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<< Our Photo Pages >> Lid Well - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Surrey

Submitted by HOLYWELL on Tuesday, 01 September 2009  Page Views: 5138

Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: Lid Well
Country: England County: Surrey Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
 Nearest Village: St Marthas
Map Ref: TQ03554815
Latitude: 51.223163N  Longitude: 0.518555W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Lid Well
Lid Well submitted by sotweedfactor : The area where OS maps mark Lid Well. A hollow in the hill with an almost non-existent stream issuing from it. No sign of any man-made structure. (Vote or comment on this photo)
This clearly ancient well is associated with the interesting St. Martha's hill which antiquarians note was the site of Good Friday Games, as well as being on the Pilgrim's Way. The games stopped in the early 1900s and were associated with interesting ancient earthworks suggesting a long history at the site. The church dedication itself is thought to be to Saynt Marter suggesting a series of martyrdoms occurred on the hillside. There is nothing visible in the area where OS maps mark Lid Well. Just a hollow in the hill with an almost non-existent stream issuing from it. No sign of any man-made structure.

There is a a brick and concrete construction filled by a pipe and full of water which is not the well but a later structure probably related to the nearby gunpowder mills. It can be reached by a footpath south of Keeper's Lane Car park which leads through Colyer's Hanger Wood. The name of the well could derive from pagan god Lugh but more likely deries from O.E Lud meaning loud! It is though clearly an ancient site.
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Lid Well
Lid Well submitted by sotweedfactor : Wellhead / possibly housing for another hydraulic ram (Vote or comment on this photo)

Lid Well
Lid Well submitted by sotweedfactor : Hydraulic ram housing chamber (Vote or comment on this photo)

Lid Well
Lid Well submitted by njbarton : How old is this well ? (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Lid Well
Lid Well submitted by njbarton : There's something inside Ed update: This is a more recent feature associated with the nearby gunpowder works / cordite factory, not Lid Well. See the comment on our main page for more details (via yellow link upper left) (Vote or comment on this photo)

Lid Well
Lid Well submitted by njbarton : The entrance and there's the sound of water flowing Ed update: This is a more recent feature associated with the nearby gunpowder works / cordite factory, not Lid Well. See the comment on our main page for more details (via yellow link upper left)

Lid Well
Lid Well submitted by njbarton : View from the front - very overgrown

Lid Well
Lid Well submitted by njbarton : View from the rear - not a WW2 pillbox; there are plenty of those in the area !

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 849m W 275° St Martha's on the Hill Earth Circles* Misc. Earthwork (TQ027482)
 1.5km WNW 288° Tyting Farm Bowl Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (TQ02124857)
 1.8km E 96° Albury Fishponds* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (TQ053480)
 2.0km E 84° Weston Wood Platform Mound* Round Barrow(s) (TQ055484)
 2.1km E 85° Weston Woods Cromlech* Standing Stones (TQ05644839)
 2.5km E 81° The Silent Pool* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TQ0606148582)
 2.7km ESE 107° Albury Park Mound* Round Barrow(s) (TQ062474)
 4.0km WNW 287° Guildford Museum* Museum (SU9968349258)
 4.1km W 272° Artington Spring* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SU994482)
 4.6km WNW 282° St. Edward's Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SU9949)
 6.5km NNW 332° Jacobs Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TQ004538)
 6.7km NW 325° Whitmoor Common* Round Barrow(s) (SU996536)
 8.0km ESE 108° Abinger Manor* Ancient Village or Settlement (TQ112458)
 8.0km ESE 116° Felday* Hillfort (TQ10824475)
 8.2km E 92° Deerleap Wood* Round Barrow(s) (TQ118480)
 8.6km SE 128° Holmbury Camp Hillfort (TQ105430)
 9.0km SW 229° Lady Well (Tuesley)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SU968421)
 10.0km SSW 196° The Dragonstones Modern Stone Circle etc (TQ0105038489)
 10.1km SSW 199° Hascombe Hill* Hillfort (TQ004386)
 10.6km N 3° Pyrford Stone* Marker Stone (TQ0382258782)
 11.2km ESE 105° Mag's Well (Abinger Forest)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TQ145455)
 11.3km NW 311° Bullswater Common Barrows Barrow Cemetery (SU9487555356)
 11.3km ESE 122° Leith Hill Place* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (TQ1324542344)
 11.7km NNE 22° Bowl barrow west of Cockcrow Hill* Round Barrow(s) (TQ07635910)
 11.7km E 87° Milton Heath* Round Barrow(s) (TQ15294890)
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Cures and Curses, Ritual and cult at holy wells

