Category Archives: Hertfordshire

The ancient and healing wells of Cuffley and Northaw – St Claridge’s Well and the Griffin’s Hole

Jun 19

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In part one we discussed the famed King’s Well in this second part we explore three possible sites which are possibly all one site notwithstanding the possibility that one is completely made up.

The most curious one to disentangle is St. Claridge’s  Well Our sole source is Charles Lamb more of which in  moment who claims it is described in the Black Book of St Albans although I could not find it there. In a letter to Charles Cowden Clark in 1828 he records that saint would entertain angels and hermits for the blessing of the water, who sat of mossy stones called Claridge Covers.

Who is St Claridge?

St. Claridge may have been another name for Sigur, who was a hermit who lived in Northaw Woods. Mrs Fox-Wilson in her 1927 Notes on Northaw and district in the East Hertfordshire Archaeological society journal records that the hermit built a cell  near a well of pure water in Berevenue forest. This is recorded in Gesta Abbotum  Mon Sci Albani 1 105 (1119-1149), dating it around the 12th Century. There is accordingly, a tomb in St. Alban’s Abbey which reads: “Vir Domini verus jacet hic  hermeita Regerus et sub eo clarus meritus hermita Sigarus.”

Where was the well?

The exact location of the above is not clear, it is hinted to the south east of the  church by Lamb but if he was travelling from Buntingford, it would appear to be the  same as Griffin’s Hole which lays in Well Wood, a small private part  of the Great Wood. A footpath from Well Road leads directly to the well and  nowhere else, which suggests a great past importance for the site being the main  supply for the village. This path appeared to have been recently re-opened, and the  well itself has been repaired. The site consists of a roughly square pool of muddy  water with an edging of old red bricks, possibly Tudor. A fence of rhododendrons has  been erected around the site to prevent people falling in, but it does not deflect from  the mysteriousness of the site: which is very odd and eerie. Today a metal frame is placed over it which makes it less evocative I would say. However, is it the St Claridge’s Well of Lamb?

Griffin's Hole

The letter Charles Lamb wrote may help  locate it as he appears to have encountered the well on a four hour walk to “the  willow and lavender plantations to the south-east of Northaw Church.” However, this  is confusing as it would appear to suggest that the well is to the south-east but that  depends on where he was travelling from! He is known to have visited Buntingford.  He refers to Claridge’s covers:

“Clumps of the finest moss rising hillock fashion, I  counted to the number of two hundred and sixty…not a sweeter spot is in ten counties  around”.

Some authors suggest that the name is some sort of joke, this note withstanding, Fox Wilson states that this site was called John’s Hole, and that in the  1920s requests were still made to the landowner for the water as it cured rheumatism.

Unfortunately I have been  unable to find out why the site is called the Griffin’s Hole (one assumes it is a  personal name) or whether it is indeed The Hermit’s Well, John’s Hole or St.  Claridge’s Well in the 10 years on since publication.  However I do feel that this is at least the John’s Hole site if not St. Claridge’s Well

 

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The ancient and healing wells of Cuffley and Northaw part one – The King’s Well

May 19

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The most noted of these was the King’s Well. This was an early minor  spa, which was associated at first with James I, who took its waters whilst at Theobald’s Palace. It is said that he had made a number of visits to take the waters from there and became to popularise it.

However, it was granted royal name from Charles II in 1660.  Scots pines were planted at the site in the King’s honour.  It is believed that many wealthy gout sufferers built themselves mansions along Cooper’s Lane such as the 1668 Northaw Place and this resulted in Cuffley’s development. The well continued to be popular but perhaps not fully developed for the next three hundred years. It is recorded that by 1850 however, the well had long fallen into disuse

Certainly by the time of Septimus Sutherland’s 1915 Old London’s Spas, Baths and Wells  work:

“The spring was situated in the valley at Lower Cuffley, on the way to Cheshunt, but cannot now be easily traced.”

A few details are recorded of its structure. Stanley Foord in his 1910 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London notes of  “The low wall” and there is record of marble fountain head  was erected there. Foord continues to say of the low wall.

“which enclosed it has long since gone, and the spring itself, by subsoil draining around it, can now with difficulty be traced.”

I did think that this marble structure may still exist buried at the locale, but sadly, but back in the 1990s a field walk to this remote location revealed nothing. However, it is possible that the site I was surveying and that marked on the maps until 1951 was not the correct site. This is emphasised by a brief note by Brian Warren in the Potters Bar and district historical society newsletter of September 2001 who explored the facts behind its location. He stated that:

“The key map, included with the 1807 Northaw Enclosure Award indicated there were two wells, the first was ‘The King’s Well’ near the brick kilns on “Northaw Common. Secondly the Warren Allotment contained the medicinal spring called Northaw Wells. The ma sbpwed the Northaw wells to be north-east of the brickfield. However, the Drury and Andrews map of Hertfordshre 1766 and a map of Northaw common by Thomas Baskerfield c1700 showed the medical waters to be due east of the brickfields From this evidence one can see that the Ordnance survey had marked the Northaw Wells as the King’s well. Further evidence to support this conclusion is to be found in Mr Binyon’s Notebook (mid 19th century) where he noted the King’s Well ‘in a bottom’ (cf Carbone Bottom, Home wood), the ordnance survey’s position was halfway up a hill.”

This suggests that the site marked on the OS map is erroneous. It does mark a mineral spring the Northaw one. This I missed in my original gazetteer but in my defence so does Foord and Sutherland who  call it Northaw Water and Northaw Spring. However it is mentioned in the Comprehensive gazetteer of England and Wales of 1894-5 as Northall which states:

“Mineral spring is at Cuffley, and another mineral spring was on Northaw Common, now enclosed, but has been choked up.”

Sadly although one could hope that a misplacement may result in some relics of the King’s Well surviving. Gerald Millington in his 1975 Cuffley with Northaw suggests that:

“a comparison with the modern ordnance survey map places the well in the ground of the present day pumping station.”

A very likely location of course, which is nearer to Well’s Farm and sadly one which would have obliterated any remains.

