A small but important relic on an island in Essex

THE AVAILABILITY OF water is essential for human life. Since 8400 BC, or even earlier, mankind has been digging wells to access sources of groundwater. In England today, usable wells are few and far between because water is supplied by various other means. Occasionally, one comes across wellheads of now disused wells. One of these has become a minor visitors’ attraction on the lovely small island of Mersea, which is south of Colchester on the north side of the mouth of the Blackwater River.

The well head, which in in West Mersea and has been recently restored looks like a square wooden crate. It has a commemorative bronze plate on its square covering. Known as St Peter’s Well, it was an important source of water from ancient times until the early 20th century. It may have been associated for a while with a West Mersea Priory (founded 1046, dissolved 1542) that once stood nearby.

In April 1884, Mersea Island was struck by an earthquake. A crack in the ground opened near St Peters Well, and for a short time the water in it:

“…  turned white, as if mixed with lime, and was quite warm, but the day after had resumed its pellucid qualities.” (www.merseamuseum.org.uk/mmphoto.php?pid=SS050030&hit=631&tot=642&typ=cat&syn=all)

Today, there  is little to see but the restored wooden wellhead that stands on a slope overlooking the wide sandy beach, which appears when the tide is out, The metal plate contains quotations from the Bible and the information that the well, which had served the people for over 1000 years, was one of the main sources of fresh water for the islanders, and had never run dry.

Judging from the contents of rubbish bins awaiting collection from the street entrances of houses in West Mersea, an important source of fluid intake is nowadays bottles and cans obtained from the booze shelves of off-licenses and supermarkets.