Pike in Jesus Ditch

Having never seen anything living in there but minnows and those strange rubbery jellyfish that also live on the floor in the Jesus Green toilets, I was surprised to see two small pike in Jesus Ditch this morning. One of them was about 30cm long, the other about two thirds that size. I don't seem to be able to attach photos to the first post of a new topic, so photos* below...

*crappy ones, because I didn't have a polarising filter with me to cut out the reflection.

Pike 1

Pike 2

there's a ditch in Jesus Green?

Next to Jesus College.

Runs the full length of the southern edge of the green from Victoria Avenue to Park Parade before vanishing round the back of the college, where us scumbags aren't allowed to go.

There used to be two, apparently.

"By the time of the 1901 Ordnance Survey map (Fig. 14) the Middle
Ditch has disappeared, possibly filled in as part of the work carried out
in preparation for the 1894 Royal Agricultural Show, which took place
on Jesus Green. Victoria Avenue was constructed in 1890 and this can
be seen on the map, on the alignment of a footpath visible on the 1886
map." http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-4...

ahh, I always thought that was part of the Cam

It possibly is a tributary - it's thought to be a natural watercourse that was modified to act as a defensive structure at some point, so chances are it does drain into the river somewhere or other. There may be a covered section under the green or the road, perhaps covered at the same time as Middle Ditch was filled in.

Maybe they provide an extra line of defence to stop townies breaking in to the College.

In one of Sylvia Plath's short stories (collected in Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams) I seem to remember that one of them has a bit about students sneaking back into Jesus College after hours and having the climb over the fence at the back. I presume that this was at the side along Victoria Avenue, not at the back by the ditch.

Now I think about it at Victoria Avenue I seem to remember that the ditch disappears into a grille, which implies that it continues under the road and doesn't just stop. If I get time later then I'll look at the historic maps and the watercourse maps and see if I can work out what happens to it.

There is a grille, yes. I assume there must be a connection to the river somewhere and that's how the pike got in there - due to it being shallow, it's probably a much safer place to live when your much larger ancestors would have no qualms at all about eating you.

Looking at it on Google Earth, I'm not sure the ditch does continue round the back of the college - I think it might run through a tunnel coming underneath Lower Paark Street, in which case it might be connected to the river somewhere up stream or collects water from rainfall on the city centre.

I've had a look at the flood maps. Buggered if I can work out where Jesus Ditch goes, though there is a sewer that appears to end at roughly the same place as the grille. I suspect that the two don't meet though.

I've just had a look on historical maps for middle ditch, you can still clearly see the line of it on some modern aerial photography. Interesting.

There's only one way to find out. You're probably small enough to explore the tunnels - fancy a swim?

I've seen enough horror films to know that these sort of underground places are always inhabited by either sinister orc like monsters or psychotic feral children that survive on eating foolhardy explorers. So no.

I wonder if these lions, which are attached to the stonework along the river by the ice cream kiosk and footbridge but so far as I recall at no other point, might mark the place where the ditch joins the river?

Interesting that you can have watercourses underneath towns and cities.

When I lived in Coventry I found out there was a river which ran right underneath the middle of the city centre and wasn't visible at any point. I suspect that this was because the redevelopers threw up their hands in horror at having anything attractive in the city and just built right over it.

I've never noticed those lions before. I'll have to look out for them. Thanks for the heads up.

I only noticed them earlier this year - get a camera and wander round looking for stuff and it's amazing how much stuff you find (like the cobbled street at Honey Hill near the Folk Museum, which I only noticed a few weeks ago and went to photograph yesterday).

London has no fewer than 21 subterranean rivers, of which the Fleet is the most famous - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subterranean_rivers_of_London

Cities need somewhere to keep crocodiles/ninja turtles/flesh-eating mutant goldfish etc., I suppose.

I just googled "subterranean rivers Cambridge" but the only interesting page it led to was the Secret Places thread on here back in 2007, when we were all young and carefree and it were all fields around 'ere.

When I lived in Coventry I found out there was a river which ran right underneath the middle of the city centre and wasn't visible at any point. I suspect that this was because the redevelopers threw up their hands in horror at having anything attractive in the city and just built right over it.

Very believable. I'm a major believer that all decent towns/cities have rivers and grew up in a city which stands on three, so leaving home to live in Coventry then Brighton was pretty disappointing on that score. I was there the other week and they've got rid of all the subways between the station and the city, which is really weird/normal.

I've tried to find proper lost rivers for Cambridge besides things like Hobson's Conduit and I don't think there any any. But there have been a lot of gravel pits all across the city (e.g., Beehive Centre/Norfolk St and there's Gravel Hill Farm on Madingley Road). Apparently this means that these areas were flowing water created by the end of the ice age. So Newmarket Road was a river flowing from a waterfall around the Abbey / Barnwell Junction area from a lake on Coldham's Common.

I was there the other week and they've got rid of all the subways between the station and the city, which is really weird

In Coventry? I'm not surprised the subways have gone, Coventry is undergoing a massive redevelopment programme. I know a lot of the lower precinct and large parts of the town centre have already gone. In 15 years it might actually be nicer.

I remember one time in the late 90's I was walking into town first thing in the morning through those subways and had to step over a massive pool of blood. Nasty.

Years ago I remember reading an article by Jarvis Cocker about taking a boat trip along the buried river that runs through Sheffield (is it the Don?). Not sure you could fit a boat on Hobson's Conduit.

Now that the pike have been discovered I wonder how long until our Polish friends will find out where they are and eat them.

You make ginger Kitty angry! ;-)