Early Victorian / Late Georgian Well - advice

[PaulW]

Have just discovered a 15 feet deep well (and about 4 feet in diameter)outside the kitchen door. The property is late medieval with later additions and the well must date to the late Georgian extension. It has, in the past been covered over with RSJs, a 6 inch concrete pad and then tarmaced. The opening is through a standard vehicle-rated inspection chamber. The well is brick-lined for about 5 feet then the remaining 10 feet (water-filled) is through the bed rock. I cannot see any outlet so can only presume that there is a natural 'overflow' otherwise it would be full. We have cellars which, although not bone dry, are dry enough to use.

My question is, do I leave well alone (pun intended) or is there a case for installing a pump to keep the level down or do I look at filling it in?

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

 

[Andys]

Cor, that's quite exciting, is it in a potentially scenic position or would it be a trip hazard if you made it a feature?l'd be thinking of a structural glass window and mood lighting.

Surely the water level in the well just represents the state of the water table where you live? Unless I'm being simplistic - if it looks like overflowing then a boat might be a good idea We have a dirty-water pump dangling in our well which we use for watering the garden, with a huge tangle, er, coil of 1inch pond hose (because of the high flow volume but low pump pressure). It will empty the well in about 90 mins (I mean, activate the pump's auto cut off) but it refills within 2 days even in summer.

Andy

 

[d49xc]

if it is indeed a well, then yes the Rest Water Level as it is called will be at whatever the water table level is under the ground. This will vary during the year being highest around April/May and lowest probably around now.
Water infiltrates into the well and out of it though the surrounding strata as the overall area water table varies during the year.
Water flows into the well when you pump the well contents out, as by doing so you create a cone of depression in the water table around the well and this causes water to flow from the water table to refill the well and remove the cone of depression.

 

[88v8]

Hello and welcome.

My first thought with something that's been there a long time is to leave it alone.
And as D49 says, it can't actually overflow.

There may be some (unintended) interaction between the well and your cellars, and if you fill it in the water that currently percolates into the well might go somewhere less welcome.

Now that you can monitor it, it will be interesting to keep an eye on the level.
You can always put a pump down there, presumably running a flying power lead from the inspection pit would be pretty easy.
Then, like Andys, free water for the garden. If the water is 10' deep you have around 750 gallons in there.

In a year or so you can decide whether to build a surround and superstructure and bucket, or perhaps an iron hand pump, or whether to cap it again.

Ivor

 

[PaulW]

Thanks for all the comments so far - at the moment we are leaving it alone and will monitor the water levels. There are too many other (more pressing) jobs underway at the moment but will investigate further in 2017. Thanks, Paul.