The Old Well and Well House
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The Old Well and Well House is a Grade II Listed Building on Tottenham Green, next to Holy Trinity Church.
The original well was dug in 1791: This well was dug, and the pump erected, at the expence of the late Thomas Smith, Esq. late lord of the manor of Tottenham, in consideration of his having been allowed to enclose piece of the waste land near his then residence—the Grove House. Vestry Book D. September, 1791 Improvements to the well and the addition of the tiled roof took place in 1859. The Old Well supplied most of the surrounding district with water until 1883 when the supply was found to be polluted, possibly because of poor surface drainage. The well was then chained up. It has never been used since. The Old Well has remained unchanged as an interesting piece of old Tottenham. The well was refurbished in 1953 and restored again in 2004. |
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Red House, Bexleyheath: home of William Morris
The Well House bears a close resemblance to the well at Red House, the house built by Phillip Webb for William Morris. For a detailed comparison of the two wells see: Jan Marsh Peter Paul Marshall's Tottenham well - copy or prototype? The Journal of William Morris Studies Winter 2007 Download here |
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More on the history of water in Tottenham
Within the memory of many of the present inhabitants of Tottenham it was an almost universal complaint, that no good water was to be had in the village. The wells were at that time only few feet deep; the supply of water was uncertain; and it was not pure enough for domestic purposes. The fact is, that the wells reached only to the blue clay, and therefore their depth depended on that of the superstratum, namely, of the gravel or loam lying upon it. In the loam there are some salts, which, being taken up by the water during percolation, rendered it what is termed hard. Within the last thirty or thirty-five years the complaint of the badness of the water of Tottenham has been effectually removed in most places in the parish, and might in all. The clay, from the surface of which the water was formerly obtained, and to which it is nearly, if not absolutely impervious, has been pierced through in many parts, affording never failing supply of remarkably clear and brilliant water, which is particularly soft, and is consequently adapted to every domestic purpose. An analytical chemist has tried it with the usual tests, and finds it to be of uncommon purity, and almost perfectly free from the presence of salts. Although some of the inhabitants have obtained good supply of excellent water from deep sunk wells to the main spring, there are great proportion obliged to buy water of the carriers, who procure it from the well on Tottenham Green. The parish, though there are many meadows in it, is by no means an unhealthy place, as the ages, to which many of the inhabitants have attained, sufficiently prove. |
Engraved for Robinson's History of Tottenham 1818
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William Robinson notes that 'for more details on the source of the water supplying the deep wells in the parish, together with the little map and section, have been obligingly communicated by Mr. Wm. Phillips, of Tottenham Green, M. G. S. author of several introductory works on Mineralogy and Geology. ' (see page 4 onwards )
The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Tottenham, in the County of Middlesex. William Robinson, 1840
The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Tottenham, in the County of Middlesex. William Robinson, 1840
