<< Text Pages >> Lady Well (Dover) - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Kent
Submitted by HOLYWELL on Monday, 28 February 2011 Page Views: 6917
Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: Lady Well (Dover)Country: England
NOTE: This site is 0.141 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Kent Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Dover
Map Ref: TR317417
Latitude: 51.127688N Longitude: 1.310010E
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 |
Internal Links:
External Links:
Holy Well or Sacred Spring in Kent
Lady Well despite being little known outside the town, is locally well recorded. Originally the water source was for the brethren of Maison Dieu hospital, which was founded in 1203. It was then situated in their courtyard or rather farmyard, close to the Lady Chapel. Maps indicate that it may have originated as a moot or meeting point from pre-Norman times and perhaps pre-historic times, being along the parish boundary. Local historian Bavington Jones (1907) gives its location as:
“to the Lady Chapel, which stood near where the sessions court is, and the water of it being of a chalybeate character, probably had some curative properties, which in the days of superstition, were exaggerated as miraculous.”
Local historian Horsey (1892) describes as being very beneficial in the cures of sickness and was said to ‘work many miracles’. After the Reformation, the Maison Dieu, became a navy store. The well was then built into an alcove on the public side of the new store yard wall. Bavington Jones (1907) describes it as:
“..a nook in the Maison Dieu wall, with two or three steps for people to go down and dip their water vessels.”
When the Corporation purchased the Maison Dieu, they used the northern portion of this for prison purposes. The dip well was then closed over, and a pubic pump erected over it. In 1858, this pump was repaired by the Corporation, and a ladle was attached for the benefit of 'wayfarers', making it one of Dover's first drinking fountains. Its supply then becoming an important source of fresh water, before the Dover waterworks were built and was used across the town.
Indeed Bavington Jones (1907) quoting Horsey (1892) mentions Teakettle Tom, as one of the Dover hawkers from whom such supplies of water could be bought. The old people regularly bought a pennyworth of Ladywell water to brew their afternoon beverage. However, he is erroneous, as according to Horsey (1892), it was, ‘Old Ned (who carried two pails of ‘Pure Ladywell water’ about the town.)’
Obviously, with the prison on one side, and closely packed human habitations on the other, it was for some time suspected that the spring, which ran very near the surface from a westerly direction, could be contaminated. Finally, in 1866, a Mr. Alexander Bottle made an analysis of the water and found that the:
“...the long celebrated Ladywell water was not fit for human consumption, whereupon the pump was removed and the well finally closed.”
In 1883, a new addition to the town hall was built and this, the Connaught Hall, now covers the site of the well. Plans of the Town Hall show its position beneath the stars. Despite being a comparatively well documented, sadly no sketch or photo survives showing the well. Although a drawing, circa 1800, of the north side of this courtyard may show the well at a distance. Nothing, other than this street, is left to remember it today
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.
Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
The above images may not be of the site on this page, they are loaded from Geograph.
Please Submit an Image of this site or go out and take one for us!
Click here to see more info for this site
Nearby sites
Click here to view sites on an interactive OS mapKey: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed
Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)
To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.
Turn off the page maps and other distractions
Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
412m SSE 169° Dover Museum* Museum (TR318413)
822m ENE 79° Harold's Well Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TR325419)
934m E 85° Dover Castle* Hillfort (TR3262941822)
2.2km W 272° Whinless Down Barrows Round Barrow(s) (TR29514167)
3.7km NW 318° Lousyberry Wood Tumuli* Barrow Cemetery (TR29114432)
5.0km ENE 61° St. Margaret's at Cliffe Barrows Round Barrow(s) (TR360443)
5.3km WNW 295° Minnis Barrows Round Barrow(s) (TR26834375)
5.3km NW 308° Little Watersend Barrow Round Barrow(s) (TR27394477)
5.4km W 276° Moseling's Hole Denehole Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry (TR26324199)
5.5km ENE 62° Bay Hill Barrow Round Barrow(s) (TR36414449)
6.2km NNW 347° White Caps Barrow Round Barrow(s) (TR30034766)
6.3km NW 316° Stonehall Deneholes Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry (TR27104603)
6.4km WSW 244° Capel-le-Ferne Bowl Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (TR26113860)
6.8km NE 52° St Margaret's Bay Barrow Round Barrow(s) (TR36914609)
7.2km NE 44° Ringwould Barrows* Round Barrow(s) (TR36474706)
7.2km NE 48° Ringwould Barrow Round Barrow(s) (TR36834673)
8.8km WNW 288° St John's Well (Swingfield) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TR23224401)
8.8km NE 47° The Blue Well Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TR379480)
10.1km NE 37° Walmer Barrow Round Barrow(s) (TR37405005)
10.1km WSW 252° Sugerloaf Hill Holy Well Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TR222382)
10.4km W 276° Little Foxholt Barrows Round Barrow(s) (TR21284239)
10.5km WSW 239° Folkestone moot stones* Marker Stone (TR22963589)
10.5km NNW 343° Nonington Barrow Cemetary Barrow Cemetery (TR28185160)
10.5km NW 321° Rubury Butts* Barrow Cemetery (TR24724962)
10.6km WSW 252° Castle Hill Barrows Round Barrow(s) (TR21723798)
View more nearby sites and additional images