TQ1960 : Plaque, Epsom Well
taken 6 years ago, near to Ashtead, Surrey, England
The Wells is a 1930s housing estate on Epsom Common.
At the centre of the estate is site of the original source of Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulphate). In 1618, during a severe drought, a local resident, Henry Wicker, was looking after his cattle on Epsom Common when he noticed a puddle of water, which he dug out. Returning next day, he found the hole he had dug full of clear water. However his animals refused to drink from it, due to its taste. Having tasted it himself and discovered its laxative properties, he promoted it as a medicine, with Epsom developing a reputation as a spa town. Although the site of the original spring was at first developed for this purpose, a separate well was dug around 1699 nearer the centre of Epsom, and in due course this took over as the main site. The old well ran dry in around 1740 and was capped in the 19th Century.
In 1621, soon after the discovery of the spring, the Lord of the Manor at the time cleared an area of 450 yards diameter around the well, with Commoners' Rights cancelled. Later the area was farmed, with the 1871 1:10,000 map marking it as Oldwells Farm, with a windmill towards the northeast of the area. However the windmill was destroyed in 1873 and the farm fell into disuse, no longer being marked on the 1895-6 1:2,500 map. Instead, a large house is shown, named The Wells (later Wells House), which had been built in 1888 as a manor house by the then Lord of the Manor, James Stuart Strange.
The whole area was developed for housing in the 1930s, with the 1932-4 1:2,500 map showing part of what is now The Greenway. The layout of the roads emphasises the circular nature of the plot, with The Greenway running round the circumference of the whole area and The Crescent forming much of an inner circle (incomplete due to the presence of Wells House). Radial routes are provided by Spa Drive, leading to Wells House, and Well Way, leading to the site of the original well. This is marked by a new wellhead erected in 1989, commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Epsom and Ewell Borough Council the previous year.