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Pennytown Ponds was once part the original Cotes Park Estate dating back as early as the 14th century. At the beginning of the 19th century the park was sold off in small parcels of land, and extensive mining of the area was beginning.  Cotes Park Hall once stood in the centre of the park, but disappeared with the development of the industrial estates. A reminder of its existence is the stone outbuilding at the top of the bridle path, leading down to Pennytown.

Originally known as “Shady Ponds” after the Shady Colliery at Birchwood, the area had become, by the 1970s, an isolated and forgotten area almost entirely surrounded by industrial estates.

In the 1980s however, the area was designated as a County Wildlife site and in the following decade investment and work by the Pennytown Ponds Group and Groundwork brought a new lease of life to the neighbourhood, culminating in the creation of a Local Nature Reserve in 2002.

Above: Pennytown Local Nature Reserve

There are four ponds in the Reserve, which are balancing ponds for the drainage of the surrounding land. Nowadays, Moorhens, Coots and Mallards can be seen there, and regularly breed. Damselfly and Dragonflies are seen throughout the summer and twenty five species of water beetle have been recorded. Even Kingfishers have been spotted.

Pennytown is now a tranquil oasis in a sea of industrial activity. In both 2011 and 2012, the Local Nature Reserve received a Green Flag Status Environmental Award, for which those who saved it from decline and obscurity can be justly proud.