Of the wells curative properties, Dr. Monro in his 1770 Treatise on Mineral Waters speaks of analyses made by Dr. Rutty at Dublin of this and of the Barnet spring. He notes that there was not much difference between them but the latter was the stronger tasted of the two ; neither of them were very powerful. A list of cures has noted survived but it is suggested that gout could be eased by drinking it.

Its water was said to be a saline chalybeate which is surprising if it has been used as a mains water supply. Older residents (in the 1950s)  remember that it was poor for making tea. For when the hot water was added the clear water became inky. This was due to the iron in the water reacting with the  tannin.  Foord (1910) states that:

“The Northaw water must have contained a considerable quantity of iron, as a favourite diversion of the inhabitants was to induce strangers to make tea with it. Though perfectly colourless, as soon as the boiling water was poured on the tea the iron combined with the tannin, and formed a kind of ink — as much to the astonishment of the tea-makers as to the delight of the practical jokers.”

Its unfortunate that no relic of this site or rather sites survive. One wonders what happened to that marble fountain head!

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Where were the holy springs of Waltham Abbey?

Jun 19

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Waltham Abbey in Essex was said to have been fed by a series of well recorded Holy Springs which were granted to the Abbey by William of Wormley. It gave them the right to fish in the piscina of Wormele, and all the fountains. Wormley, itself was an estate conferred by Edward the Confessor to Waltham’s college of secular cannons, founded by Harold in 1060. This was later re- founded as an Augustinian abbey. In 1220-1222, a conduit was laid to take water in lead pipes from Wormley, about three miles away. The granting of the rights to the springs, and the laying of this facility is well recorded in a Manuscript (Harl. MS 391 folio 6). The springs were called ‘fons Wrmeleiae’, and appear to have been situated on property adjoining the main road on the east, and bound on the north by the Parish boundary, and on the south by Wharf Road. Despite what would have been a distance from the Abbey!

This area has been known as Small Wells: the conduit started here. The manuscript shows an elaborate sketch is given, with several streams and three springs: a main pipe carries the water from a pool over a bank of clay into another large pool. On the south of this were two pipes or outlets intended to carry off waste water, and to convey water for washing. It continued eastward to Waltham Abbey.

In 1907, a large section of wooden conduit was discovered in Slipe Lane. Using the early documents as their source, Waltham Abbey Historical Society sought the site(s) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Excavations were made at Smallwells, but nothing was discovered. Further excavations were made to the site and grounds of Springs House, further south from Smallwells. A survey of Cheshunt dated 1562 shows ‘the conduite crofte’. Although, now in the Parish of Cheshunt, it is believed that it was in Wormley. This revealed a trough three feet wide and one foot deep in the centre, formed in a stone layer about four feet below modern ground level, and largely filled with silt. This could not be dated but appeared to be a leet. Despite this nothing conclusive was discovered. The exact site appears to have been lost. Or has it?

Perhaps the springs did not arise at Small wells. An interesting possible alternative is described by John Edward Cussans in his History of Hertfordshire (1870-3) and again on a visit by the East Herts Archaeological Society, who visited it in 1902. These ‘once celebrated Chalybeate springs’ lay in the meadow adjoining the house of Stanstedbury. Indeed the East Herts Archaeological Society suggest was the source for Waltham Abbey’s water supply, as the house was one of their granges. Interestingly, the report continues to state that one of the springs flows into the cellar part of the house called the Monk’s chapel, where a piscina and ambry are found.

In research for my Holy Wells and Healing Springs of Hertfordshire I approached the owners, the Trowers, in the early 1990s. They said they were happy to explore the site including the cellar. I arrived and saw that there were springs in the grounds close to the house. One arising in a roughly square grey stone structure, parts of which appear old, possibly mediaeval at the base, but the water arises in a black boggy hole. There was also nearby a circular brick well head, but has been filled in, and appeared Victorian. Close to this is a deep square well which is still full of water, covered by a concrete domed structure (like a pigsty). I was informed by Mr. Trower, the owner that he has to remove iron from their own water supply hence the chalybeate springs were still present.

The water from the well head appears to flow towards the house, which would be concurrent with view of the water entering the cellars. However, despite scrambling about for some time beneath the great hall in the cellar, I could not locate this piscina and ambry. It would appear to have been lost when the room above was deepened by shortening the cellar beneath in the 1930s. This required the walling to be improved and now it is red-bricked. Mrs. Trower remembers that the cellar was very damp. Why there should be such a chapel is unclear, possibly it was designed to continue Catholic mass after the Reformation, but as Mrs. Trower noted the property was never in the hands of a recusant family although it perhaps it was part of an under croft for the grange. Interestingly, I had heard of the springs were developed as a spa but the Trowers had never heard of this, and their family had been there for a long period;  nor have I found any evidence other than the springs being celebrated.

Were these springs the Holy Springs of Waltham Abbey? The distance is the problem of course Stansted Abbotts is even further away than Wormley. Perhaps they were both owned by the Abbey but not as direct water supplies as such but as waters for the communities there perhaps as holy wells and the revenue went to the Abbey?

Posted in Folklore, Hertfordshire, London, Spa, Well hunting

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The lost well of St Faith’s Hexton, Hertfordshire

Jul 19

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It is difficult to imagine that this small and remote village was once the scene of great pilgrimage. The centre of this being St. Faith’s Well (TL 103 303). St Faith also known as Foy, a third century martyr and virgin, burned alive and beheaded at Agen in Gaul, is associated with Saints Hope and Charity. Her body translated to Conques where a splendid shrine and reliquary was established. The saint was popular with pilgrims and crusaders, and one shrine was established at Hasham, near Norwich.

It is believed that the dedication arose due to the land being in the charge of a homesick French monk: hence the church and well shared the same dedication. In 1243, Abbot John assigned the rectory of Hexton to the sacrist of the Abbey, and the revenue was so great that it was shared with the almonry. Indeed the revenue was greater than the parson’s holdings and tithes. The well thus attracted great numbers and an alehouse was established for their benefit, this is now Red Lion cottage next to the school.

