St Clement's Well - Strand, London, UK
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member Master Mariner
N 51° 30.796 W 000° 06.804
30U E 700289 N 5710855
This metal plaque sticks out of the ground on the pavement behind St Clement Danes church in the Strand close to the Royal Courts of Justice.
Waymark Code: WMG5NM
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/16/2013
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member MeerRescue
Views: 9

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.""

Type of Historic Marker: Metal plaque

Historical Marker Issuing Authority: Church of St Clement Danes

Age/Event Date: 01/01/1807

Related Website: [Web Link]

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