'Dumb Wells' picture

I wrote last year about the naming of 'dumb wells' which appear to be ancient English terminology for in-ground rainwater harvesting tanks. Thanks to Rob Hallam of Husborne Crawley I now have a picture of one.

The tank is almost empty - you can just see the sliver of water in the bottom which gives a sense of scale of it.

This one was only discovered by a neighbour of Rob's when a house extension was being built, sadly, but understandably, having to be filled with concrete so as to maintain progress in the build.

The quality of this tank in a rural setting is explained by the adjoining house being one of the estate worker's homes for the Duke of Bedford's Woburn Estate which provided high quality homes for its workers in the nineteenth century. And also piped water, mostly shared yard-taps, at the beginning of the 20th century, this being years ahead of the services provided/afforded three decades later by the Rural Council.