Unfortunately, St. Faith’s Well fell afoul of the Reformation, but luckily lord of the manor Francis Taverner, recorded a great deal of details regarding it. Indeed, his description has become a valuable guide to the possible complexity of less recorded sites. He described the well and its position as follows:

“There is a small persell of ground adjoining to the churchyard called St Ffaith’s Wick Court, about a pole in measurement, anciently divided from Malewick by a ditch in the same place now a large moat is made. The greatest parte standing upon a bedde of springs, and undrained was very boggye, towards the churchyard. But the west side of the wick, being higher ground….neer adjoining unto which…the Craftye Priests had made a well.”

The well itself was:

“about a yard deep and very cleere in the bottome, and curbed about. Now over this well, they built a house.”

Pilgrimage to the well involved adulation to an image of the dedicated saint, for he notes that:

“..in this house they placed an image or statue of St Ffaith and a cawsey they had made…. for people to passe, who resorted thither from four and neere to visit our lady and to perform their devotions.”

The well would seem to be beneficial for foot complaints for pilgrims would be:

“… revently kissing a fine colured stone placed on her toe’ which was believed to bestow cures.”

Also the sick would throw something (nothing is specifically described) into the well:

“..which if swamme above they were accepted and there petition granted, but if it sinke, then rejected which the experienced Prieste had arts enove to cause to swymme or sinke according as himselfe was pleased with the partye, or rather with the offering made by the partye.”

It would appear that the priest was able to influence the object like some kind of wizard. Unfortunately, the land was drained and levelled in 1624 being noted that:

“St. Faith’s Well continued as a waste and unprofitable and neglected piece of land till such time as the footpath was turned through the midst of it to the outside on the south by the highway, and their clearing and levelling the ground.”

It is worth noting that the effigy of the saint was dressed and in an old book of churchwarden’s accounts, in the reign of Henry VIII it is noted that:

“that they had delivered unto the St. Faith a cote and a velvet tippet.”

Land  lying in Mill Field, called St. Faith’s ½ acre, which associated with the shrine, came to the King’s hands at the dissolution, and is now parcel of the demesnes. The approximate site can be seen to the side of the church, where a small picturesque pool of water is apparent. The collapse of the tower may have been as a result of undermining from the spring.

Image result for "st faith's well" hexton

In our days of heritage protection it seems astounding that single handed one man could remove this great site, but they did. However, the name St Faith’s wick court is remembered and the water from the well still remains it appears to fill the moat but it is a poor replacement for what sounded like a fascinating site in this remote area of Hertfordshire.

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Rediscovered/Restored: A holy well fit for a Pope..the Holy Well of Abbott’s Langley

Sep 19

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STOP PRESS: You can hear me talking about Holy Wells on the 8th November 7.30 for the Upper Broughton (Notts) Local History Society and the 11th November at the Dreaming Bread and Skyrie Stanes: A Celebration of Scottish Folk Magic and Community Traditions in Edinburgh’s Netherbow Theatre. Check the events page for more information.

bedmond-breakspeare-farm-trent%20w1024 bedmond-holy-well

In Bedmond, a small hamlet associated with the larger Abbotts Langley is famed as the place which gave birth to the only Englishman ever to become Pope, Nicholas Breakspeare later Adrian or Hadrian IV. Local tradition records that he was born in a farmhouse there around 1200, latterly called Breakspear farm. Sadly all possibility of proving the age of the farm through examination of its fabric was lost when thoughtlessly it was demolished in the 1960s. What is less well known is that beside this farm was a Holy Well

The description of the site

Aside from being a water source of the farm, the spring attracted celebratory. Whether this was the result of its association with Adrian IV is unclear. However, probably because of its association with the Pope’s farm, the well is well photographed. In fact it is one of the few holy wells in the county of which anything other than pre-late 20th century images exist. This fact in itself suggests that the site was well thought of a regularly visited by the curious. The site is shown on a postcard dated 1909, which shows the spring issuing from a pipe set into some walling with the wording. Two different magic lantern slides appear to exist, however these show a different arrangement. They do not show the walling but a simple spring. This means either the photos are more recent and the brickwork was demolished or that the walling shown in the postcard, was a tap available at the road, flowing from the other spring head and conduited to it. I originally thought this but superimposing one on another the tree shown in both images suggests we are looking at the same place.

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Traditions associated with the site

There is no evidence of either Adrian IV being treated as a saint nor of course that he even visited the spring, although as he was born in the house he must have done. According to the Rev. Canon Andrews, it was much frequented in the mediaeval period as a place of pilgrimage, and its waters were thought to be curative, particularly for eyes. An account in Scott Hastie’s 1993 Abbotts Langley – A Hertfordshire village records:

“Breakspear farm was demolished in the 1960’s to make way for a small crescent of modern houses, built off the Bedmond Road. Today only a concrete plaque commemorates the site’s significance. Behind the old farmhouse was a well. This was said to possess ‘holy water’ which had special curative properties, particularly for the healing of the eyes. Throughout the centuries the well became a site of regular religious pilgrimage. …”

A site rediscovered.

This account suggests the well is no longer in existence and in my book Holy wells and healing springs of Hertfordshire, I was informed by the Rev. Canon Andrews, the site was lost, presumably it was lost when the farm was demolished in the 1960s. However, I was wrong and below are some photos from the Abbotts Langley Local History Society. The tree is still there lending argument to my previous thought. I plan too soon in this year of seeing the instalment of a new pope to visit this simple spring and think of an older papal person drinking from its water.

holywell bedmont

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Rediscovered/Restored: St. Alban’s Well, Hertfordshire – Britain’s first Christian holy well?

Feb 19

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Perhaps Hertfordshire’s most famed well, dedicated to the first British Christian Martyr, and thus called St. Alban’s Well or Holy Well (TL 149 068) and as such one could argue it is the earliest Christian holy well in Britain.

Who was St. Alban?