Cures and Curses, Ritual and cult at holy wells

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"Lid Well" | Login/Create an Account | 6 News and Comments
  
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Re: Lid Well by sotweedfactor on Tuesday, 08 February 2022
(User Info | Send a Message)
Took a good look at this area today. During summer it is seriously overgrown; during winter it can be very soggy underfoot.

The site is on a spring line at the foot of the scarp slope of the Upper Greensand, below St Marthas. It can be found between the public footpath and the Tillingbourne river. Look at the old OS maps first (National Library of Scotland has website). The older maps (late 1800s) mark ‘Lid Well’ and ‘Hydraulic Rams’. Look very carefully at where each of these are marked: on the old maps a track is shown separating them. With a bit of imagination you can still discern where that now-disappeared track would have been.

Of Lid Well (where it is marked on the map) there is little to be seen: a vestigial stream forming at the base of a hollowed bay in the very steep greensand slope. This hollow rather suggests that a more substantial spring has existed there in the past to carve it out.

Nearby are two masonry features. Neither of these are where Lid Well is marked on the maps.

One has been pictured extensively by earlier correspondents. It is a covered circular chamber about 5 feet diameter and 5 feet high with steps down. Inside there are the very clear, complete remains of a hydraulic ram. There is the sound of copious water springing from the ground: the power source for the ram. A fallen tree hides this feature somewhat.

The other is a square construction about 3 feet high, open topped and filled with water, rather like a well head. Water also seeps/springs from the base of its construction. I suspect this may have housed another hydraulic ram.

The hydraulic rams are likely connected with the adjacent remains of the Chilworth Gunpower works. Specifically, the cordite factory. Near to the Lid Well site can be seen the corrugated iron blast-wall remnants of an explosives storage magazine.

[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Lid Well by Andy B on Tuesday, 08 February 2022
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Hello, thanks for posting your photos and interpretation, very useful. I've updated the location we have for the well. The mystery deepens...

    Have you seen any large stones in the area?

    As referred to in the book Three Surrey Churches - A Chapter of English History (by Rev H R Ware & P G Palmer, undated but from circa 1910) - it has a chapter on St Martha's including the following tantalising references:

    "To the east of the hill, on the rising ground of Weston Wood, towards Sherborne Springs, lie huge boulders, foreign to this part of England, relics of a cromlech. Similar remains once existed near Albury Rectory, and a mass of rock in Colyer's Hanger, on the hillside, probably marks the site of a third."

    A few of us have been investigating - more here
    https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=37395
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Lid Well by Anonymous on Saturday, 10 July 2021
The OS map from around 1895 shows ''hydraulic rams'' marked adjacent to the well. These were typically used to harness the energy in flowing water and pump a small amount to a higher level. Also, passing the well, a track is shown that runs west, past elements of the Cordite Works. These are quite near Lid Well and were the last-developed parts of the Chilworth gunpowder complex.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Lid Well by njbarton on Sunday, 25 April 2021
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Lat: 51.22308
Long: -0.51795

This was taken from the GPS on my phone so the accuracy rating can be upped to 5

[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Lid Well by Runemage on Sunday, 25 April 2021
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Thanks for the updates, I've amended our records.
    It's great to have some photos of this well at long last, I wonder what that contraption in the well is, maybe a cistern of some sort?
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Lid Well by Anonymous on Friday, 16 May 2014
This well was a flowing spring until 2012, and then failed. At present, it amounts to a concrete wellhead containing some stagnant water. I have no idea why this has happened, since the water catchment for it is St Martha''s Hill and there haven''t been any construction or engineering works in the vicinity.

Checked again in February 2014, still no water. Beware of nettles in summer.
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