History of the Village Well

My card is called “Children at the Well in the High Street Edinburgh 1872” by Gorge Manson 1850-76.

With my nursing training in my younger days, I wonder why the artist died at the young age of 26. Likely causes in that time were tuberculosis and water-borne diseases. The latter were very prevalent in cities, because of the poor sewerage treatment. There were several major outbreaks of cholera in London around this time. Water was supplied from the Thames, and drawn at the local street pump. At the time, London was supplied by two water companies. By plotting the incidence of the disease, Dr. John Snow showed that the water drawn from wells supplied by the upstream water company was free from disease, but that from downstream was contaminated.

As for the scene from the card, I compare it with Ireland when I was young. The well or pump in our village was the main source of water, and was found at the cross (the centre of the village where the main roads intersected.). It was always a busy social place; people would come to fetch water; the poor would meet and have a gossip. Any men who were out of work would gather at the cross by the pump. In the evenings, it was even the place to have step-dance competitions.

Children played with the water there, and in the summer we went bare foot, and had water fights. In the winter, there was ice on the ground, and if you slipped on it you could get a soaking from your own bucket of water as you fell over. This happened to my sister when she was in her teens, and she was mortified because all the men laughed at her.

My grandfather was a blacksmith with the forge at the cross. But when his children were growing up, he moved his forge away because of the bad language, and he dug his own well in his own garden. There were very few families with their own well.

Rose Lynch 15-Nov-2005