The bottom 'rec', or bottom recreation ground, is one of two areas which were part of the original 1906 design of the estate designated for leisure and sports. I have always been told that this area was for older children, and the top 'rec' (behind the the main block of houses) was for younger children.
The area was originally part of Middleton Hall Farm, and the field within the farm was called Bigwood (hence Bigwood Dell). The ground was difficult to build on due to its incline, so was designed as a green-space instead. The reason for the dip leading towards the overgrown area (filled with blackberry brambles, see above) was that this had been a clay pit, used for excavating clay to make bricks (see maps, below). It was one of three clay pits nearby, with another surviving in gardens of Heath Close and the other being filled in and built on, on Heath Road.
In the 1880s, it was already called the 'Old Clay Pit', and trees were marked at its edges, so it was probably eighteenth-century in origin.
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During World War II the area was converted into allotments to help with the war effort. Today, the area is great for blackberry picking.
The bottom 'rec', or Bigwood Dell, is accessed via Hawthorne Croft, which is off Hawthorne Road.
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