The Exmoor Ponies Of Hindhead Common
Exmoor Ponies are an ancient, hardy breed, introduced to Hindhead Common for a reason: to munch their way through the tougher grasses and scrub, clearing the way for the original heathland to make a comeback. The Common's a peaceful place today.
But this peace wasn’t cheap. The main London-Portsmouth road ran along the edge of the Devil's Punch Bowl (the name given to the large natural amphitheatre on part of the common), and the noise and air pollution were destroying the ecosystem. A solution was needed and it was wildly ambitious. In 2011, after years of work, the 1.14-mile Hindhead Tunnel opened, sinking the traffic deep underground for a staggering £371 million. With the cars gone, they didn't just close the old road; they ripped it out of the landscape. Crews tore up every inch of tarmac, stitching both sides of the common back together.
This is just the latest chapter for a place with a dark history. Gibbet Hill is a short walk away, the name as grimly literal as it sounds. This used to be the main London - Portsmouth Road, a notorious haunt for highwaymen. In 1787, three men who robbed and murdered a sailor were hanged on this spot, their bodies left in chains on a gibbet—a grisly warning to anyone else with similar ideas. In 1851 a large stone cross was put up, partly to reassure travellers that things had changed, but according to local legend it was actually to quiet the ghost stories that clung to the hill.
And the land itself has its stories. Legend has it the Devil’s Punch Bowl was carved out when the Devil scooped up a handful of earth to chuck at Thor. The geological explanation is a bit less exciting — spring water simply eroded the soft sandstone until the ground collapsed in on itself.
These days the ponies do the real work, slowly bringing the common back to life for rare ground-nesting birds and butterflies. It’s a strange thing to think about when you stand here in the silence: a massive, modern engineering project was finished just so an ancient breed of horse could get on with the quiet work of restoring a landscape to what it was centuries ago.
→ All photos: Mamiya 656 Pro TL / Kodak Tri-X / Semi-stand developed in Rodinal 1+99 60 minutes.
