[PHOTO] Approaching Taddle Creek

[rfmcdonald]

Wychwood Park is characterized substantially by Taddle Creek, one of the many streams buried by the growth of downtown Toronto (as described by Alfred Holden).

Taddle Creek had its parallels, among them Garrison Creek in the far west end, and lesser-known Russell Hill Creek nearer in. All were inspired by gravity, the source of which was the Iroquois shoreline, the ancient bluff of Lake Ontario that rises just north of the Canadian Pacific railroad tracks that cross central Toronto. It is a significant slope, a moraine that meanders east until it is interrupted by the Don Valley and eventually becomes the Scarborough Bluffs. “Sparkling with hope and promise, they spring from the hills of Davenport, only to be captured and forced into the dark netherworld of Toronto’s underground,” memory columnist George Gamester wrote in the Toronto Star a few years ago, commenting on the three creeks’ common fate. Taddle’s source, then and now, is said to be the pond in Wychwood Park, partway up the incline, but it is known to have had many tributaries.

It's been frequently observed, for instance by Laura Hatcher at Spacing, that this pond, one of the few visible vestiges of Taddle Creek, lends Wychwood Park much of its charm.

Like so much of Wychwood Park, this pond was shaped by [landscape painter and planner Marmaduke] Matthews' eye for the picturesque. He dammed part of Taddle Creek to create the pond, with the idea that it would enhance Wychwood Park's already scenic qualities. In the winter, the pond was used as a skating rink, and provided Wychwood residents with ice for their ice houses. Today, the pond is home to snapping turtles, mallard ducks, and goldfish (rumored to be the descendants of the goldfish put there by Matthews's grandson), though signs saying "Danger, Quick Sand" warn against getting in for a closer look.