The Sisters' Well Compiled by Joan Shaw Photograph by a friend of Sandy Haddington taken in 2015. The Sisters' Well is south of the Hoton to Wymeswold Road and was covered over when the airfield was built. From the pages of the Nottingham Mercury and General Advertiser for the Midland Counties 26th May 1848: RURAL FETE AT HOTON ~ a very interesting ceremony took place in this rural parish on Wednesday 17th instant, the inauguration of The Sisters Well and the lake adjoining. Our readers will recollect our giving an account, a few weeks ago, or Mr Lacey's spirited and generous conduct in restoring this ancient well, and forming the beautiful sheet of water which issues from it. To crown this act of liberality, he invited a large party from Hoton and Wymeswold to tea and rustic games at the well. A heavy thunderstorm falling at about four o'clock somewhat lessened the party, but in spite of this, great numbers from both villages were determined to show by their presence how highly they appreciated Mr Lacey's singular exertions for their enjoyment and the public good. Tables were set out beside the lake and when all were assembled, and the dread-giving alarm had passed, there was not a heart that did not re-echo the sentiment, How bright, how beautiful comes on The stilly hour when storms are gone. The scene was indeed one of extreme loveliness. The ancient well, faced with an appropriate arch of granite, was crowned with flowers and bore, in floral characters of all hues, the inscription 'The Sisters' Well' in old English letters. This and the guidepost and chain guarding the steps, presented a specimen of floral mosaics that reminded one strongly of the Tissington well dressing. The willows surrounding the lake were festooned with laurels and flowers, and a pleasure boat constantly gliding over the tranquil waters with successive freights of fair ones greatly added to the enchantment. Nor was the good nature with which English women can make the best of unpropitious weather the least pleasing feature of the happy scene. More detail here. After tea, the Rev. Henry Alford, taking the dish chained to the fountainhead, proposed the health of the generous founder of the feast and restorer of the well, and enlarged, in pleasing terms, on the great benefit conferred on the neighbourhood, both as regards real utility and national enjoyment, by Mr Lacey's liberality and taste. Mr Lacey like a good old English farmer – one of the olden day – returned thanks in a speech replete with humour and good feeling, and Mr Potter, in proposing Mrs Lacey's health, made some appropriate observations on the sacredness that had from the earliest ages been attached to particular wells, and read, at the request of the party, a very pretty legend accounting for the probable origin of the well and the name. It appeared from this legend that two sisters, whose tomb without a name can still be seen in Prestwold chancel, and who are traditionally known as the founders of Swarkestone Bridge, were the supposed founders of this well. It should not be omitted that a very pretty flag, presented by the ladies of Hoton, and bearing a suitable inscription, floated from the centre of the island, and that the well-decking was the device and handywork of Masters C.F. Powell and Philip Potter. Before the happy party separated, Mr Alford, in returning thanks to the founder of the feast and fountain proposed to give two annual prizes to the two best swimmers amongst the boys attending the Wymeswold, Prestwold and Hoton day schools. Would that such meetings as this, and for similar objects, were more general. Few things would better tend to encourage and produce kindly feelings amongst the various classes of the community. THE LEGEND OF THE TWO SISTERS' WELL Based on an article in the Leicestershire Mercury 27th May 1848. To account for the origin of this well, the curious and inquiring have of course used their skill, and been led to diverse conclusions. The one that may be most interesting to the public is one by Mr Potter of Wymeswold. It may be known to some that there is a legend which assigns the building of Swarkstone Bridge to two pious females, who finding their resources to fail, betook themselves to work to earn the requisite money for the completion of their pious and philanthropic design, and that they wore their fingers to the bone before they had completed their task. Tradition tells of no monument to these ladies, except there be one in Prestwold church, which will pay the curious to examine. A dateless monument there represents two females with worn fingers, a pilgrim's staff between them, without any inscription to tell for whom or why they appear there. Another legend says that during a summer in which, by three months' heat without rain, a severe drought ensued, the cattle died of thirst, the land was parched up, and the inhabitants put to the greatest straits, there were two religious sisters, one dreamed that if she were to go to Longdale Fields and pierce the earth the water would come out; the other, three times over the same night, dreamed the same dream, with this difference – a pilgrim from the Holy Land passed by, and told her it was with his staff she was to bore the earth. The morning light appeared, the sisters compared their dreams, obtained conviction as to the divinity of their direction, proceeded to the spot, entered upon certain religious duties, obtained the staff, and pierced the earth, when the water gushed out, and thousands of weary pilgrims, thirsty mortals, and parched cattle, came to taste the vital stream. Subsequently a well was built, which was first called the 'Sisters' Well', afterwards the 'Ladies' Well' and in later time (the origin of it being lost sight of) from some resemblance to the one in the Holy Land of the same name, tradition says it was called 'Jacob's Well'. There being a certainty of the spot being called Longdale Fields formerly, and from the staff forming so conspicuous a portion of the monument in the adjoining church, it is inferred that the monument was intended to commemorate this event and the building of Swarkstone Bridge, and that the two females in each case were identical, and consequently that there is some foundation for the legends, and considerable propriety in designating this one spring 'The Sisters' Well'. Twentieth century books on Leicestershire folklore name the two ladies as Gertrude and Grace Lacey, the same name as the farmer that uncovered the well. The origins of this attribution has not been discovered – T.R. Potter is the main suspect – and in all probability it is a legend repeated by generations of folklore writers. The double effigy in Prestwold church may commemorate the benefactors of Swarkestone Bridge, but are unlikely to be the sisters associated with this well. Pevsner dates the Prestwold tomb to 1520. I very much doubt the Lacey's had occupied that piece of land for three hundred years. Henry Lacey was born and bred in Hoton, and farmed 200 acres of land. He was about 60 when he did the work on the well. He died in 1854 and was buried at Hoton. The area around the well had been a bog for many years, and in order to drain it and provide a watering hole for his cattle the farmer, Mr Lacey, dug a pit in an adjoining field. This pit became a bathing place for Wymeswold lads which gave Mr Lacey the idea of a lake. He set his men to the task of digging out the bog during the winter months and the result was a lake, from two to five feet in depth, encircled with trees and with an island in the centre. During the excavations they uncovered an ancient well, built of limestone blocks. Mr Lacey cleaned and restored the well and constructed a lintel of Mountsorrel granodiorite with steps of the same rock leading down to the well mouth. The dated lintel can be seen clearly in these photographs of Sisters' Well taken in 2015. The water from the well provided a continual supply of pure spring water to the lake. The well is on private land and was covered over and concealed in 2015. More about Sister's Well on the WHO website: The Wolds Historian 2006 see map page 9 (N.B. the PDF viewer thinks it's page 11). Photographs of Sisters' Well taken in 2015. The two unknown ladies of Prestwold Other Wolds' wells

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