Your History: Ludlow’s Medieval Water Supply

About half a mile north-east of the centre of Ludlow, on rising ground, is a clear water spring which was the town’s main source of water for centuries. It may have been the Augustinian friars, from nearby Smithfield, who built a stone structure around the spring in the 13th century and gave it the name St Julian’s Well, or it might have been named even earlier. It now sits on an island in the middle of Livesey Road, between Sandpits Road and St Julian’s Avenue, and its roof is still plain to see. Hidden beneath the present ground level is an entrance, and stone steps lead down to a surprisingly large cistern, about 3m by 2.6m and a metre deep.

Water was piped from St Julian’s Well to several points in the town. There are references to the White Conduit in the reign of Edward IV (1461– 1483) and it may well have been this supply that is referred to in a document of 1308. One of the public access points was on the end of the Tolsey in the Bull Ring. The castellated structure was still in use in the 1820s when Henry Ziegler sketched it. Around 1720, Prince Arthur’s heart was removed from its resting place in St Laurence’s Church in a lead box. It is said that this box was sold to a Ludlow plumber called Robert Pitt, but the rector quickly recovered it when he realised what had happened. There was also a plumber named Robert Pitt living in Broad Street in 1766 and successive Pitts seem to have been responsible for the maintenance of the White Conduit for many years. The latest in this illustrious line of Ludlow plumbers is Charles Pitt.

Article supplied by Mortimer History Society.