History

The Pillhill Brook is a spring fed headwater of the River Test. It flows through a low gradient chalk valley in the north western corner of the county of Hampshire. It rises in the village of Kimpton and then flows through the villages of Fyfield, Thruxton, East Cholderton, Amport, Monxton, Abbotts Ann, Anna Valley, finally flowing into the River Anton in the village of Upper Clatford. 

Farming was first introduced to Britain around 4000 BC. As people began to settled in Hampshire they begun to use the brook to help grow food and flood meadows to provide spring grazing for cattle. Later they redirected flow through leats to drive waterwheels to power grain and wool mills and in the 19th century entrepreneurs such as Robert and William Tasker set up Waterloo Ironworks in Anna Valley to manufacture agricultural equipment using water to power their forge.

All this means that the course of the Pillhill Brook has been greatly modified from its original post-glacial course and it is challenging to identify and agree on what returning the brook 'back to natural' means. This is why the Pillhill Brook Association aim to care for and protect what we have.