There is good evidence to suggest that the meadow was once the site of an old mill pond, which would have been used to fuel Cranbrooks cloth making industry during the 16th Century. It is not clear when the pond finally fell into disuse, although the general use of fueling mills had rapidly declined by the end of the 17th Century. An arial photograph from 1945 suggests that the Nature Reserve and the adjacent recreational ground were open and un-wooded for at least the last hundred years, therefore suggesting that the site was grazed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.