Reopening of an ancient well
The well's history
Our home, where we work, is virtually opposite an ancient well known as Windy Cross (here the name Windy could be derived from the Old English word for a well being willi or waella so it could have been known as 'Well Cross' in ancient times). This well is probably why, thousands of years ago, nomadic people settled on this high hill overlooking the beautiful Torridge Valley to cultivate the land.
For a settlement clean fresh water was vital and this well will have allowed the people on this hill to prosper and become what we are today.
Sometime in the 19th century a well-house was constructed around it and accounts tell us it was kitted out with the latest hand-pump and a splendid Alabaster Marble font made by a local craftsman.
Maybe only 50 years later, when treated piped water was brought to the town, the local water authority blocked up the entrance to the well preventing access to the clean water.
What we have started
This month we put in a planning consent application to Torridge District Council to remove the blocks from the well-house door in the hope that, maybe, we can have access to the fresh, clean, healthy water rising up under our feet once more. Apparently the blocked-off well house is not actually owned by anyone but as it's been maintained over the decades by our town council it belongs to the town by default. Our consent to remove the blocks, therefore, is on behalf of the community and it'll be up to the community to make this happen and maintain it in the future.
UPDATE as 29/11/24
Permission has been granted to have the well house opened up. I'll keep the rest of this blog unaltered as it sort of gives a moment in time with our thought process. We have a lot to do. Got to get a few of us together to find how we now go about this. It's exciting so keep coming back to our page for more updates.
What are our plans?
We are very hopeful to get approval to gain access to the interior of the well house but that, at this point is not a certainty. If we do get it we will be removing the blocks to see what is inside. We have no idea if the pump and font were removed before it was blocked off. It is also possible the well was filled in although I think that is unlikely to be as that is hard work to do when they could just brick it up to render it 'safe'.
So if the pump is still there with the well still capped we could get the water pumped back up, get it tested and take it from there. We are very hopeful it'll be clean water because that's the whole point of a well at the top of a hill; it's going to be clean as there is no run-off from surrounding areas. There was a reason Jack and Jill went up the hill, because the water is clean up there.
If no pump is in there we can buy one. They are not ridiculously expensive and by this stage in the project we hope to have the interest with enough people that we can raise funds to allow that to happen. Also we could incorporate a UV light that will kill any bacteria as it is pumped up so it will be safe for public use. Again this technology is not very expensive to get, install and maintain.
If all this falls into place we can have healthy water flowing for the community again in the town.
What if it doesn't happen?
First of all the council may refuse our application but our Conservation Officer has already given it her support. I'll leave a link below for you to leave a comment with the council to support this project to ensure it will happen, that would be fantastic if you can.
Maybe we are unable to extract the water or the water is deemed unsafe. This is a more likely to be the outcome to be honest but we will finish off the well house with respect to it.
We could put the blocks back as they where but we plan instead to make gates for it so the interior space is still visible. This would honour it's history and reflect it's function. Our son Tyler is a welder fabricator and we can design gates and he can make them for us. It will look so much better than it is now for sure.
Ignoring all that what about...
The future
Whether the well ends up gifting us with water or not we have more ideas and hopes long term. We want to reintroduce the custom of Well Dressing to honour it's life giving energy.
We have a circle of people in our town willing to do this. Also we have a Holy Well close by called Covety Spring on some common land. This spring is extremely ancient and special. The spring is linked by it's name to the worship of the Celtic goddess Coventina so, right now, we intend to form a procession once a year from Windy Cross to Covety. We are thinking of doing this during the towns already large Mayfair celebrations. In this way we want to reinforce the importance of our Celtic roots, the elemental forces, the life-giving properties of water and have some fun at the same time.
Useful links.
Join our Facebook Group Windy Cross well Opening here
Facebook - Windy Cross Well Opening
Torridge District Council online planning portal. Just put 1/0801/2024/LBC into the search box.
https://publicaccess.torridge.gov.uk/online-applications/
YouTube video on Covety Spring in great Torrington
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0p2fmOliw
Information on Coventina
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventina
The well house as it is. The circular top, currently the base for the cross, is said to be the original capstone for the well.
