BECKETS WELL, DERBY. 53 



Mr. Bailey, namely, as to the probable date of the lower and 

 earlier masonry of the well. From personal observation, I have 

 no doubt that the older stonework is medieval, and most probably 

 of the thirteenth century. 



With regard to the original naming of this well, the idea 

 occurs to me, and it has been confirmed by an eminent Kentish 

 archaeologist, that the not infrequent St. Thomas Becket wells 

 may have been thus called by the pilgrim bands who paused to 

 use these waters on their journey to the shrine at Canterbury. 

 Mr. Bailey notices above the nearness of this Becket Well to the 

 old main Roman road, which confirms my surmise. The 

 ingenious theory that Becket Well was only Bucket Well must, 

 of course, be instantly dismissed in the face of the evidence quoted 

 by Mr. Bailey from sixteenth century documents ; to say nothing 

 of the fact that this water was emphatically not a bucket well, but 

 merely a turncock reservoir ! 



As to other wells of the county, I have already written a little 

 elsewhere on that of St. Alkmund, Derby, and on the curative 

 wells of St. Martin at Stoney Middleton, and St. Anne at Buxton. 

 In addition to those named by Mr. Bailey, there were also holy 

 wells, with recent superstitious usages attached, at North Lees 

 (Holy Trinity), and Dovebridge (St. Cuthbert). I have also come 

 across documentary evidence of the following Derbyshire wells in 

 medieval charters or chartularies : — St. Helen, Derby; St. Osyth, 

 Sandiacre ; St. Chad, Wilne ; and St. Thomas Becket, Linbury, 

 close to the main Roman road. 



Most cordially do I support Mr. Bailey's suggestion that the 

 members of our Society should endeavour to collect the names of 

 any wells, together with legends or uses that may pertain to them, 

 in their respective localities. I shall be glad to receive even the 

 briefest memorandum of their character, and all that is thus con- 

 tributed can be arranged and printed in the next issue of the 

 Journal. 



J. Charles Cox, Editor], 



