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Shear's Well, Levengrove Park
See Link (at SketchFab) for a manipulable online 3D model, by Rathmell Archaeology, of the water pump and of the small adjacent structure (that is, the one built in 2018).
Shear's Well is not far from the ruins — Link — of St Serf's Church, and the name "Shear's" is possibly related to "Serf's". David Murray, author of "Old Cardross" (1880), records that the saint's name itself is encountered in various forms: Servanus, Serf, Serran, Sair, Seres. He was of the opinion that "Shear's" is derived from the last of those forms. Donald MacLeod states, in his "Historic Families, Notable People, and Memorabilia of the Lennox" (1891), that "St Shear's or St Serf's well, the holy well, supplied Under Kirkton village with water", and that "it is now a drinking fountain in the Park" (Under Kirkton was the name of a little settlement or clachan, now long gone, that grew up beside St Serf's church).
The water pump and the small adjacent structure are not shown on the first-edition OS map (surveyed in c.1860). That map does show a well, though; it was not at the same location as Shear's Well, but was about 50 metres to the northwest. In 2018, an old well was uncovered near that spot: see Link for pictures of it, and for more information.
In view of their nearness to each other, it is likely that both wells are supplied by the same source. The practical importance of this water source lay in the fact that, for a long time, it fed Dumbarton's Town Well. The latter was located on the High Street of the medieval burgh, that is, on the other side of the River Leven. A pipe was therefore laid on the bed of the Leven to direct the water to the town well. See Link for more on that topic, and for the relevant entries from the Burgh records.
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