Village Wells & Original piped Water Supply

Village Wells :

Old Manor Cottage : There is a well is immediately outside the rear window of the west living room. It now has a manhole cover set into a concrete slab which is marked "1960". The well has stonework down to about 4 metres deep and then it is unlined. It is about 1200mm (4ft) in diameter and about 12 metres (40 ft) deep. The water level fluctuates with the seasons and rainfall with the lowest well levels in October normally.

I would like to hear about the locations of other wells in the parish.

Original Piped Water Supply : 

The Water Mill has a second narrow wheel that was added at some time probably in the late C19th to drive a "ram" pump to provide piped water to houses in the east end of the village. This smaller water wheel had a hatch to control water flow into it from the mill pond. The ram pump also took water from the mill pond and pumped into iron pipework that distributed water to nearby houses.

The writer discovered this old pipe running in front of his house Old Manor Cottage. It was running parallel to the road and presumably went on to serve the nearby Manor Farm. It is hoped that it was only used for washing !

Below : Left the narrow water supply wheel           Middle : Wheel end view with pump      Right : Ram pump driven by wheel & old water pipework

(photos RC 2011)

Mains Water Supply :  

The WW2 minutes of the Parish Council meeting held in 12th March 1943 recorded :

.......It was understood that the water supply for the whole village was to be introduced as soon as the labour was available after the war.

It is not certain when mains water was first brought to the village but presumably only fed some properties initially.