<< Text Pages >> The Birch Well - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Greater London
Submitted by Anonymous on Sunday, 27 July 2025 Page Views: 1314
Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: The Birch Well Alternative Name: the Holly wellCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 2.7 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Greater London Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Snaresbrook
Map Ref: TQ3974588924
Latitude: 51.581857N Longitude: 0.015502E
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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Holy Well or Sacred Spring in Greater London
The Birch Well is situated on Leyton Flats in a Birch Wood near to the boundary fence of Snaresbrook Crown Court. It is not far from the Eagle Pond, and is now a stone-edged pool about 1.5 metres long and somewhat oval in shape.
Though apparently little known and easily overlooked now, it was once perhaps the most important of the public wells that supplied Wanstead with its drinking water. Most of these have been long forgotten, though there are still some remnants of the private wells that the more wealthy inhabitants of the village once used.
Birch Well was used for drinking water only - it was once said by an elderly inhabitant of the area that "no water was ever as fresh, cool, sparkling and reviving as that which was drawn from Wanstead's well."
When in use, it was apparently in the form of something of a large square gravel pit with wooden steps and stagings, with a bucket and a barrel. Even after the well was given a brick surround, there was still at least one drowning attributed to the site!
People who lived outside of the parish boundary also used the well, but they were charged at the rate of a penny for three buckets or 1/6d for a buttful.http://www.wansteadwildlife.org.uk/index.php/en/the-study-area112/leyton-flats/birch-well<3><4>
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Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.