He also leased adjoining fields, to provide gardens and sports facilities, and acquired the rights to use the reservoir for fishing and boating. Online publication. The nearest are at Birchen Grove Garden Centre (NW9 8RY) and the Hendon branch of Sainsbury’s (NW9 6JX), both within a short walk of the site. Brent Reservoir, also commonly known as the Welsh Harp, is a large reservoir with natural banks lying adjacent to the North Circular Road in Neasden and surrounded by marshland, woodland, unimproved grassland and playing fields. This large lake is located in Wembley, on the north side of the North Circular, accessed from Neasden Recreation Ground, Welsh Harp Open Space, and Woodfield Park. Despite the importance of fish as a food supply for many birds and as an indicator of water quality, remarkably little is known about the fish of Brent Reservoir, primarily because angling is forbidden. Our fisheries and angling manager, Carl Nicholls, has put together this helpful guide to the most common types of fish found in our canals and rivers. Anyway, what is true is that the pub was what made the shores of the reservoir a visitor attraction – in the 1850s a bloke called William Perkins Warner returned from fighting the Crimean War to buy The Welsh Harp AND the reservoir’s fishing rights, which at least suggests that Drunk Fishing may have been a more popular Victorian sport than is mostly supposed. https://londonbirders.fandom.com/wiki/Brent_Reservoir?oldid=174469. River fishing British Waterways? Colmans J. They ran it as a centre for sporting events, such as ice skating, swimming, angling and, until 1878, the Kingsbury Race Course. A recently fledged Common Tern at Brent Reservoir (Photo by Andrew Self). For dates, see here. Brent Reservoir, Kingsbury The Brent Reservoir (popularly called the Welsh Harp) is a reservoir between Hendon and Wembley Park in London. The work to expand the reservoir included raising a new embankment to protect the Old Welsh Harp tavern, on the west side of the Edgware Road, just north of the Brent Bridge, from flooding. For 40 years the Welsh Harp was one of London’s most popular leisure destinations. The site was designated an SSSI for its breeding wetland birds such as Great Crested Grebe, Pochard, Tufted Duck and Common Tern and is also now a Local Nature Reserve. An Act of Parliament was passed allowing the company to acquire more land, and increase the height of the dam. Route 112 follows the North Circular Road (A406) past the south side of the reservoir.. This website is a guide and cannot guarantee full coverage of venues, nor accuracy of the information provided. This area is known as the Dump and is good for migrants. An interesting topic this, I used to live in the area, from 1945 to 1959, and I was always horrified to see what a mess British Oxygen had made at the rear of their factory on the North Cicular Road it was just a mass of pollution. The distinctive shape of the reservoir was a landmark for enemy bombers, and West Hendon suffered a terrible attack in February 1941 when a single experimental high explosive bomb flattened homes in three streets near the Silk Stream arm, killing around 80 people and making 1,500 homeless. The reservoir is popularly known as the Welsh Harp after an inn of the same name. View from the main hide looking towards the dam with Wembley Stadium in the background (Photo by Andrew Self). You must log in or register to reply here. We hope this site will be of value to visitors to Brent Reservoir. Their work has helped to highlight how valuable the reservoir is for both people and the natural environment, but there are still big West Hendon Broadway is also served by buses 32, 142 and 183 and Blackbird Hill by buses 182, 245 and 302. ), The Welsh Harp Conservation Group can provide birders with keys to the East Marsh hides for a nominal fee (telephone 020 8447 1810). Part of Warner’s legacy is the name by which the reservoir is generally known today. Both before and after the Second World War some infilling of the reservoir took place, particularly where the Edgware Road crossed both arms of it and near the Cool Oak Lane bridge.