I did a bit of research into this for my local Baywater Residents Association magazine earlier this year, and I am pretty sure it is not such an ancient well at all. This is what I wrote:
St Govor’s Well: was it a holy spring or merely a run-off from the Round Pond?
St Govor’s Well is now a drinking fountain just east of the Broad Walk in Kensington Gardens, down the hill from the Round Pond. It was converted into a well in the early 19th century, possibly in 1836. Only in 1856 was it named for St Govor; a typical Victorian practice of giving something a spurious historical connection. It was given the name by Sir Benjamin Hall during his tenure as First Commissioner of Public Works for London, and named after St Govor, patron saint of Llanover in Wales, a parish owned by Sir Ben, which was famous for its springs.
Newspaper archives reveal that the water “issued in a considerable stream from a leaden spout” and it soon gained a reputation for its “beneficial action on crippled joints.” However, far from having any magical properties the Sanitary Gazette in 1875 reported that the water was “loaded with organic matter” which a natural spring would surely not be. Furthermore, when the Round Pond was drained in the summer of 1886, St Govor's Well dried up too, causing the British Medical Journal to conclude it was probably not so much an ancient spring but contained water drained into it from the Round Pond. Ugh! For some years hitherto a poor old woman had attended the well, charging the thirsty children and nursery maids of Kensington Gardens a ha'penny for a glass of water, and after her death - from “overindulgence in the waters,” joked the BMJ - a metal cup was chained to it so that people could help themselves. The BMJ recommended that if it were proved to be fed from the Round Pond, this supply should be blocked and a supply of pure water piped into it, because there was then no other drinking fountain anywhere in Kensington Gardens. Perhaps someone who looks after the water supply in the Gardens would know if there really is an ancient spring there, and if so is it still being used, or if not where does the water currently come from?
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road