Sevenwellheads

In 1225/1226, before the town was walled, Henry III granted to the Friars Minor a conduit for water from their well called "Sevenwellheads". As the name suggests, the well was formed "by an aggregation of streams", and the friars claimed they also had the power to enclose the well with stone and mortar, and lock it up. This led to trouble, in the 1340s, with the townsfolk who broke the pipes and diverted the water. As the water pipe was located "near the town wall in the cemetery of St. Andrew", and "near Newgate", the well was presumably on the north-west side of the town. The conduit led from the well "along the high street" to the friary, and there is a hint in a document of 1348 that the residents of both Pilgrim Street and Market (Newgate) Street had an interest in the pipe.