St Peter's Pool

THE FIRST SETTLERS were attracted to Bourne as a permanent place to stay by the abundant supply of fresh water which came from a pool fed by a series of underground springs that never dried up even in the hottest of weather.

This was the lake we know today as St Peter’s Pool, also called the Wellhead, and in the centuries that followed, the small community of hunters and gatherers who settled here slowly evolved into the Bourne we know today.

The circular, clay-lined and embanked pool just a few steps from the town centre is reputedly fed by seven springs that percolate through from the Lincolnshire limestone belt, providing a continual supply of chalybeate or iron-rich water. This source and subsequent boreholes now deliver some four million gallons a day which are piped by Anglian Water to a wider catchment area that includes Spalding and Peterborough.

The pool forms part of the Wellhead Gardens administered by Bourne United Charities since 1945 and it is the spring or the stream flowing from it that gives Bourne its name, from the Old English word burna which was common in the early Anglo-Saxon period and is found in its modern form, particularly in Scotland, as burn. Many other English place names have a similar derivation with burn, borne or bourne as an ending to denote a river or stream in the vicinity.

St Peter’s Pool is possibly one of the most ancient sites of artesian water supplies in the country, figuring prominently in the development of the town and it is inevitable that remarkable traditions have gathered around it.

One of these was still current in the mid-19th century and asserted that the Bourne Eau flowed underground from Stoke Rochford, sixteen miles away, and that a white duck which was immersed at Stoke, was later seen to rise at the Wellhead. Another slice of local folklore suggests that the pool is bottomless and that swimming there or even trying to clean it out might end in tragedy because those who venture into the water are likely to be swallowed up and never seen again but both tales owe more to the imagination than to actuality.

The footpath that follows the stream past the site of the former workhouse, later St Peter's Hospital and demolished in 2001, formerly skirted another large tract of water known as the horse pool, so called because it sloped gently at one end to allow a horse and cart to enter together to be washed in the clear spring water and this indentation in the land can still be seen today.

In 1830 a duel was fought there with pistols at dawn and although no one was killed, the encounter ended when one of the combatants was injured after his weapon exploded.

There have been other notable events. In 1848, the pool burst its banks, flooding nearby meadowland, and in 1870, the town was horrified by reports that parts of a child's body had been found in the water by boys out playing. The arm of a newly born infant contained in a box with a stone attached to it by a string was recovered but a police investigation revealed that there had been no foul play. “A short time ago, a medical student came to Bourne to visit a friend and brought with him the arm in question for the purpose of some experiments”, said their statement. “On returning to the medical college, he inadvertently left it behind and wrote to his friend to bury it, by which it was proposed to do in the garden but he unwisely threw it into the Wellhead. From the information thus volunteered, there can be no doubt that there has been no child destroyed, as was supposed when the discovery was made."

Despite its ancient origins, rubbish was often dumped there and the pool also became a popular place for pet owners to wash their dogs, a practice that many people found unacceptable, protesting that the water would become contaminated and create a health hazard for the nearby workhouse because this was their source of supply. The Wellhead at that time came under the jurisdiction of the Rural Sanitary Authority which in 1891 banned the practice and posted notices on the banks that in future offenders would be prosecuted.

In the same year, when the town was planning to build an outdoor swimming pool, the Wellhead was considered as a possible site but the idea was rejected because it would involve too much boarding up and the addition of changing rooms that would deface this picturesque spot which was home to kingfishers and other rare birds and was therefore regarded with considerable disfavour.

During Edwardian times, and well into the 20th century, St Peter’s Pool was maintained as a local beauty spot, lovingly cared for as a favourite place for weekend walks by people dressed in their Sunday best, the place to be and be seen. Photographs from the period show a beautifully kept pleasant and attractive amenity with a white painted wooden walkway that has long since disappeared and mute swans gliding gracefully across the clear blue water while as late as the 1960s, enthusiasts enjoyed many happy hours there sailing radio-controlled boats, a pastime impossible to pursue today.

The pool has often showed signs of neglect, the surface covered with algae that has defied removal and the crumbling banks choked with weeds while continued water extraction in times of drought drained it completely and left behind a sea of mud. Black swans, moorhens and other waterfowl that live here have often been confined to a small area of clear water because the rest of the pool becomes impenetrable by the mess of green slime, bringing disapproving looks from both townspeople and visitors because a site of such ancient origins had been allowed to deteriorate in this way.

Recent work by Bourne United Charities has considerably improved the appearance of St Peter’s Pool and its surroundings making it an attraction for visitors and those who live here, especially on sunny days in summer, and therefore an amenity that has become a most popular feature for this town.