DUFKIELD CASTLE. 



159 



receive the ends of the great oak beams that supported the floor, 

 for the span would have been too wide without such intervention. 



There was some little difficulty in finding the well when the 

 labourers were at work, as there was no sign on the surface when 

 the area was first cleared, but a proffered reward quickened their 

 perceptions, and by the aid of an iron bar a spot was found where 

 the ground seemed to be loosely " made." This was in the 

 south-west angle, and a few hours digging proved it to be the right 

 spot. The well had evidently had a square top for about some 

 ten feet down, probably built round with masonry, and at this 

 distance below the area the circular opening was found. The 

 opening is four feet six inches in diameter, and is sunk with 

 singular truth plumb down for eighty feet, or two or three feet 

 below the level of the Derwent. The remarkable point about 

 this well, is that it is not in any way lined. At first it was 

 thought that it had been lined with stone, and that the stone 

 had been carefully removed elsewhere at the time of the demoli- 

 tion, but a personal examination that we have made of the sides 

 of the well right down to the bottom proved that they had never 

 been lined in any way. Another remarkable feature is the nature 

 of the soil or strata through which it is sunk, which makes the 

 tenacity of the sides all the more extraordinary. A few feet to 

 the north of the well, the solid rock juts out. Almost the whole 

 of the narrower of the two keep apartments is built upon the 

 rock, and its floor is of the natural stone. And yet the well is 

 sunk, after the first few feet of the square opening are passed, 

 right throught a continuous bed of dark slate-coloured shale. 



Mr. John Ward, of St. Peter's Bridge, Derby, has most kindly 

 explained this geological peculiarity, and made it clear by the 

 accompanying section from his pen. 



S.W. 



