Mystery 23ft well found under Dalton kitchen with crystal clear water

The well, which measures 22 1/2ft by 3ft, was discovered in an 'outhouse' attached to the property at Beckside Road.

The structure was discovered by accident during a routine kitchen extension in August 2023 by builders. 

Louise Watson, 45, works for BAE and currently lives in the home with her husband David, 46, and son Jack, 11.

She said: "My husband rang me in work to tell me that something had been found during the building work. At first I panicked and was like 'is it a body?' , 'is it a bomb?' and he was like 'no, it's a well'.

"We have lived in the house for ten years, my husband lived here as a child with his family - they were here for around 25 to 30 years - none of us had a clue it was here. 

"Builders discovered a really big lump of slate over the top of it so it's obviously been covered up by somebody."

The family were keen to find out what was at the bottom and a builder was the first brave enough to climb down and confirm the state of the bricks.

David's friend also provided an underwater camera that was able to be lowered to the bottom.

Astonishingly, six feet of crystal clear water was found at the bottom. 

"It's absolutely beautiful inside," said Louise. "We were shocked as we thought it would be all grimy inside but it's perfectly preserved. 

"There's around 6ft of crystal clear water at the bottom - we did wonder if there may be treasure or a body down there.

"There's no stream nearby running into it -  the water trickles down the walls and it just feeds off the natural water table.

"I ordered testing kits off Amazon to test the alkaline of the water and it's not far off tap water - we were amazed.

"We did wonder if we could generate our own water with it, however, when we inquired it was around £5,000 to start so we decided to give that a miss."

Now she knows the well is there, Louise states she could never cover it up. 

Fortunately, the kitchen has been extended by a metre so it can now be centrally placed in the middle of kitchen floor.

"We've made a lovely feature out of it now," added Louise. "We've added three lights at the top and got specially made durable glass so you can walk on top of it.

"My son Jack is quite happy to walk across it however some visitors can't handle it.

"Some people have said they'd be quite unnerved to have a well under their home, with some saying 'oh don't ever watch the Ring.'

"I'm lucky, I don't really watch films that often, especially horror films so it doesn't bother me.
"I'm fascinated by it and we really want to know its history.

"We don't know why it's here or who put it here. Barrow Council had no records and Cumbria Archive sent some documents over but they didn't shed any light.

"Mayor Nick Perie came to visit it once and was keen to find out more so I'm hoping someone can somewhere can help us."

Anyone who can help with the history of the well is urged to message the Well Well Well Facebook page.