A little history of the Dell

Fairy Dell is a wooded beck valley and a small Park in Marton , Middlesbrough. There are two lakes, a top lake connected to the bottom lake by a small waterfall.
These features were part of the estate of Gunnergate Hall and the Dell was set out as a walk in the natural wooded valley. The owners of the Gunnergate Estate were the Vaughans, local Ironmasters, and lastly , Raylton Dixon who was a local ship builder. The Hall was occupied during both wars by the army and fell into dissrepair after they left, eventually being pulled down.
The bottom lake ( Gunnergate Lake ) was modified much later by the Middlesbrough authorities, to hold water in times of heavy rain so as not to flood the lower reaches of the beck that is in Middlesbrough.
The beck in the little valley is called Marton West Beck and flows through the Marton area to the Tees at Middlesbrough.

The wildlife in the Dell include most of the common woodland birds and the lakes have breeding Mallards and Moorhen. You can usually find a Heron on the lake early in the morning and if you are lucky you can catch a glimpse of a Kingfisher as it flies along the lake edge.
The most unusual birds seen, for the Dell, were a Common Sandpiper, Teal, Siskin and a female Mandarin Duck.

Mammals seen : Fox, Shrew, Water Vole ( not seen for a while but plenty of holes ) plenty of Grey Squirells and Roe Deer.