Well at Lilleshall Hall, Newport, Shropshire

David Coxill & Adrian Pearce, SCMC Journal No.2

At the request of the National Sports Centre, members of Shropshire Caving & Mining Club explored and surveyed a well and associated features on 16th October 1994. The features probably date from the 1830s when the hall was built as a hunting lodge for the Duke of Sutherland.

The well has been sunk through the Enville Beds, consisting of alternating beds of fine grained red sandstone and sandy calcareous marl. Since the marl beds are structurally unstable, the first 40 metres has been lined with bricks. Below the RSJ frame, the bricks have not been mortared and this was probably to enable water to seep through from the strata behind and thus help to fill the well. Several sections of the unmortared lining are getting into a very unstable condition and beginning to bulge out. At a depth of just under 40 metres, the well continues in solid sandstone without a lining. There is an infill of rubble and other rubbish at the bottom so it was not possible to determine the original depth. This rubbish is emitting a bad smell and the oxygen meter gave a low reading at the bottom.

The standing water was only present for a depth of 0.5 metres above the rubble infill but this would presumably rise with the water table over winter. There is no evidence of any original inlet of water at this depth other than seepage from the surrounding strata and there does not seem to be a great flow from this source above the current water level. Seepage may be much greater below the current water level but the volume of water available in the well is greatly restricted by the presence of rubble infill at the bottom.

It appears that the well originally had an ancillary water inlet from surface. In the walls of the well top chamber there are three vertical recesses with remains of wooden supports. At the top of each of these is a lead pipe of 10cm diameter and an iron pipe of 2 cms diameter. All pipes have been cut off flush with the back of the recess. It is probable that the lead pipes were water inlets to the well from surface drainage, possibly connected to drainpipes on the old hall. Thus the well could have been used as a cistern with surface rainwater to supplement lateral seepage from surrounding strata. It is also probable that there was a pump installed in the well which delivered water to surface through the smaller diameter pipes, probably feeding fountains directly or via cisterns at a higher level.

Both inlet and outlet pipes were removed at some time before the First World, possibly if fountains were no longer used or (more likely) if the larger cistern nearby replaced the well for storage. There is no obvious sign that water stills flows in via the large inlet pipes and it is likely that they were disconnected at the far end from the drainpipes and replaced by pipes feeding the other cistern.

In 1914, the hall was sold by the Duke of Sutherland to a Mr Ford, who held it until sold to the Sports Council in the 1950s. Before the Second World War, the grounds were open to the public and the well was used as a wishing well with coloured lights below the surface grille. Water from a reservoir on the nearby Heath Hill was piped into the well to keep it topped up, since it apparently had negligible water flow from seepage. It is likely that the RSJ frame dates from this period and it probably supported a platform for maintenance access (and to remove the coins thrown in!).

The well top chamber is a puzzling feature and it is not known why the shaft to surface is offset from the well itself. The most likely explanation is that the chamber was built to hide unsightly machinery or workers from guests wandering around the garden. Both the chamber and access passage have been constructed on the "cut & cover" principle so there has obviously been some landscaping after the well was first sunk to cover the structure over with soil. The shaft to surface probably helped to ventilate the chamber, as well as providing a mysterious garden feature for the owner and guests.

The access passage and well top chamber all have cobbled flooring, suggesting heavy usage. The passage also slopes gently down from surface and it has been suggested that there may have originally been a horse or donkey used to wind up the well. The steps might be a later addition and the original way out might have been via a ramp. Half way along the passage, there is a grille part way up the wall with an earthenware pipe inlet just behind. This presumably acted as a surface drain and a sloping passage would also help to direct water into the well. There is evidence of old doors at the bottom of the steps and the entrance to the well top chamber, presumably originally kept locked for safety purposes.

Near the entrance, a section of the passage has been lined with modern bricks and fitted with a doorway at each end. A light switch indicates that people spent some time in this section. It is said that the passage was used as an air raid shelter during the Second World War and this would have been the part used, the doors at each end acting as blast protection. A piece of wire is stretched across the top of the archway into the well top chamber and this probably held up a blackout curtain from this period, preventing light from showing in the shaft to surface.