Recommission an old raised pond as an oven?

I have a former raised pond circa 2m x 1.5 and around maybe 1m high. Its made of some kind of cement.

I've considered filling it in as a raised bed, but it would mean an enormous amount of material going in and it got me thinking - could something like this work as a raised base or platform for a wood fired oven? I don't really know much about wood fired ovens. Most plans I can find don't deal with the base that the oven portion would actually sit on - does the base have to be a big solid lump? Or would a cavity like this work just as well?

Its sat on a north facing walled part of the garden, but on the south side of the house so trying to repurpose in the best possible way. I do have a want for outdoor cooking space so interested in whether that is a workable solution...

A picture or two would help us answer your question.

Hi MJ;  
From your description it sound like this would work as a platform base for a wood oven.
Depending on the material used for construction affects what the base material is.

Clay, stabilized with perlite or / and straw would be a common material.
Brick, Firebrick in high heat area's and good old clay brick anywhere else.

There are plans for sale here at Permies , for a wood fired cob pizza oven.
Here is a link)  https://permies.com/t/52989/double-chamber-cob-oven-plans.

Some pictures would be nice.

Chris Watson wrote:A picture or two would help us answer your question.

Fair point and one I knew was coming - I'll get an image once back at home.

thomas rubino wrote:Hi MJ;  
From your description it sound like this would work as a platform base for a wood oven.
Depending on the material used for construction affects what the base material is.

Clay, stabilized with perlite or / and straw would be a common material.
Brick, Firebrick in high heat area's and good old clay brick anywhere else.

There are plans for sale here at Permies , for a wood fired cob pizza oven.
Here is a link)  https://permies.com/t/52989/double-chamber-cob-oven-plans.

Some pictures would be nice.

Thanks very much, I'll get some pictures!

Mj Lacey wrote:I have a former raised pond circa 2m x 1.5 and around maybe 1m high. Its made of some kind of cement.

I've considered filling it in as a raised bed, but it would mean an enormous amount of material going in and it got me thinking - could something like this work as a raised base or platform for a wood fired oven? I don't really know much about wood fired ovens. Most plans I can find don't deal with the base that the oven portion would actually sit on - does the base have to be a big solid lump? Or would a cavity like this work just as well?

Its sat on a north facing walled part of the garden, but on the south side of the house so trying to repurpose in the best possible way. I do have a want for outdoor cooking space so interested in whether that is a workable solution...

Some pictures now here. The wall in the image is north of the old pond, but as I say on the south side of the house. Its a strange spot as one of the warmest areas of the garden, but the wall makes a difference. Its actually a bit larger than I estimated earlier - maybe 2.5m wide.

It's been a long while (sorry!) but I'm curious - have you done something with this structure?

Julia Winter wrote:It's been a long while (sorry!) but I'm curious - have you done something with this structure?

Hi Julia,

No apologies - thanks for checking in. No, not yet. It was set to be knocked out completely and replaced with a shed, then a veg plot - but the cost of doing some necessary prior work is proving extremely prohibitive. The whole area is surrounded by gravel on top of weed matting, that needs lifting and starting again (absolutely coated in weeds and soil as well now - why people use weed matting is completely beyond me). Its £000,s to do and I just cannot fathom how we will be able to afford it...

Are you facing a similar situation or just interested as to what happened here?

That former pond looks like a great place for composting.  Have you thought about using it for that?