The old, lead water pump in its wooden case above the well on the village green in 1965.
A source of water for nearby residents for very many years but shown up to be unsafe for drinking as proved by several outbreaks of typhoid over several hundred years. Most cottages in the village had their own or shared well in their gardens, but there were also at least three pumps available for general use by villagers, one is still in place opposite 18 High Street and another is at the bottom of Partridge Lane.
The one which was on the west side of the High Street adjacent to the frontage of number 59 has vanished - the only sign now being an odd square of tarmac at the back of the pavement.
These pumps, and those in cottage gardens were the only source of drinking water until a very simple village water supply from a new well, which was eventually sunk in the mid 1860s on high ground off Lime Avenue away from farmyards with a crude piped system which fed a public tap in the centre of the village near to the present village hall. This was extended a few years later to gravity feed another three taps in the High Street and in 1935 another tap in School Lane.
Mains water was not available in the village until 1952. See article 'Village Water Supply' in EHRG's booklet 'Paupers, Pupils & Prisoners'.
Photographer Mr David Kench