The Wishing Well

Wish-granter

Located in the back garden of Fairwood House

A ring of stone with a wooden roof over the top - the rope and bucket have been removed. It was boarded up and barred to prevent it being used.

The well was in use when the monastery was built (1102), but no-one knows if it was a well or a spring before this date. Some historians think that there was a well here in the Roman period.

The current well with its stone ring and wooden roof was constructed in 1598 and renovated in 1789 and 1824.

The well was boarded up after a particularly tragic incident in 1917, where the then-baronet’s daughter tried to throw her first-born child into the well upon learning her husband and three brothers had been killed. The child was rescued by the quick-thinking of the gardener, and Adeline Lambert-Sauvant had a stay in a private sanitorium until 1922. The well was boarded up and never used again.

The wishing well grants wishes in unpredictable ways if an item of great sentimental value is thrown into it. The more the item means to the person, the bigger or more powerful the wish can be. Items of no value to their owner will be ineffective. Similarly, the wish should reflect the value of the item or it won't work as well/at all.