Gildas and Bede accredit his martyrdom to the ruler Diocletian (c305), later authorities attribute Septimus severnus (c209) or Decieus (c254) to the act. His conversion to Christianity occurred when he sheltered a wanted priest (later St. Amphibalus). The priest taught Alban and baptised him as a Christian. The two exchanged clothes and, allowing the priest to escape, Alban was captured instead. He was tried and sent to be executed. The journey to his execution, now locally commemorated each weekend close to St Alban’s Feast Day, is when the spring arose!

The legend of the spring

It is said that upon climbing the hill to his martyrdom became tired and thirsty. Falling to his knees he prayed to God to quench this thirst and miraculously a spring of fresh water appeared. This is however only one origin for the spring. The other story states that after being taken to the old city of Verulam, he refused to offer pagan sacrifice, and was executed. His severed head rolled down the hill and where it rested a spring burst forth. This is a common holy well motif. After the adoption of the Christian church in the third century the spring gained great notoriety (although it is of course plausible that the spring was a pre-Christian site, gaining greater pilgrimage with Christian doctrine). St. Alban was also adopted, and finally installed in a Shrine in the Abbey. This was restored after the Reformation and is a beautiful example of a Pre-Reformation Shrine.

A spring of Arthurian romance?

This spring was strangely absorbed into Arthurian romance. It has been associated with mythical Romano-Celt ruler Uther Pendragon, father of the also possibly mythical King Arthur. The spring is said to have healed his wounds, and the incident is recorded during the reign of Richard II, by Chronicler Brompton:

“….Uter Pendragon, a British Prince, had fought the Saxons in a great battle at this place, and received a dangerous wound: and lay a long time confined to his bed: and that he was cured at length by resorting to a well or spring not far distant from the city; at that time salubrious; and for that reason, and for the cures thereby performed, esteemed holy; and blessed in a peculiar manner with the flavour of Heaven ..”

The well through the ages

The Benedictine nuns of the nearby nunnery were according to Matthew Paris, said to have dipped their bread in the well, and hence earned it the name of Sopwell. Until the reformation the well rivalled Walsingham in its popularity among the sick and troubled. Even in the 19th century the ‘Holy-well’ was “still held in some estimation, for its purity and salubrious qualities.” It then lay on the lawns of the Duke of Marlborough’s Holywell House, which was latter demolished.

Until the 1980s, the site was marked by a stone on the playing fields of the local Grammar school. However, in the 1980s, the site was at risk from developers, as the school wished to sell off its fields. This precipitated local interest, and a campaign organised by a Mr. Tony Haines, and set out to rediscover the well and ensure that it was preserved. This they finally did, although the site was not officially recognised by the local council, despite it corresponding to ancient maps, local knowledge as well as remains of medieval brickwork. Fortunately, the developer was sympathetic and in a rare example of preservation, restored it. It now stands in a small walled garden. The well was repaired by brickwork, and fitted with a protective grille over it. Interestingly, a combination of wet weather coupled with the water authorities ceasing pumping from the Ver’s source, has meant that the water table has returned and water can be seen in the well.

This restored site can be found by going up Holywell Hill Road, then taking the righthand road, Belmont Hill ( if approaching from Junction one M10 ). Take next right, into new housing estate, then left and the well is found in a small garden on the left.

The well survives, well as long as the housing estate does! It has become the centre of a local religious groups devutions as well!

Posted in Hertfordshire, Restoration, Saints, Well hunting

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A holy well water source? – God’s Well, the nymph and Hoddesdon conduit

Feb 19

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hoddesden

 

 

“A nymph of stone, who from an urn doth pour into the pitches of both rich and poor, her limpid treasures from the Western Vale, whose unexhausted bounties seldom fail; and never grudging, ever generous she, with the first element for making tea. Thanks generous Rawdon for thy kind bequest, remotest ages shall the donor bless.”

A poem thought penned by Edmund Parlett, the poet-vicar of Broxbourne (1630-43)

Sitting outside of Hoddesdon’s Lowewood museum is a well-worn and beaten effigy. It stares forlornly into the street now bereft of function, but once it was a unique and curious conduit which provided the town with a supply of clean water. The scheme to provide fresh spring water to the town appears to be a lesser known and smaller scale attempt to emulate Sir Hugh’s great venture of Amwell and Chadwell. The source became later known as Spring Close or Conduit Close.

A sacred source?

The source for the town’s water for over 100 years was a spring at Goddes Well Acre, which one presumes derives from God’s Well (TL 084 075), although, local tradition dedicated the spring to the Greek Goddess Acre suggesting that this may have been a more Romanticised site than an ancient one. The Goddes Well was piped in 1622 to Rawdon House, the property of Sir Marmaduke Rawdon. An alternative source was said to be the Linch, which is first noted as such in 1569 as ‘pond called anciently called Le Linch.’ This still exists, but as it is the other side of the New River and so separated physically.

The conduit extended half a mile to the house via a lead pipe. Then in 1631, he decided that the excess water could be made available to the local people and set about debate, but it is believed that Edward Marshall, master sculptor of St. Pauls was responsible, being as he was master-mason of Rawdon House. The land relatingto the conduit house and conduit leading to Rawdon House was also conveyed to Hoddesdon Council, laying a further pipe from the house to the Market Place. Here was set up, the fine three quarters length statue of a woman carrying a pitcher. She is called The Good Samaritan, named after the Woman of Samaria who met Jesus at Jacob’s Well (Gospel of St. John IV verses 4-42).

The gift was a welcome one as so far the town had to depend upon shallow wells which were easily fouled. For 196 years the statue sat in the Market Place, attracting considerable notice by various authors.

Similarly, Matthew Priors (1715) in his Journey to Downhall states:

“Into an Inn did this equipage roll, at a Town they call Hodson the sign of the Bull, near a nymph with an urn, divides the Highway, and into a puddle throws Mother of tea.”

There is also a note of the structure in Henley’s Harnesse’s Addition:

“Conduits representing human figure were not uncommon: one of them, a female form and weather bitten, still exist at Hoddesdon in Herts.”

