Gravel pit is the term for an open cast working for extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may fill naturally with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used either as nature reserves, or as amenity areas for water sports, camping and walking. In addition, many gravel pits in the United Kingdom have been stocked with freshwater fish such as the common carp to create popular coarse fishing locations.
Famous quotes containing the words gravel and/or pit:
“Let the new faces play what tricks they will
In the old rooms; night can outbalance day,
Our shadows rove the garden gravel still,
The living seem more shadowy than they.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“It’s well
If God who holds you to the pit of hell,
Much as one holds a spider, will destroy,
Baffle and dissipate your soul.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)