Watermead Country Park
Encyclopedia
River Soar
The River Soar is a tributary of the River Trent in the English East Midlands.-Description:It rises near Hinckley in Leicestershire and is joined by the River Sence near Enderby before flowing through Leicester , Barrow-on-Soar, beside Loughborough and Kegworth, before joining the Trent near...
and the old Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal (old)
The Grand Union Canal was a canal in England from Foxton, Leicestershire on the Leicester and Northampton canal to Buckby on the Grand Junction Canal...
, to the north of Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, in the Borough of Charnwood
Charnwood (borough)
Charnwood is a borough of northern Leicestershire, England. It is named after Charnwood Forest, which it contains. Loughborough is the largest town in the district and serves as the borough's administrative and commercial centre.-History:...
in Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
. It runs north to south along the path of the watercourses, with Birstall
Birstall, Leicestershire
Birstall is a large village and civil parish within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is three miles north of the Leicester city centre and is part of the wider Leicester Urban Area....
to the west and Thurmaston
Thurmaston
Thurmaston is a village and civil parish within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. As of the 2001 census its population was 8,945...
to the east. The parks provide bird watching, fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
and watersports facilities, and are managed by a partnership of Leicestershire County Council
Leicestershire County Council
Leicestershire County Council is the county council for the English non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire. It was originally formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888. The county is divided into 52 electoral divisions, which return a total of 55 councillors. The council is controlled by...
, Leicester City Council
Leicester City Council
Leicester City Council is a unitary authority responsible for local government in the city of Leicester, England. It consists of 54 councillors, representing 22 wards in the city, overseen by a directly elected mayor. It is currently controlled by the Labour Party and has been led by Mayor Sir...
and Charnwood Borough Council.
The northern-most lake is named John Merricks Lake, after the late John Merricks
John Merricks
John Merricks was an English sailor. He represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he received the silver medal in the 470 class along with his sailing partner, Ian Walker....
, a silver Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
medalist who practised sailing on the lake prior to his death in a car accident in 1997.
Further south is King Lear's Lake, a popular fishing lake which can be circumnavigated and is popular with people walking dogs and cyclists. A statue on the western side of the lake depicts the final scene of Shakespeare's play King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
. The lake is also used for open water swim training by Leicester Triathlon Club, and for water training of Newfoundland Dogs.
There are several further artificial lakes continuing south following the course of the canal ending with the southern-most lake, often referred to as the Mammoth lake due to the presence of a large statue of a Mammoth atop a small hill aside the lake, from where one can see Leicester and the surrounding area for some distance in either direction. There was a previous woolly mammoth
Woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is a species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia...
where the current one stands, although it was burned down in an arson attack several years ago. The Millennium Mammoth was built to commemorate the discovery of ice age mammoth remains found when Watermead was a quarry.
In January 2010, two brothers died after falling into one of the frozen lakes. They had been plucked from the lake by a police officer, who was leaning out of a helicopter hovering above the frozen surface.