Th inscription, in white text on a
black background, reads:
The
well
underneath
191 feet deep
& containing
150 of water
was
sunk &
this pump
erected
at the
expence
of the
parish
of
St Clement
Danes.
H. Essex
Wm.
Robinson
Church
Wardens
1807
The London's Holy Wells website [visit link] tells
us:
"St Clement’s Well, Strand (TQ 3096
8109)
The site of this well is to be
found in the west gardens of the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand. A map
dating to 1879 suggests a location in the centre of the West Gardens car park.
Of the well Stow states:
“The fountain called Saint Clements
Well, north from the parish church of Saint Clements, and near unto an Inn of
Chancerie, called Clement’s Inne, is yet fair and curbed square with hard stone
and is always kept clean for common use. It is always full and never wanted
water.”
The well is shown as “site of” on
the Ordnance Survey sheet of 1894 but no evidence survives today excepting
perhaps a leaking drain."
The British History Online website [visit
link] gives more information:
"It is difficult to associate the
neighbourhood of Shire Lane with pilgrims, clear springs, and running brooks,
but we read in the Times of May 1st., 1874:—"Another relic of old London has
lately passed away; the holy well of St. Clement, on the north of St. Clement
Danes Church, has been filled in and covered over with earth and rubble, in
order to form part of the foundation of the Law Courts of the future. It is said
that penitents and pilgrims used to visit this well as early as the reign of
Ethelred, and it was known from time immemorial as 'St. Clement's Well.' Charles
Knight, in his 'London,' published in 1841, mentions the well as 'now covered
over with a pump,' and he adds that 'the well still remains flowing as steadily
and as freshly as ever.' It has often been supposed that this well supplied the
old Roman bath in Strand Lane, but this is a mistake, the water which feeds that
bath springing up out of the London clay below on the spot with perfect
regularity."
Round this holy well, in the early
Christian era, newly-baptised converts clad in white robes were wont to assemble
to commemorate Ascension Day and Whitsuntide; and in later times, after the
murder of Thomas à Becket had made Canterbury the constant resort of pilgrims
from all parts of England, the holy well of St. Clement was a favourite
halting-place of the pious cavalcades for rest and refreshment.
In the "Beauties of England and
Wales" (Middlesex, vol. x., published in 1815), Mr. Nightingale says, "A pump
now covers St. Clement's Well. Fitzstephen, in his description of London, in the
reign of Henry II., informs us that "round the City again, and towards the
north, arise certain excellent springs at a small distance, whose waters are
sweet, salubrious, and clear, and whose runnels murmur o'er the shining stones.
Among these, Holywell, Clerkenwell, and St. Clement's Well may be esteemed the
principal, as being much the most frequented, both by the scholars from the
school (Westminster), and the youth from the City, when in a summer's evening
they are disposed to take an airing. This well was also much resorted to on
account of its being supposed of peculiar efficacy in the cure of cutaneous and
other disorders, and was consequently a place of importance to devotees. The
estimation of its efficacy and sanctity have long
ceased.""