When Chorleywood was an Urban District Council, run from offices in Chorleywood House, road sweepings were deposited at the site near the football field. So it was that a dell became a mound, and a pretty unsightly one especially when fly-tippers took to dumping old mattresses and refrigerators; this continued for a while even after the official dump site moved elsewhere. Soil was dumped too, which has proved a problem as there was a lot of weed in it.
Then in 2002 Chorleywood House won a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, part of which was used to regenerate the area. Rusting ironware was removed and a layer of topsoil imported and laid on top. Saplings were planted to make a mixed woodland, with a clearing at the centre. Some large trees had been suffocated by the rubbish around them, but a few dead trunks remain for the benefit of wildlife.
There used to be a rainwater channel or leat which took surface water from the parkland, some of which had been pumped up for irrigation from the Chess by the water-wheel which is still there beside the river, though disused. The leat took water through the wood to a pond near the now derelict farmhouse by the Nature Reserve, and the overflow from this continued through The Dell and down to the river again. Part of the leat was completely covered by tipped materials, so a specialist from Groundwork dug out the channel again, lining it with flint embedded in concrete. After rainfall, the leat now becomes a delightful gurgling brook, which volunteers endeavour to keep clear from fallen leaves.
So the old tip is now a pleasant mound. The young trees are growing well, and the volunteer group recently removed the stakes and metal guards which are no longer required (but which will go to protect the saplings in the Community Orchard). TRDC and the volunteers work together to keep the larger and more aggressive weeds at bay, and wildflowers have been planted. There is a large buddleia shrub which is alive with butterflies in the summer, and next to it a path goes down the far side of the mound to follow the leat. The path comes out just below the gate into the nature reserve from the field which has the orchard. Do be aware this is not a paved footpath but a woodland track, with uneven ground, rabbit holes and tree roots!