History
Downfenslade was a short western branch of Beach Lode, the medieval waterway that ran north from Landbeach to the Old West River. It was called Down Fen Slade in the Landbeach Field Book of 1549. It terminated in a pond which in the same book was called Lode Ware, but which was later known as Town Pond. This was originally a dock or hithe for unloading goods from flat-bottomed barges on to the common.