_Deep Well near Bansted Downs_ (Vol. iv., p. 315.).--I am well
acquainted with the country immediately south of the Bansted Downs, and
can give W. S. G. some information about the wells there.
I know no country where there is so great a scarcity of water. The
nearest stream is a small branch of the Mole, which has its rise some
three miles off, just beyond Merstham (pronounced "Meestrum"). The ponds
are very few and shallow, so that the inhabitants have to rely on wells
for their water. Wells, however, are an expensive luxury, and appertain
only to the better-most dwellings. I know several labourers' cottages
distant upwards of a mile from the nearest well or pond; they use what
water they catch, and when that is gone, shift as they best can,--most
commonly do without. This scarcity of water may be the reason why a
district within fifteen miles of London is so thinly populated.
The country is very hilly, and even the valleys are some height above
the level of London. Woodmansterne is said to be the highest point in
Surrey next to Leith Hill.
Most of the farm-houses and superior cottages have wells, and many of
these are of considerable depth. There is one just at the foot of
Bansted Downs (and consequently in the valley), which is 120 feet deep.
After a dry summer this well is very low, and after a second quite
empty. This is about the general depth of the valley wells. There is one
in the railway valley, below Chipsted Church, some 100 feet deep; I have
never known it dry. Within a stone's throw of this last, the London and
Brighton railway runs in a very deep cutting,--I have been told the
deepest railway cutting in England,--and great fears were entertained
that this deep cutting would drain this and several neighbouring wells.
The only way, however, in which the railway affected the wells, was to
cut right through one, parts of which may still be seen in the
embankment.
It is not always the case that a deep well will drain its shallow
neighbours. At the Feathers Inn, at Merstham, is a well cut in the solid
chalk, 160 feet deep; this was quite out the other day, while two or
three wells not fifty yards off, each thirty feet deep, had plenty of
water.
Of course the wells on the hills are much deeper than those in the
valleys. At a farm called Wood Place, some three miles from Bansted, is
a well 365 feet deep; it is never actually out of water; four pair of
hands are needed to raise the bucket.
At a farm called Portnals, about a mile from Bansted, is the deepest
well I know in these parts; a horse is required to draw the water. It is
some 460 feet, and, I have been told, generally somewhat low. All these
wells are, I believe, in the chalk.
In this part of Surrey are some wells said to be 500, 600, or even 700
feet deep.
W. S. G. may find some resemblance between the above and the one he
wants, else there is no truth in a well.
I fear I am taking more of your space than my subject merits. I will
therefore briefly conclude with a Query.
Where are the deepest wells in England?