A History of Preston
in Hertfordshire
In modern-
The well at Preston Green, photographed above in the 1950s, is an historic, iconic
image of village life -
The Scrapbook states: ‘The Well on the Green was the gift of William Henry Darton........It was dug up in the hot dry summer of 1872 when most of the ponds had dried up.’ This may well be true, but a document that has recently come to light paints a different picture.
In 1870, Mr Weeks was residing at the Temple Dinsley mansion. On 12 October 1870, he felt constrained to write the following letter to William H Darton:
‘I have observed with deep regret that my poorer neighbours in the village of Preston have no water fit to drink and medical gentlemen of the district have certified to me that a large amount of illness results from the unwholesome and filthy water which the cottagers are compelled to use.
I, with many other residents in the neighbourhood, consider it a duty we owe to those who cannot assist themselves to use our utmost endeavours to procure such a supply of pure water as is necessary to preserve the life and health of the inhabitants.
I therefore beg to solicit your co-
I shall be glad to receive any donation you may be pleased to give in furtherance of the work which although urgently and undeniably needed, cannot be undertaken without your sanction and consent.’
Thus, although Darton may have allowed and financed the sinking of the well, the prime mover in its construction was Mr Weeks.
When sunk, the well was 211’ 8” deep. Two people operated the winding mechanism and they toiled for five minutes to raise the water. The villagers appear to have become attached to its drawn water: ‘The water from the new well was considered to be very good. One young man, ill in Hitchin Hospital, asked his old father to bring some water from Preston as he could not drink the Hitchin water. His father spilt it on the way down so filled up his can in Hitchin, never thinking the son would know, but when he drank it he just turned over and died!’
Another villager remembered, ’Collecting water from the village pump on the green, even after mains water was piped to the houses, because people were suspicious of piped water.’
This is how the well was constructed: It has an octagonal well house open at the
sides with a steep-
The cast-
Photographs show that the well was disused and fenced off by around 1930 (see right). (Below, the well in 2012)
Other wells at Preston
There were other wells dotted around the village which were noted on a map dated 1898:
(Above) Poynders End Farm -
(Above) Minsden Cottages, Jacks Hill -
Bunyan’s Cottage
Cottage on corner of Preston Green Lane
At various times there were also wells at Castle Farm, Ponds Farm, Austage End, Preston Hill Farm and Temple Dinsley.
Robert Sunderland has kindly written to add ‘My family lived at The Wilderness from
1934 to 1961. There is a well there not mentioned on your list. It has recently been
recapped by the present owner. I think he took my concerns over my grandfather’s
concreting it over after we got mains water in 1947 seriously. ...(the well) was
rough chalk-
Illustrating the potential dangers of sinking wells, in 1901, Edward Wilson died at Hitchin Hospital from injuries received by falling down a new well which was being sunk at Temple Dinsley. While he was being lowered down, he by some means, fell off the chair and was very severely injured. He was removed to hospital as quickly as possible and everything that could be done for him was done but he never rallied. The deceased was a Luton man and left a widow and eleven children. The Luton Times and Advertiser of 19 July 1901 printed this detailed report of the horrific accident:
‘An inquest held at Hitchin Hospital on Friday morning by Francis Shillitoe, Esq.
Coroner touching the death of Edward Wilson who fell down a new well while at work
at Temple Dinsley on Wednesday. He was being lowered into the new well which is over
200 feet deep. When about 80 feet from the bottom, he either fell off or the seat
came off the hook in some way. His back was broken by the fall. The seat on which
he went down is of the kind commonly used in such work. It is put on a hook at the
end of the lowering rope: and then a piece of cord is tied round the upper part of
the hook so that the ring of the seat may not be jerked out in case of a sudden stop
for any cause -
The following evidence was given:
Henry Parsons said: I am a well-
By the Foreman: I think he did not fall off the seat; the seat went down with him.
David Crewe said: I live in Luton and am a well sinker. The deceased was engaged
with me in sinking a well at Temple Dinsley. He has been employed with me in similar
work for about four years. On Wednesday morning he went down at six o’clock and about
half past nine he was going down again -
Wind pumps
By the 1930s, the skyline of Preston was punctuated by pylonesque wind pumps.
They were used to pump water from a well into a storage reservoir using a multi-
There were wind pumps at the rear of the gardens of Chequers Cottages (shown, far right), Poynders End and Preston Hill Farm. They were still used in the 1950s.
Chequers Cottages
(Right) The wind pump at Chequers Cottages was clearly visible from St Martin’s
James Belton said: I live at Hitchin and am a plumber in the employment of Mr Francis Newton. On Wednesday I was at work at Temple Dinsley house, three or four minutes walk from the well. On hearing of the accident I at once went to the spot. I found that the rope was down the well; we tried to get it up but could not at first, either because of the injured man sitting on it or holding it. After a while we succeeded in getting it up. I put a seat on the rope and went down. On reaching the bottom, I found him on his back with his legs and head out of the water which was about 12 inches deep. I secured him on the seat and sent him up. He seemed to be quite helpless. When I began to pick him up he said he was cramped and when I put him on the seat he made a remark that I was tying him too tight, but that was a mistake. He called out, ‘Pull up’ when I had put him on the seat. The seat I went down on was the one from which he had fallen; how it came up I do not know; I suppose he must have put it on the rope himself. I noticed nothing unusual in the well; there were no projections of any importance from the side. The well was 4½ feet in diameter.
Crewe recalled said he believed the seat on which the deceased went down did not come up until after the last witness went down.
Belton said the seat on which he went down was wet as if it had come out of the well.
Parsons, recalled, said they called down to Wilson, ‘Send the seat up if you cannot get on’ and he did so. It was on that seat that Belton went down.
Mr Richard Shillitoe, surgeon, Hitchin said: I saw Wilson at the Hospital at half-
The jury returned a verdict of ‘Accidental Death’ and expressed the opinion that a spring hook should be used in attaching the seat to the rope.