WideAngle Wednesday: History - King John's Well

Steveng is hosting Widwed again this week, and the chosen theme is "history".

The history behind this spring (known as King John's Well) seems a little vague. It's located in Armstrong Park in Heaton, a suburb of Newcastle. Although King John is said to have spent some time in the northeast in the 13th Century, it's unlikely that there is actually any connection between him and this well. Apparently it's possible, however, that the trough came from the nearby King John's Palace, which almost certainly also has no connection with the king! (I have no doubt that I'll blip that on another occasion.)

The lintel is inscribed with the words "YE WELL OF KING JOHN", but this is probably a touch of Victorian hokum dating from the work of Lord Armstrong's 19th Century landscapers. As most of the Armstrong family archives have been destroyed there's no way of knowing whether they were aware of any genuine association with King John.

Anyway, I reckoned it would do for today's blip :-)