Clitheroe’s Living History on the Line: Council to Vote on Fate of Clitheroe Town Wells

The future of two of Clitheroe’s historic Town Wells — Heald and St. Mary’s — will be considered again by Ribble Valley Borough Council in a decisive moment for Clitheroe’s Community Heritage on 15th July. They vote on a critical motion that “ this Council affirms the historical, communal, and heritage significance of Clitheroe’s three ancient town wells – Stock Well, Heald Well and St. Mary’s Well - and the public interest in securing their long-term protection”.

Clitheroe Town Wells Conservation Campaign’s (CTWCC) research confirms these wells were key to the establishment of the pre-Norman settlement of ‘Clyderhowe’ after which they sustained the development of the Parish until the Mid C19th. The town’s population explosion during the hight of the Industrial revolution - and repeated outbreaks of Cholera - saw their replacement with a piped supply from Clitheroe Waterworks’ Grindleton Fell Reservoir. The Tudor enclosures remain powerful and unique symbols of historic public stewardship, civic pride and local identity.

Since 2019, when the Council obtained a Full Title for Stock Well, CTWCC has uncovered additional evidence confirming continuous Municipal ‘de-facto’ ownership of all three former Public Town Wells by this Council and its municipal forebears. The earliest discovered records of this responsibility commenced in the Late C16th - during Queen Elizabeth I’s reign - and continue until 2016. Legal advice obtained by CTWCC confirms this is sufficient to support further, valid, applications to The Land Registry for ‘Absolute Title’.

CTWCC’s Secretary, Steve Burke, said “Obtaining titles for all sites will provide a legally sound foundation for urgent conservation work and better interpretation. It will also enable detailed - community based - archaeological investigations to reveal what lies beneath and around these ancient sites. Once titles for all sites are obtained this will further enable these sites to be actively and creatively used as Community Assets. CTWCC has prepared and submitted a ‘Conservation and Use Roadmap’ setting out how all of this can be achieved – ‘with the will to do so’. Without secure titles these sites will be condemned to an unworthy dilapidation and eventual loss!”

The motion will be discussed and voted on at the Full Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, 15th July in the Council Chamber, Church Street, Clitheroe. Interested members of the public and supporters of this Campaign are invited to attend this part of the meeting to demonstrate visible support for retaining the wells’ rightful place in the town’s shared future in these uncertain times.