Case study · Stonework

Rebuilding a Buried Stone Well

We pumped out and cleared a flooded well with no head, then rebuilt it in curved rubble stone with a ring of radial coping stones, using full-size templates and rope access.

Stonework

Curved rubble stone, radial coping

Techniques

Full-size templates, rope access

Pointing

Flush pointed, inside and out in traditional lime mortar

When we first saw this well it had no head. It was a flooded hole in the ground in front of a stone house.

We pumped it down, cleared the bottom, and rebuilt the top of the shaft and a new well head in curved rubble stone. A ring of tapered coping stones finishes the top.

The circle was set out full size on plywood and OSB templates. Part of the work inside the shaft was done from a harness on ropes.

As found

At ground level there was only a ragged hole, ringed with broken red brick, with water standing almost to the top. The house behind reflected in it. A length of corrugated pipe poked in at the rim.

Closer in, the top of a stone lining showed below the brick, coated black. An old iron pipe with a valve ran down into the water, and a hose was already in.

Ragged hole in dug ground in front of a stone house, ringed with broken red brick and full of dark water reflecting the house wall. — The well as we found it, with water almost to ground level.

Well opening with broken red brick round the rim, black-coated stone lining, an old iron pipe with a valve and a hose running into water. — Water level a little lower, and the top of the stone lining starts to show.

Pump-out and clear-out

We pumped the water down. That showed a round shaft lined in rubble stone, stained black and rust-brown. An old iron pipe and valve hung at the top, with cross-members lower down.

Then one of us went down in hi-vis waterproofs and a respirator to clear the black sludge at the bottom. By that point the old pipework was out.

Shaft with the water pumped down: black-coated rubble lining, old iron pipe with elbow and valve, cross-members near the bottom. — Pumped down to a small pool at the bottom.

Round shaft lined with rust-stained rubble stone, an old rusty pipe and valve hanging inside, water below, loose rubble round the rim. — The original lining before any rebuilding.

View down the shaft to a worker in orange hi-vis, blue hood and respirator standing in black sludge, a metal pole running down the shaft. — Clearing the bottom of the shaft. The old pipework is out by this point.

Setting out

We set the well out full size on sheet templates. The large plywood disc is two sheets joined together, marked with concentric pencil circles.

A smaller OSB disc is divided by radial lines struck from a pin at the centre. A tapered plywood pattern, laid against its edge, gives the shape of a single coping stone.

Both discs turn up again on site once the stonework starts.

Large plywood disc made from two joined sheets, marked with faint pencil circles, on low work platforms on gravel, timber battens on top. — The large template disc, cut from two sheets of plywood.

Circular OSB board on three low work platforms, pencil lines radiating from a centre pin, a tapered plywood pattern laid at its near edge. — Radial lines on the disc, and the pattern for one tapered coping stone.

Rebuilding in curved rubble stone

The new stonework starts below ground. Looking inside, the new courses of stonework sit on top of the darker original lining.

We built the well head up in curved rubble stone, bedded in traditional lime mortar. The OSB disc sat in the opening while the first courses went round it. Higher up, it covered the open shaft while we worked. Stone was cut on site.

First courses of a round stone well head above ground, with an OSB disc sitting in the opening. — The first courses going in, with the disc in the opening.

Open round well head a few courses high in buff stone, top course part laid, new stonework inside above the dark shaft, orange pipe in front. — New stonework inside the shaft, sitting on the darker original lining.

Round stone well head several courses high, fresh mortar on top, a dusty disc over the opening with a mallet and trowel on it, mason behind. — The disc covers the open shaft while the next course is bedded.

Radial coping stones

The well head is finished with a ring of tapered coping stones. Every joint runs on a radius from the centre of the shaft, the same layout as the lines on the template.

At this point the coping is bedded but the joints are still open.

Straight down on a ring of tapered coping stones with open radial joints and water at the bottom of the shaft. — Coping laid, joints still to be pointed.

Round stone well head at full height with coping on top and joints unpointed, white MD Brickwork & Stonework van and silver car behind. — Full height, before pointing.

Rope access

The inside of the shaft was reached on ropes. A scaffold frame went up over the well head and the ropes hung from it.

One of us went down in waterproofs and a harness to work on the inside face of the shaft.

With work lights lowered to the water, the join shows clearly. New stonework above, the original rubble lining below.

From the scaffold: a worker in blue waterproofs and harness on ropes inside the top of the well, holding a cordless tool to the inner face. — Working the inside face just below the coping.

Symmetrical view down the well: rings of new buff stonework, then darker rubble lining, and a string of caged work lights at the water. — New stonework above, original lining below.

Pointing

With the stonework up, we pointed the well head, the coping and the inside face of the new stonework. The joints are finished flush in traditional lime mortar.

From above, the coping reads as a full ring of tapered stones with broached tops. The pointed inside face runs down into the shaft.

The pointing was done under a sheeted scaffold, and crushed stone was laid round the base.

Looking down on the pointed ring of tapered coping stones and pointed inner face, ropes and a caged work light hanging into the dark shaft. — Coping and inside face pointed flush.

Round stone well head, flush pointed, under a scaffold frame roofed with a black tarpaulin, ropes hanging from it, stone house wall behind. — The pointed well head under the sheeted scaffold.

Fitting the water pipe

Once the pointing was done, we fitted a water pipe down the shaft. One of us went down on ropes again to fix a blue pipe to the inside face, clipping it to the stone down to the water at the bottom.

Looking up from the bottom, the pipe runs up the original rubble lining to the new stonework at the top of the shaft, with the rope frame over the opening.

Looking down the well at a worker in blue on ropes at the bottom of the shaft, fixing a blue pipe to the dark original lining. — Fixing the pipe at the bottom of the shaft, on ropes.

Blue pipe clipped to the original rubble lining of the shaft, beside the access ropes and a rope grab on a karabiner. — The pipe clipped to the old lining, beside the access ropes.

The foot of the blue pipe, with a brass fitting on the end, clipped to the original rubble lining down at the water. — The foot of the pipe, down at the water.

Looking up the well from the bottom: dark original rubble lining, the new stonework lit near the top, and a frame of poles with work lights over the opening. — Looking up from the bottom: original lining below, new stonework above.

Complete

With the scaffold and sheeting gone, the finished well head stands on its own in the garden, ringed by crushed stone, in front of the same low stone building as in the first photo.

Finished round stone well head in a gravelled garden, in front of a low sandstone building with a slate roof and a timber-clad building to the right. — The finished well head in the garden, with the scaffold down.

The result

Before & after

Flooded hole to finished well head

Talk to us about rebuilding an old well or other curved stonework.

Get in touch

Call us Get a quote