The Pond Mills and Glen Cairn Neighbourhood

Pond Mills is an area with a mix of housing.  There are many affordable family homes and townhouse condo developments.  The area is also blessed with a number of excellent parks, including one of the newest, and perhaps the best, splash pads in the city.  A significant portion of the Westminster/Pond Mills Conservation Area is found within its borders with excellent walking trails.  It’s an oasis in the midst of suburbia.  The neighbourhood is also close to the highway 401 and the White Oaks shopping area along Wellington.  Handy bus routes also make it easy to get from Pond Mills to a significant part of the city on a single bus.

Westminster Ponds/Pond Mills Conservation Area

At approximately 200 hectares, Westminster Ponds / Pond Mills Environmentally Significant Area (ESA) is the largest publicly-owned ESA in London. The ESA is significant for its size and for its great variety of natural habitats within the boundaries of a major urban centre. The site is also designated as a Provincially Significant Wetland.

The ESA is located south of Commissioners Road and east of Wellington Road, adjacent to the Tourist Information Centre, and extends eastward to Pond Mills Road. The ESA has three main access points with kiosks and 11 km of managed trails. Most of the trails are gently rolling, with the occasional short, steep hill. Almost all the trails are on clay or muck soils, which are very prone to becoming muddy. Boardwalks cross some lowland areas.

Westminster Ponds / Pond Mills ESA is located on the Ingersoll Moraine, an east-west ridge of stony soil (till). This material was deposited by melt-water pouring from a glacier when its leading edge stalled at this location for a time. Large blocks of ice also broke off the glacier and became embedded in the moraine. When the ice sheet receded 13,000 years ago, the ice chunks melted to create water-filled depressions. These kettle ponds are prominent features of the ESA today.

European farmers first settled the area along Commissioners Road in 1810. The railway track that cuts across the ESA was constructed in 1915 as part of a line from London to Port Stanley. In the 1940s, several veterans’ residences and other facilities were built north of Saunders Pond, as part of Westminster Hospital. In the 1960s, part of the area was used as a sanitary landfill site. This large block of land remained undeveloped because much of it was federal hospital property during the crucial development decades for that part of the city. In the 1970s, the City of London and the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) purchased approximately 200 hectares for the purpose of establishing an urban conservation area. More land has been acquired since then. In 1990, the City designated the tract as an ESA. Publicly owned portions of the ESA are open to the public.

Five large kettle ponds and a beaver pond are surrounded by lowland and upland habitats. Approximately 60% of all plant species found in Middlesex County can be found in the Westminster Ponds / Pond Mills ESA. Bordering Spettigue Pond is a very narrow, sensitive band of bog habitat, an uncommon feature in southwestern Ontario. Tamarack and Leatherleaf are among the species growing from a thick mat of peat. Nearby and in other areas of swamp forest, Red Maple, Yellow Birch, Silver Maple and American Elm dominate. The cool, shady conditions support a mixture of northern and southern plants. Along the margin of Saunders Pond and throughout the Dayus Creek Valley, cattails, sedges and rushes thrive in marshy areas. The drier slopes and ridges around the ponds support typical eastern hardwood forest species. Sugar Maple, American Beech, White Ash, Basswood and Red Oak are present, as are southerly species such as Shagbark Hickory. An ancient White Oak is the largest tree in the ESA. Various wildflower species bloom in the spring.

Map of the Westminster Ponds/Pond Mills Conservation Area

Source: Upper Thames Conservation Authority

Parks and Other Places of Interest

The area is also home to Pond Mills Park, South East Optimist Park, Miller’s Court Park, Glen Cairn Park, Three Valleys Park, Chelsea Green Park, as well as the Glen Cairn Arena and the Ice Park Arena.

Schools

The neighbourhood is also served by Glen Cairn Public School, C.C. Carrothers Public School, Princess Elizabeth Public School and St. Sebastian Catholic School.

SERVICE | KNOWLEDGE | RESULTS

East London

Argyle
Downtown
Ealing
Fairmont
Huron Heights
Merwin Heights
Old North
Old East/Carling
Soho

North London

Blackfriars/Cherry Hill
Cedar Hollow
Foxfield
Hunt Club
Hyde Park
Medway Heights
North Ridge
Oakridge
Richmond Hill
Stoney Brook
Stoney Creek
Sunningdale
University Heights
White Hills

South London

Byron
Copperfield/Andover
Highland/Cleardale
Lambeth
Old South
Pond Mills/Glencairn
Resevoir Park Estates
Riverbend
Southcrest
Summerside
The Coves
Westminster
Westmount
White Oaks

Contact Steve

334 Wellington Rd. S
London, Ontario N6C 4P6
steve@stevebaarda.com
Cell: 519.878.5566
Office: 519.672.9880
Fax: 519.672.5145