The oldest image I've found of St Chad's well is this 1736 drawing. According to a local doctor, by 1833 it had 'degenerated into a most undignified puddle' with a stone on top '...described by the sight-showers as the identical stone on which St Chad used to kneel & pray!'
Around this time, a new structure was built over the well and judging by descriptions from the early 20th century, this incorporated the 'St Chad's stone' which by then seems to have acquired a reputation for granting wishes
Around this time, a new structure was built over the well and judging by descriptions from the early 20th century, this incorporated the 'St Chad's stone' which by then seems to have acquired a reputation for granting wishes
Around this time, a new structure was built over the well and judging by descriptions from the early 20th century, this incorporated the 'St Chad's stone' which by then seems to have acquired a reputation for granting wishes
Around this time, a new structure was built over the well and judging by descriptions from the early 20th century, this incorporated the 'St Chad's stone' which by then seems to have acquired a reputation for granting wishes
By the mid-1940s, this incarnation of St Chad's Well had also fallen into a state of neglect and work began to transform the well into the version we recognise today. In 1948, someone described seeing 'St Chad's stone' lying on a pile of rubbish, with one corner broken off.
The wishing tradition survived the changes. In 1976 members of the church youth group cleared out over £1 in coins from bottom of the well. What happened to the legendary stone though? Intriguingly, the Staffordshire HER says no trace of the original well survives EXCEPT FOR...
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