Back in April 1980 there was an article past by Christine Brown, living in Lexmore, Church Road about a local issue nearby.
A REMINDER OF THE PAST
One sunny Sunday morning not too long ago a voice was to be heard saying “Mummy, did you know that there is a big hole in the path in front of the house?”
“No dear I didn’t” was the sleepy reply.
“Well shall we jump up and down on it to see how far down it goes” chorused two boys’ voices.
“No dear it may be the well” was the second reply.
“Well we’ll just see where it goes” said the voices receding into the distance. To be swifty followed by a “slightly higher” voice saying “NO DON’T GO NEAR IT”
So began the discovery of the well to the only communal pump in Church Lawford. Eor years and years we have wondered whether or not the well was in front of, behind or to the side of, the pump, well now we know; it’s directly underneath. The next move was to telephone the appropriate council department who were swift to arrive and surround the area with flashing lights and striped warning beacons. Quite an event on a Sunday morning.
There then followed a combined operations plan with Geoff and Nigel Heckford taking valuable- time from their own work to make safe the pump by concreting under the pump and around the well whose exposed sides were crumbling and totally unsafe. It was decided that the inside workings of the pump, long since corroded, were no longer functional and although it will never work again, the fact of it standing is at least a reminder of times past when it was the source of water for the inhabitants living nearby.
The second contribution to “save the Pump” was with Frank Russell making and fitting an authentic top to it. The final touches will be added by Allan when the weather improves when he will rub down and treat the wooden body of the pump and also refit the original handle that he has de-rusted and repainted. The only missing piece will be the spout which has long since disappeared.
After a chat with Walter Dyer we find that shortly after the village was sold (around 1922)? the Water Authority posted signs stating that the water was unfit for human consumption but Mrs, Dyer (Walter’s mother) took a quart bottle of water from the well as a sample for analysis and it was proven fit and clear from contamination. It was also stated as being the purest water they had ever tested. This being so it was used for a further ten years. In its hey-day this communal pump supplied water to all villagers living nearby and was the only well in the village that never ran dry even in the height of summer. The water was used for drinking only, the water for washing and bathing being fetched from the river.
CHRISTINE BROWN.
Church Lawford and King’s Newnham Village Newsletter April 1980
The picture below is from some 75 years earlier at the start of the 20th Century. The Village Pump is on the right. More pictures from Church Road can be found here.
