Other Places from the Past: St Catherine’s Well, Coundon
At The Weaver’s House we like to explore other historical places. Here Communications Officer, Jess, shares a visit to another one of Coventry’s hidden gems.
Hidden away on the kind of typical ’30s terraced street you find all over Coventry, is St Catherine’s Well. It’s a small stone chapel building on a raised platform, also of stone.
The well is in the Coundon area of Coventry, and dates from the 1400s. At one point it supplied the west side of the city with water although it has long since run dry. Nowadays the clutter of houses, roads, railway line and retail park make it seem a fair way from The Weaver’s House but until the early 20th century I suppose it would have been a very short walk across fields to get from one to the other.
When I used to visit the well as a child you could walk straight in off the street, up the steps and get inside the chapel building – so long as there were only about three of you – it is very small inside. Sadly at some point it became necessary to bar the entrance to the chapel and add a tall fence in addition to the old stone wall. This has the undoubted benefit of preserving the well but it means it’s very difficult to get a good look at it. I was delighted to be able to open the well for Heritage Open Days so that people had the opportunity to get up close to it – treasure your treasures!
Here is a selection of photos of details of the well and chapel.
The well is on Beaumont Crescent, just near Morrison’s. You can view the well from the street, looking through the gate at any time. Or you can visit it via Google Street View!
