a specific part of the route.

Weather

Today

Tuesday 10 November

9°C

7°C

94 %

Additional weather tips

It’s set to rain on your activity. Pack a waterproof jacket.

to get more detailed weather forecasts along your route

Comments

March 17, 2024

A walk of wildlife and wartime.
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On this trail, you will see Badminston Common, where there used to be World War 2 installations (storage tanks in a war project to place a pipeline under the ocean). Mopley Pond, which you will walk past on your way, has connections to the same wartime project. Both Badminston