Taylor's Farm, Dodworth High Street

On Dodworth High Street is a very useful watch and antiques shop, it is probably called Past Times, and almost directly opposite is the Apollo Court building that houses the Post Office, Chemist, and Health Centre. Next to Apollo is a physiotherapy centre (that may actually be called The Apollo Court Physiotherapy Centre and may now be housed in both the old and the new buildings), next to that is a new building which for this post will be called 'the house'.

A couple of weeks ago; or so, someone was talking to the proprietor of Past Times about the history of the area, and he apparently said that across the road when they were in the process of building the 'new house' the contractors came across a hitherto unknown well. According to the report, he didn't say if the well contained water, but he did apparently say that it was said to be substantial in size and depth, and that it was discovered with some kind of mechanism for raising the water from the depths. It was also reported that it took a lot of truck loads of material to fill the void, which was apparently necessary to permit the construction to continue.

At some time in the past - some decades ago - the site was known as Taylor's Farm. After its life as a farm it was used by a road haulage company and articulated trucks; or lorries as they were then more likely to be known, were commonly seen 'backing out' (reversing) onto the High Street. The trucks may have been a deep blue in colour. At the time the trucks were operated from there members of several families were known to be associated with the operation, including: Taylor, Raynes, Robinson. Where the main Apollo building now stands was a high wall made of what seemed like local stone and it may have been the original wall of a large farm building such as a barn.

What is now the Physiotherapy Centre 'old building' may have been the 'farm house' in which the owners or managers of the farm lived.

This interesting report raises a number of questions that readers may be able to throw light on, the ones that come to mind are listed below, there may be others in which case please share them here for the benefit of all.

It seems likely that at  some time all the local houses got their water from similar wells - does anyone know about this?

Who were those families associated with the site?

Was there really a haulage business operated from the site?

Was it really the site of a farm - and if so how old was the farm?

Was the well 'substantial' because it served a farm, and thus had to be bigger than one that served just a dwelling?

When it was a farm (if it was) then where was the land associated with it? Was it old enough to have been a 'croft' of some sort serving the packhorse trade which is known to have used the High Street.

What happened to the machinery for raising the water from the well - discovered during the recent construction work - was it discarded or destroyed or maybe passed to a museum?

Was any form of archaeological investigation undertaken at the time Apollo Court was built?

Does any reader have any recollection or pictures of what was on the site before it was redeveloped - don't worry you will not be asked to part with the treasured pictures.

Are there any other old wells in the vicinity?

Similarly if you know anything about the matter - including about the site - please share here what you know.


The Editor