Loss of a nymph

Despite the gift the supply was later under dispute. In 1725, the son of Marmaduke Rawdon, allowed so much water to supply private dwellings and businesses (in particularly breweries) that its public supply was becoming too low. As a result the problem was solved by arbitration, and the award, found in favour of the inhabitants.

This notwithstanding in 1826, the flow of water was diminishing, and the position of the pond was found to be inconvenient, so it was filled in and the figure being replaced by an iron pump with a lamp on it. (It is further thought that due to the combined effects of weathering, misuse and drilling of holes for further pipes, the figure not only looked very disfigured but slightly obscene.) The figure was first removed to Turks butchers yard, here sadly it experienced considerable abuse: local boys used it as a target for stone throwing, an action which may have lead to her nose being broken off!

In 1893 a Mr. C. P. Christie campaigned for the restoration and re-erection of the monument at the north end of the Market Place, and a small pamphlet was produced to garner support. However, the scheme failed to materialise when it was suggested that it was too vandalised to make it suitable as a public sculpture. The figure then ended up at the Rye Farm, the works of the Urban District Council. Yet, here it saw even more abuse being covered by dirt and decapitated! It lay here for 40 years, until 1935, when it was restored by a Mr. Giddiness in view of being placed in front of the Council Offices. Sadly, again the scheme was shelved due to the war’s intervention, and consequently it was relegated to a pedestal at the rear of these offices.

Return of the Good Samaritan

Fortunately, by 1970 the scheme saw fruition and the statue was erected in the Lowewood Museum gardens, where it now pours water into a pond if it flows!.  Her source may be different and the function pointless but at least the last of the female conduits survives even if the water would not make a decent cuppa!

 

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Emma's well

The ancient springs of London’s first commercial water supply – The great scheme

In the early 1600s London undertook an ambitious project to bring clean drinking water from the countryside into the heart of the metropolis. Central to this play were two ancient springs. Unlike their Victorian entrepreneurs who often emasculated their spring heads, those utilised in Sir Hugh Myddleton’s New River remain picturesque relics. He was given the responsibility in March 1609, with the provision that he completed it in four years. However, he encountered considerable problems with acquiring the land necessary, and many land owners believed that the scheme would result in their lands being flooded. Indeed, they even petitioned the government over the matter, but fortunately Parliament was dissolved and the matter was not discussed.
Finally, in 1611, the Corporation of London extended the contract for another four years, but Myddleton sensibly approached James I for help. He agreed to take over half the costs and take half the revenue. This not only helped financially but landowners were impressed by the Royal patronage, and furthermore the King’s connection discouraged a rival scheme to use the River Lea at Hackney.
On Michaelmas Day 1613, the scheme was completed, and a ceremony took place, not far from where Saddler’s Wells Theatre now stands, attended by The Lord Mayor, Myddleton’s brother, Thomas, and a great number of Alderman. With the accompaniment of rolling drums and ringing church bells, the sluice gates opened and water direct from Hertfordshire gushed into the Clerkenwell reservoir.
The total cost at the end was £500,000 in those days an enormous amount. A joint stock company entitled ‘The Governor and Company of New River Brought from Chadwell and Amwell to London.’ The company enjoyed a Royal Charter, and Myddelton was appointed governor. However, it was not until after his death, in 1631, that any profit was made. Yet, in 1640s it saw great periods of prosperity, and remained a separate company for 300 years until it was absorbed by the Metropolitan Water Board. Myddleton in 1622, he was duly made a Baronet, and apart from those at Amwell, monuments at Islington Gardens, The Holborn Viaduct, and the courtyard of the Royal Exchange were erected to his enterprise.

The springheads

Emma'stone (2)
The most picturesque of these is the ancient spring, called Emma’s Well (TL 372 125) which has given the parish its name still exists, having formed part of the system established to supply freshwater to London via the New River It is a well known beauty spot, but the actual well is often missed by visitors, who focus on the delightful turfed islands with their monuments. The well itself is located opposite to this site, and is defined as a small piped opening, through which the spring flows. Just above the well is a small stone monument, slightly obscured by foliage. Upon this source stone a poem is inscribed:

“O’vering with shrubs that fringe the chalky rock. A little fount purr’d forth its gurgling rill. In flinty channel trickling o’er the green, From EMMA nam’d perhaps some sainted maid, For holy life rever’d so such erewhile, Fond superstition many a pleasant grove, And limpid Spring was wont to consecrate, Of Emma’s story nought Tradition speaks, Conjecture who behind Oblivion’s veil. Along the doubtful past delights to fray, boasts now indeed that from her well he place Received as appellation. In Domesday book this village Amwell written Emmaswelle.”

The well’s water flows under the road, and fills the aforementioned artificial pool, created by damming, with its two interlinked manicured turfed isles. Upon the islet is a monument to this scheme’s deviser Sir Hugh Myddleton (1609). It states:

“From the spring at Chadwell 2 miles west and from this source at Amwell the aqueduct meanders for the space of XL miles conveying health, pleasure and convenience to the metropolis of Great Britain. An immortal task since man cannot more nearly initiate the Deity than by bestowing health. This monument was dedicated by Robert Mylne, architect, engineer in 1800. Sacred to the memory of Sir Hugh Myddleton Bart., whose successful assisted by the patronage of his King, conveyed this stream to London. This humble tribute to the genius, talents and clarity of mind.”

The second smaller islet has a yew tree with another monument (1818) with lines of verse penned by locally renowned poet Scott (whose grotto nearby at Ware is well worth a visit ). This he called ‘Amwell ‘ :

“Amwell. Perpetual be thy stream. Nor ever thy spring be less. Which thousands drink who never dream whence flows the streams they bless.”

