Forgotten wells of Chch

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33051, 19 October 1972, Page 1

Forgotten wells of Chch

The discovery of a well, 3ft in diameter, with a wooden cover and bricklined, on the site of the former Market Hotel, has aroused considerable interest because the top is about ?ft below the level of Colombo Street. Mr J. Coppens, general foreman of the construction company building the new 10-storey tower block on the site, is shown on right with two stone beer bottles found near the well.

It is almost certain that the dug well is more than 100 years old. Eight artesian wells on the 85perch site of the Market and Federal hotels had to be filled; this cost some $5OO. The eight piped wells (one 80ft deep) were filled with sand. The dug well has silted up with sand and shingle. The first licensed premises on the Market Hotel site was the Hopje Coffee Shop in 1862 —the proprietor being Mr C. F. Worth, who was a teetotaller. The first recorded artesian well in Christchurch was sunk by a Mr Jepson on his property in Cashel Street on October 27, 1863. Mr Jepson sank his well 50ft to obtain a 3ft head, or flow, and sufficient water to feed a 3in Pipe.

In the next year the Christchurch City Council sank seven artesian wells for a town water supply. From that date records were kept of artesian wells sunk. The Geological Survey has records of wells—both artesian and dug wells—in the vicinity of Victoria Square (Market Place) up to more than 100 years ago. One artesian well was known as Oram’s Well, and was sunk on the site of the Golden Fleece Hotel. It was sunk to a depth of 420 ft—when it had a head of 31ft. The Geological Survey has no date of the sinking of this well, but knows that it was before 1910. Excavation at the Market and Federal hotel sites uncovered the Springston formation ("new" gravel, from a few hundred years up to 7000 years old) after about 3ft of overburden was removed.

The shingle is from a former Waimakariri River channel and covers the whole site down to about 16ft at the deepest point of the excavations. It probably goes down to about 30ft.

Victoria Square was a high point in Christchurch of the last century. It is thought that the wooden part of the dug well discovered extended upwards for several feet. It would tap surface water lying in the shingle at about 20ft. The water, 100 years ago, would be unlikely to be polluted, but the level in the well would vary with the seasons, and have no head. Neither the Market nor the Federal hotels had cellars below the ground. The foundations of the Federal Hotel went down about 6ft, and those of the Market Hotel about 3ft

The Springston formation is found in several places in Christchurch and surface water was found in it about 30ft down when the Town Hal! site was being excavated.