Lost holy and healing wells of London: The wells of Westminster.

Perhaps the earliest holy well recorded in the city, is that associated with a vision of St. Peter by fisherman on Thorney Island before Westminster Abbey was built, is told by Sulcard of Westminster in around 1076 in his The Building of Westminster translated by J. Flete’s 1909 The History of Westminster Abbey.  Dating from the days of Abbott Mellitus the founder of Westminster, a bright light was seen by that fisherman on a Sunday night on the opposite Lambeth shore. The ferry then carried across a vision of St Peter who consecrating the new church and as he stepped off onto the shore he is said to have:

“thrusting his staff into the ground behind him he made a flowing spring; then, after he had walked on a little, he thrust in the staff and created another one; and these two springs continued to flow for many years, until at last they were washed away by the river.”

The site was called St. Peter’s Well, and although Sulcard suggests that it was lost two sites surprisingly, were identified by Stanley (1868) as the site a well in St. Margaret’s Churchyard and a pump, in the green of Dean’s Yard. Both are now lost.

A conduit head above St James’ Palace called James Head in 1598 may recall a St. 20 James’s Well, although there is no firm evidence.  However, more convincing is St Clement’s Well which is mentioned J Stow’s 1598 Survey of London states that

 “the fountain called St Clement’s well, north from the parish church of St Clement’s and near unto an inn of Chancerie called Clement’s Inn, is fair curbed square with hard stone, kept clean for common use, and is always full.”

W. Maitland in 1756’s The History and Survey of London notes that:

 “the Well is now overed, and a Pump plac’d therein, on the East Side of Clement’s-Inn, and lower End of St Clement’s-Lane.”

A.S Foord’s 1910 Springs, Streams, and Spas of London reports that:

“the holy well of St Clement… has been filled in and covered over with earth and rubble, in order to form part of the foundation of the Law Courts.”

This appears to be the first specific reference to the change from a draw-well to a pump. D. Hughson (1806-09) London British Metropolis, and T. Allen (1827-29) The History and Antiquities of London both allude briefly to the well, but Sanders (1842):

“The well is now covered with a pump, but there still remains the spring, flowing as steadily and freshly as ever.”

G. R. Emerson’s 1862 London how the great city grew, when discussing the Church states:

 “It stood near a celebrated well, which for centuries was a favourite resort for Londoners. The water was slightly medicinal, and having effected some cures, the name Holy Well was applied.”

J. Diprose’s 1868 Some account of the Parish of St Clement Danes Past and Present, a local inhabitant states:

“It has been suggested that the Holy Well was situated on the side of the Churchyard of St. Clement), facing Temple Bar, for here may be seen a stone-built house, looking like a burial vault above ground, which an inscription informs us was erected in 1839, to prevent people using a pump that the inhabitants had put up in 1807 over a remarkable well, which is 191 feet deep, with 150 feet of water in it. Perhaps this may be the ‘holy well’ of bygone days, that gave the name to a street adjoining.”

J. Timbs’ 1853 The Romance of London: strange stories, scenes and remarkable persons of the Great Town states that:

 “the holy well is stated to be that under the Old Dog’s tavern. No. 24, Holywell Street.”

Foord (1910) states that other inhabitants believe that the ancient well was adjacent to Lyon’s Inn, which faced Newcastle Street, between Wych Street and Holywell Street Foord (1910) also notes that in the Times of May 1st 1874, reads:

“Another relic of Old London has lately passed away; the holy well of St. Clement, on the north of St. Clement Danes Church, has been filled in and covered over with earth and rubble, in order to form part of the foundation of the Law Courts of the future.”

He also notes that The Standard of the 3rd of September 1874 the site is states that report of the Times was erroneous and that the well was still ‘delivering into the main drainage of London something like 30,000 gallons of water daily of exquisite purity’ and that it would be utilised for the new Law Courts. Interestingly, a contributor to Notes and Queries (9th series, July 29, 1899) draws attention to the following particulars from a correspondent, a Mr. J. C. Asten, in the Morning Herald of July 5, 1899:

“Having lived at No. 273, Strand, for thirty years from 1858, it may interest your readers to know that at the back of No. 274, between that house and Holy Well Street, there exists an old well, which most probably is the ‘Holy Well.’ It is now built over. I and others have frequently drunk the exceedingly cool, bright water. There was an abundance of it, for in the later years a steam-printer used it to fill his boilers.”

Foord (1910) states that:

“In order, if possible, to obtain some corroboration of the Standards statement that the spring existed in 1874, the writer applied for information on the point to the Clerk of Works 2 at the Royal Courts of Justice, who wrote that he could find no trace of St. Clement’s Well, so that the report in the Times (quoted above) is probably correct. The water-supply to the Courts of Justice, he adds in his letter of June 13, 1907, is from the Water Board’s mains… On the Ordnance Survey Map, published in 1874, a spot is marked on the open space west of the Law Courts with the words ‘Site of St. Clement’s Well’ this spot is distant about 200 feet north from the Church of St. Clement Danes, and about 90 feet east of Clement’s Inn Hall, which was then standing. The Inn, with the ground attached to it, was disposed of not long after 1884, when the Society of Clement’s Inn had been disestablished.”

On the edge of the pavement in a metal plaque which records the digging of a well and perhaps this is the improved site of St Clement’s well.

A Sylvanus Urban’s 1852 ‘Antiquarian researches’, Gentleman’s Magazine 2nd ser states that a draw-well beneath the Old Dog Inn was a Holy Well and gave its name to the now lost Holywell Street. However, J. Gover, H. Mawer and M. Stenton’s 1943 Place-names of Middlesex states that the name derives from O.E hol, from ‘hollow’.