The name Amwell appeared after the 14th Century before then the well retained its original dedication of Emma. The name is believed to be derived from the wife of King Cnut or Canute. Confusingly, folklorist Gerish (1899) appears to suggest that the churchyard well was that regarded as ‘Holy’, being used in baptisms and being efficacious in cures. He does not give an exact location and I have been unable to locate another well. Easier locate is that commonly called St Chad’s Well (TL 350 135) is located between below the road between Ware and Hertford. It would appear that, rather than being associated with the Mercian missionary and patron saint of springs, its name is derived from O.E ceals for ‘cold’ spring, for in the middle ages, the site was called ‘chaldwelle’ or ‘caldewelle’. The name St. Chad’s well only appears from 1727. However, its water was said to be good for eyes.
The spring arises in this large stone lined pool, and joins the flow from Amwell, into the New River towards London. Around the pool are the stone monuments. The largest one states (on one side):

This belongs to New River Company 178 feet. Chadwell Spring. The other side: This belongs to the New River Company 270 feet. Repaired 1728. The side panels reading, one side: 269 Feet. Opened 1608, and on the other: 43 Feet. Conveyed 40 Miles.

The other, smaller stone which appears to have a trig-point attached also states:

This belongs to the New River Company.

According to Hawkwood (1924) these monuments predate an older inscribed stone, which was found with the words ‘Chadwell’ on it in 1743. The presence whereabouts of this is not known.

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An oft repeated piece of folklore

An interesting piece of folklore is connected with both this site and Amwell. Recorded by William Vallens in the ‘Tale of Two Swannes’ (1589) and referred to by Cussans, the Hertfordshire historian, it relates how the two sites were connected by an underground tunnel. It states:

“A tale there is deliver’d unto us, from hand to hand, how that a haunted ducke, Diving within this chalk-well head or hole, Was forced underneath the hollow ground, To swimme along by wayes that be unknowne, And afterward at Amwell Spring (they say) Was thrown up featherless and bare.”

This is a common folklore motif, and is often connected to mysterious caves and legends of secret tunnels. However, it has also been connected to holy wells. For example there is said to be a tunnel between Guildford Castle and St Mary’s Well, Farnham, both in Surrey. This was supposedly traversed by a goose, who also like the above tail appeared a little worse for wear the other end!

What is pleasing to note that unlike their Victorian counterparts, the scheme did not emasculate the spring and enclose it within an inaccessible chamber, they celebrated and romanticised their water supplies rather than santise and have left a romantic site for future generations to enjoy.

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An overview of Royal wells

Jul 12

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Much has been written regarding holy wells culminating in Harte (2008) magnus opus but no survey has attempted to record all those wells and springs named after monarchs as far as I am aware. With Jubilee fever all around I thought it would be fitting to start an overview of this aspect of water lore in England. Starting with King well, a generic name, is by far the commonest with sites recorded at Chalk (Kent), Cuffley (Hertfordshire) (although associated with James I), Chigwell (Essex) (although probably cicca’s well)), Lower Slaughter (Gloucestershire), Kingsthorpe (Northamptonshire), Orton (Northumberland), Cheltenham (Gloucestershire), Ellerton (Staffordshire), Wartling (Sussex), and Bath (Somerset). Some of these such as Chigwell may be a etymological mistake being more likely derive from Cicca’s well and some such as Orton are thought to be associated with Iron age sites.

However, English wells and their associations with monarchs starts perhaps starts with King Arthur’s Well (Cadbury ) but taking this probably mythical king aside, and not considering those monarchs associated with the Celtic and Saxon Kingdoms (after all a high percentage of these early saints were the sons of Kings (such as those begat by King Brechan) or early kingly Christian converts for example St Oswald or St Ethelbert ) which are better known by their sanctity rather than their majesty, I start with sites associated with who is seen as being the first King of England; Alfred.

 King Alfred’s Well (Wantage) is of unclear vintage arising as it does in a brick lined chamber although his association with the town is well known. However as Benham (1911) notes in his The Letters of Peter Lombard:

“a clear and bright spring, but I fear that the evidence that King Alfred ever had anything to do with it is not forthcoming. The site of his birthplace is not very far from the well”

Although that did not stop a procession to the well in the year 2000! St Peter’s Pump at Stourhead (Wiltshire) too has become associated with Alfred and it is said he prayed for water her before a battle, there is again little evidence if any of this. In East Dean (Sussex) there is another well named after him. Interestingly the direct descendents of Alfred do not appear to have gained any association with wells, perhaps being a measure of either their impact on folk memory. The next king is the rather tragic figure of Harold. Harold’s Well laying in the Keep of Dover Castle (Kent) is an interesting site, it is a typical castle well and unlikely to be the site where Harold is said to have according to Macpherson (1931) (MacPherson, E. R., The Norman Waterworks in the Keep of Dover Castle. Arch Cant. 43 (1931)) been were the King swore he would  give with the castle to William of Normandy, later William I. (Wartling’s King well may record Harrold or William)

I can find no wells associated with the Norman Kings or Queens and the next monarch to appear is King John.  He is interestingly the monarch with most sites associated with him, being in Heaton Park (Newcastle), Odell (Bedfordshire), Kineton (Warwickshire) and Calverton (Nottinghamshire) (although the later is recorded as Keenwell). This may be the consequence of his infamy and association with Robin Hood sites taking on his name in the telling and re-telling of Robin Hood tales. However, in most cases it would appear to be sites associated with a castle although surely King John was not the only monarch to have used such sites.

The next monarch associated with a well is a prince, a man who despite being heir apparent, never reached the throne. The Black Prince, a very romantic figure and with an evocative name, his spring is perhaps the most well known of those associated with royalty: the Black Prince’s Well, Harbledown (Kent). Legend has it that he regularly drank from the well and asked for a draught of it as he lay sick and dying of syphilis. However, the water’s powers did not extend to this and he died never becoming king. The well has the three feathers, sign of the Prince of Wales, an emblem captured at Crecy although the origin and age of the well is unknown it is the only such spring with any insignia of a monarch.

The subsequent centuries saw a number of squirmishes and conflicts which also created some springs associated with royalty. Perhaps the most interesting well associated with a monarch is King Henry VI’s Well, Bolton in Craven (North Yorkshire). It is interesting because the King’s reputation was that of sanctity and as such any well would have pretentions to be a holy well. Indeed the local legend states that when a fugitive at Bolton Hall he asked for the owner to provide a bathing place. No spring was available and one was divined with hazel rods and where they indicated water the site was dug. The king prayed that the well may flow forever and the family may never become extinct. The site still exists and is used for a local mineral water firm!

