Forum home› Garden design
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Garden Well

Andy Shaw2Andy Shaw2 Posts: 9
in Garden design
I live in a house that was built in the mid 80's on what was an old farm yard. The farm house is still stood next door, but the old farmer is long gone. I was chatting to another elderly neighbor who said that there was once a well in the farm yard, but he's not sure if it would be in my garden or on the other side of the fence next door.

My next door neighbor has no interest in trying to find it. Is there anyway I can find out if the well is on my land or not with out taking to digging up the whole garden? Is there any point in doing so? Or is my vision of having a romantic wishing well more likely to turn out to be a mud hole?

Posts

  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    If you can look up the farm on old large scale OS maps (you can find them online back to about 1700) then it might be marked on there. Ours was, but obviously, it only gives you a rough idea of where it may be. Ours had been completely filled in, and that is likely what will have happened to yours. A tell tall circle of poor growth showed up on the lawn in the summer. 

    Another alternative is dowsing believe it or not. I was gobsmacked when the water board couldnt find our stopcock last year, and after digging up half the front garden, eventually resorted to getting out a couple of rods and started dowsing. The man made it very clear it was definitely something his employers didnt officially endorse, but that it was used a lot, as it often worked. Ive always been very sceptical about that kind of thing myself. He didnt find our stopcock either so the jury is out for me!

    Hard to say whether your vision may be restorable, not all wells were the pretty brick lined affairs, some were just literally holes in the ground. It would entirely depend on the condition of it I guess. 
    Just found a link here which may be of interest http://www.southcoastwater.co.uk/well-restoration.html

    Needless to say, if you do find it, be very careful. It could have been filled in, but it also could have just been capped and have soil or rubble over it and be very dangerous.
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    I don't know how or why dowsing works, but for some people it definitely does.  I've even known of people who don't need the rods but somehow sense where the water is, and are right far more often than they are wrong.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited May 2019
    Another vote here for dowsing. No idea how it works but it certainly seems to in many cases. I’ve known dowsers used by farmers, drainage experts, builders, water engineers, surveyors, archaeologists ... all sorts. Certainly cheaper than digging in the first instance. 

    And yes ... be careful ... I’ve known a well to be capped off with some planks and a thin layer of cement!  It was next to our kitchen door right up against the wall of the house ... apparently it used to have an old hand pump that poked through the kitchen window and over an old stone sink.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    I can vouch for dousing too, I've even done it myself to find the position of land drains in our field.
    All it takes is 2 right-angled pieces of wire (old coat hangers!), one in each hand, held fairly loosely,  pointing forwards.
    Walk across the area and if you cross water the wires will move and form a cross.
    No idea how or why it works, it just does :)
  • Andy Shaw2Andy Shaw2 Posts: 9
    Cheers for the advice, I'll find a coat hanger over the next few days and get to it. I did find what seems to be a lead pipe coming out of the ground at a 45 degree angle in the front garden. I gave it a wiggle, it moves slightly but won't come out the ground. Could be barking up the wrong tree but I'm wondering if its possibly the remains of a pump from the well, so I'll start looking around that area. 

    Cheers again for the help.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Sounds as if you've got a strong clue there ... let us know how it goes ... photos are always good too :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    When I was doing my garden design course at college, we did "dowsing" as part of our surveying section. 
    I remember working at a house and "the water people" were trying to locate an underground pipe without success and I got out my trusty bent coathangers and said " it's there" and went and sat in my van to have my lunch. One of the guys came and asked me to go have a look. They dug down and I was about 4" out, they'd used their "high tech" equipment for almost an hour and hadn't picked up a single trace. 
    I don't know HOW it works either, but I know it DOES.

    Devon.
  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923
    on the plus side for having a well, if you can get a pump down to the water then you can hook up a hose and never have to pay for the garden water again!
Sign In or Register to comment.