Wilton Water

By Mike Tanner

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One of my favourite old postcards from Bishop Wilton shows the village pump with its picket fence above the spring opposite No’s 72 and 73 Main Street. The little girl in the picture was Joyce Inman.

I wondered what date this was erected. So I borrowed the old Bishop Wilton Parish Council records and found the entry for 19th Feb 1896: “The question of the village spring was discussed. It was proposed that a brick cistern be built, a flagstone placed on the top and a lead pump erected thereon”.

There is further mention of it in Feb 1934 when its repair is discussed. Gordon Foster recalls the pump was still working up to the 1940s.

The picture opposite shows the village spring before the pump was erected. The picket fence was there to keep out cattle being ‘tented’ on the green.

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