The years of conflict between the Lancastrians and Yorkists ended at Bosworth field and here a we find King Richard’s Well, Sutton Cheney (Leicestershire). Traditionally Richard III drank from a spring that Lord Wentworth in 1813 encapsulated in large conical cairn shaped well house with an appropriate Latin inscription. Curiously both wells of course mark the losers of the battle and no wells record the victors of such conflicts. One wonders whether this records our interest in the underdog and lament for the lost. The strangest extrapolation of this is a well found in Eastwell (Kent). Here generations have pointed to a circular brick well in the estate grounds and a tomb in the derelict church and associated them with the lost son of Richard III. The Plantagenet’s Well may indeed have some basis in fact although the only evidence is the account of the legend during the building of Eastwell Manor in 1545, the landowner, Sir Thomas Moyle, was amazed to find one of his workman reading a book in Latin. Naturally curious, he decided to ask him about this ability. Thus the man informed him, that in 1485, at Bosworth Field, he was the illegitimate son of King Richard III, who had previously clandestinely acknowledged him as sole heir. The following day, fearing reprisals after Richard’s loss, the boy fled, avoiding being recognition by disguising himself as a bricklayer and thus was years later, employed in the manor’s construction. Sir Thomas, believed the man’s story, and being a Yorkist sympathiser, adopted him into his household. This story of Richard Plantagenet remained a family secret, until it was revealed in Gentleman’s Magazine, as a quotation from a letter written by Thomas Brett, of Spring Grove (near Eastwell) to a friend Dr. Warren. He had heard the story from the Earl of Winchelsea at Eastwell House about 1720. This story is further enforced by Parish records showing that on December 27th 1550 V Rychard Plantagenet was interred, the notation V being a notification for a royal personage. However, having never seen the record myself I am unsure of its validity.

The next monarch encountered in a well dedication is a surprising one perhaps. In Carshalton (Surrey), we find Anne Boleyn’s Well, which is an perplexing dedication considering her unpopularity and association with a monarch who would have seen holy wells another trapping of the papist money making machine he had excluded from his realm (although there is little evidence that Henry VIIIth had any real direct effect on holy wells as would the newly established Scottish Kirk). The legend of its formation related that when the King and Queen were out riding from Nonsuch Palace, her horse’s foot hit the ground and a spring arose. No reason for is given and it is probable that the spring was re-discovered and perhaps dedicated to St. Anne. Bedford’s Park is not far from Pygro’s Park which has an association with Henry VIII so one assumes the Queen Anne’s well is again Boleyn although I know nothing more and indeed missed it from my survey!

Unlike her mother, Elizabeth I was a popular monarch, much as the present monarch is, especially in the strongly protestant counties, hence Queen Elizabeth Wells at Rye and Winchelsea (Sussex). In the case of Rye, the spring was part of a water improvement system which provided water via a conduit system. It was so named after her visit to Rye in 1573, when she drunk the water and met the town dignitaries, or Jurats, there, before they processed into the town. Amusingly the well was also known as Dowdeswell, from O. E. dowde for a plain woman, a scold or shrew a fact which may have tickled some recusant families in the vicinity no doubt. so like many a holy well the name was changed for the monarch. Interestingly, Winchelsea’s site was and still is called St. Katherine’s Well so perhaps the monarch’s name was used to remove Catholic associations (especially considering Queen Katherine of Aragon), although St. Leonard’s well remained intact.  Bisham’s Queen Elizabeth’s Well (Buckhamshire) is even associated with miraculous cures which certainly predate the monarch and perhaps her visit and taking of the waters when visiting Lady Hoby her cousin may have been the opportunity to move away from the holy well name? Queen Elizabeth also gave her name to a well in Friern Barnet (Middlesex) and Blackheath (Surrey)

Perhaps in the day when the site of the monarch was an extremely rare occasion folk memory has preserved it. This may explain King James Well Mickley (Yorkshire) whose only reason for the dedication was that he stopped to drink at it!   This well does not appear to have then developed any note as a consequence. However, a spring at Cuffley (Hertfordshire) was visited by the King and developed into a minor spa called the King’s Well.

Interestingly, if England had not broken from Rome we may have seen those associated with Charles I develop in the same fashion, after all he does have churches and chapels named after him. Charles is often associated with wells, in some cases such as Carles Trough, (Leicestershire) where he is said to have watered horse here after Naseby. Ellerton’s (Staffordshire) King’s Well and Longhope (Gloucestershire) Royal Spring are both associated with the monarch.

However, stopping to drink is a common theme. A well in Appledore (Kent) is called Queen Anne’s Well because she is said to have stopped there and asked the landlord for a sip. It is possible that such associations may stem from a desire for a local land owner to support a developing spa trade, Queen Anne’s Bathhouse exists in Lullingstone (Kent), however there is no record of such an attempt at Appledore. Furthermore, it is unclear which Queen Anne is recorded at Appledore and it is possible considering the age of the brickwork in the cellar and around the well at this site that it was once St. Ann’s well. This is probably true of  Lincoln’s Queen Ann’s Well, Chalvey’s Queen Ann’s Well (Buckinghamshire),  Queen Anne’s Wishing Well (South Cadbury) and Blythborough’s (Suffolk) site now known as Lady Well! However of that of Chalvey, perhaps not as there is no pre-18th century record, although if it did not it soon attracted a reputation for healing and was called a spa. Interestly Queen Charlotte is also noted as being involved and as such according to the Mirror, of 1832,:

“a stone was placed there in 1785 by her illustrious consort, George III”.

An accompanying woodcut to the piece showing the stone with the royal monogram carved in the centre. In 1698 Anne of Denmark gave money to create a basin at Tunbridge wells and well was called the Queen’s well.

