The Pump

At one time these pumps were very common in England, though the only one I ever saw in use (and used myself) was the street pump outside our grandmother’s cottage in County Wexford. However this one in our garden is not quite what it seems. According to a 19^th Century street map we do indeed have a well in the back garden, hidden under what is now the vegetable patch. But the pump pictured we bought in East Anglia forty years ago, just because we liked the look of it. It is complete apart from the washer and I have no doubt our very good town ironmongers know someone locally who could put it back into working condition. So I did think about persuading the grandchildren to dig up the vegetable patch  to find the old well, so we could clear it out and use it as a source of water for the garden and pond. (The house is on flat ground quite near the river and I doubt if the water table is more than 12/15 feet down.) However Mrs T, who runs the vegetable patch, has shown surprisingly little enthusiasm for this idea. Unfortunately too the recent weather here has done nothing to convince her that we  actually need more water…

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