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Issue 67 South Liverpool January 2013
For Advertising and Leaflet Drop Service See page 2
The monthly independent advertiser 22,000 copies 18,500 into Homes 3,500 into Businesses in Woolton, Gateacre, Childwall, L18, L17, L15, Woolton Hill, Woolton Park and Calderstones. NEW AREA Bowring Park
MONK’S WELL by Stephen Guy
The beautiful young woman helped the servant at the well, giving him water from her jug and even offering to get some for his camels. The well-known Biblical story of Rebecca illustrates the long associations of watering places with spirituality and faith. In the Genesis story
Abraham’s servant had been sent to find a wife for the patriarch’s son Isaac. The servant took Rebecca’s generosity as a sign that God had chosen her. She agreed – and married Isaac, her cousin. Wavertree, listed in the Doomsday Book, is said to take its name from a settlement near a spring on a wasteland. The Monk’s Well (pictured) in Mill Lane obviously has reli-
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gious connections but its origins are obscure. The waterhole is generally believed to be of great antiquity although there were no monks or monasteries nearby. It is recorded that the well was never known to run dry. In times of drought its water was sold to neighbouring districts for one old penny a can. As can be seen, Monk’s Well appears to be very old with Latin inscriptions and the date 1414 which presumably refers to when the stonework was originally put up. However, scholars doubt this is a true date. I think Sir James Picton was responsible for Monk’s Well. He was a p r o m i n e n t Liverpool architect who lived in Sandyknowe, a sandstone villa that still stands further up Mill Lane. Picton gentrified Wavertree, embellishing the old lockup with a pitched roof and other decorations. In 1884 he
built Picton Clock in memory of his wife. The cross on Monk’s Well appears to be Victorian although the rest of the stonework looks much older. Local historian Picton, who gave his name to the city centre library, had access to old building materials known as architectural salvage. The Victorians were notorious for restoring ancient buildings, carrying out what they saw as improvements on original structures. They also ruthlessly pulled down historic places. Monk’s Well, with its cross, bears a striking resemblance to the ancient Fall Well off Lime Street that s u p p l i e d Liverpool’s water for centuries. It was taken down some time after 1797 and the materials may have been stored away. I believe that Monk’s Well, with some modifications, may be the original Fall Well as rebuilt by Picton.
• Learn more about the history of Liverpool at the Museum of Liverpool,
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