Of course in the next two centuries, the rise of the spas saw many mineral springs develop the patronage of the monarch such as George IV, yet despite this times had changed and the wells did not take the monarch’s name directly. By the reign of Victoria, her name was then applied to fountainheads and pumps, as old wells were filled in and channelled away amidst growing concerns for the need for clean and freely accessible water. A few sites such as the confusing named Coronation or Jubilee Well (so marked on the 1844 OS map so difficult to record which monarch and which jubilee or coronation is referred to) in Wessington (Derbyshire) buck the trend.

In summary it is interesting that despite a large number of memorable and in some case not so memorable monarchs, there is are a limited number of them associated with wells. Why? Is it due to these particular monarchs having pricked the public’s folk memory, or in some cases inherited some sort of pious notion akin to that associated with holy wells.

Wells associated with Royalty can be divided into the following categories:

a)      Those drunk before a battle or whilst on the run from a battle. This could include the Battle Well Evesham (Worcestershire), with its associations with Simon de Montford is out of the scope of this blog but shows this trend, the water becoming curative.

b)      Those associated with their castles,  palaces, hunting lodges. But why these particular monarchs is unclear?

c)      Those made by miraculous events such as that associated King Henry VIs well. It seems perhaps these sites had developed in anticipation of the eventual sanctifying of the individuals which of course never happened.

Posted in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Derbyshire, Essex, Folklore, Gazatteer, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Leicestershire, London, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Oxfordshire, Royal, Somerset, Spa, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire

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The Physic Well Barnet: a case for restoration

May 21

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This mineral spring, called the Physic Well (TL 230 958) was of considerable fame in the county and beyond, and was the resort of many wealthy and famed Regency folk. Its discovery is noted in 1652, although 50 years earlier, Camden (1551-1623) in his Britannica wrote that:

“Upon the south border..was discovered a mineral spring..it is of great service to the Sex where there is general languor, difficult and rheumatic complaints the Barnet Whey is much recommended.”

This suggests it is possible that the well had been long known locally. Furthermore Fuller in his Worthies of England recalls that:

“already a catalogue of cure by this spring amounteth to a great number; insomuch that there is hope in the process the water rising here will repair bloodshed hard by and save as many lives as were lost in the fatal battle at Barnet.”

Chauncy (1700) describes its virtues suggests that its water would be good to:

“..dissolve acid tough Flegm in the stomach and guts, with sharp Choler, much better than other Purgers; and of great Efficacy in Cholicks, proceeding from both those Humours; in short, for most diseases that proceed from sharp and hot Humours (if they pass freely) they prove excellent safe Purgers.”

It was on the 11th July 1664 the famed diarist Samuel Pepys took its waters. He stated:

“half a mile off; and there I drunk three glasses and went and walked, and came back and drunk two more. The woman would have had me drunk three more; but I could not, my belly being full -but this wrought me very well; and so we rode home… and my waters working at least seven or eight times upon the road, which pleased me well“.

However:

“arrived home was not very well, and so went to bed, and during the night got worse and worse so that melted almost to water.”

Yet, this did not deter him for on the 11th of August 1667 he returned, but this time he drank only three glasses. He put his earlier experience down to too much water!

Another famed visitor, Celia Fiennes (whose visits to spas are well known) also complained. This time it was about the conditions at the well. She described it then as an enclosed building of lattice work, in which visitors descended steps to take the waters (so deep that one could not see the bottom). She disliked the means at which the water was drawn, being dirty, full of leaves and having to wait for the water to settle.

In 1677, 20s was given; this was to be paid in perpetuity, by a Mr Owen, an Alderman of London, of the Fishmongers Company, for repairing of the well. By 1690s the dipper had gone and people were helping themselves, Daniel Defoe, in 1724 notes that it was ‘almost forgotten’.Indeed, the well was so popular that a clause had to be inserted in an Act of Parliament in George II‟s reign to secure access in perpetuity. The well was fashionable throughout the 18th Century and remained in good conditions until 1790.

Subscription in 1808 was raised for arching over the well, and erecting a pump to aid any invalid who wished to drink. This was finally demolished in 1840, and a farmhouse erected near the site. Even in 1867, however, funding came from a local boy’s school for its repairs. Finally, in 1907 the water was declared unfit for drinking and consequently the well fell into obscurity.

Indeed it was not until 1922, when during excavation for a housing site, that the well-chamber was found to be in perfect condition and described as typical example of 17th Century architecture. A report in 1922 reported :

“ This is a slightly ferruginous, highly saline and alum water, containing an excess of organic matter and a large number of ordinary bacteria. Doubtless this is due to the disturbance of local conditions when opening up the well, as the sample contained fragments of grass and straw, etc. There is no evidence of direct sewage contamination, Streptococci being absent and B. Coli Communis not being present in less than IOO cubic centimetres. It is, therefore, unsuitable for ordinary domestic use.”

Of the building by the Barnet U.D.C. that they should restore the Well to its former position as one of the attractions of Barnet, and the following year they opened the well and found:

 “ an underground chamber and a flight of stone steps leading thereto. The Well Chamber is perfect and undisturbed, preserved by the earth that had covered it up. It has brick-built walls, floor and barrel-shaped roof alike. The bricks are small, red, hand-pounded and burnt. The room would hold about 20 persons. Two sumps, stone-lined, are sunk a foot or so in the floor for convenience in dipping out the water, and into them the spring is led by channels and pipes penetrating the surrounding ground.”

As the structure was in such a good condition, plans were made to preserve it, and a Neo-Tudor black and white well-house was built with a red-tiled pyramidal roof over it. This cost £500 and was completed by 1937.

Copywright christine matthews

Unfortunately, by 1960 it was again in poor condition, and plans were made for its disposal. Fortunately, the hue and cry made by local conservationists saved it, and it was given a facelift. Today, it is surrounded by suburbia, being in the centre of a housing estate. Sadly, it is a little worse for vandalism, and one is unable to test the waters, as it is now padlocked. A peer through the door will show an octagonal well and its glimmering water source. The surrounding green is boggy underfoot, and one can only suggest that this is the spring arising around the area. This site is surely in need of greater protection and care and should be a candidate for Civic Trust openings. I don’t seeing it lasting long without some better protection.

Posted in Favourite site, Hertfordshire, Restoration, Spa

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