BEAUTY IN DECAY
This is the eighty-fifth geocache in the “Beauty In Decay” series, which was started by myself in 2015 to highlight abandoned objects, which once had purpose and now take on a different life, left to ruin and decay in their current surroundings. To discover more about “Beauty In Decay” and how you could add to the series, click on the following link to discover more about “Beauty In Decay” and how you could add to the series.
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Osmington's water came from Sutton Poyntz in the mid 1800's. There were three pumps serving the village at that time, of which this is the only survivor.
The water pumps were located on the main road near to the Plough Inn, opposite the Old Post office on Church Lane and at Netherton farm in lower Church lane. All the large houses of Osmington had their own private wells and Osmington Mills was well catered for with its own spring.
During the early 19th Century water-born diseases such as typhus, typhoid and diptheria were endemic in England. This was due to polluted water sources, where open sewers ran straight into rivers, often up stream from where water was collected.
In villages such as Osmington, water was cleaner because they did not collect it from rivers but underground springs and wells. All the farms and large houses were built around water sources and had their own private supply of water.
People in the village would pay the farmer to collect water from his water pump. Osmington also had a water tower located opposite the Old Post office for the villagers to use.
The 1848 Public Health Act ensured that all sewers were located down stream from a water source. In 1849 the mortality rate in Weymouth was 30 in 1000; in Osmington and surrounding areas it was 19.8 in 1000.
To tackle this problem in 1856 Sutton Poyntz provided the water supply for the whole of Weymouth; it was pumped from a reservoir at Chalbury Fort.
Osmington today no longer relies on wells but has water pumped across from Sutton Poyntz via the fields by the White horse.
The spring at Osmington mills historically had a reputation for having curative powers and people with eye conditions would visit in the hope of being healed.